Customers visit your About Us page to peek behind the curtain and see the people running the show.
(Looking for a copywriter who can compose your About Us page? We offer fast turnarounds and reasonable rates. Go here to request a no-obligation quote.)
What types of people are visiting your About Us page? Who are they? Most likely, they’re prospective customers considering the purchase of your products or services.
They’re trying to determine if they can trust you. They want to peek behind the curtain and see if your company is one they’d like to do business with. They seek answers to questions like these:
Use your About Us page to introduce yourself to your site’s visitors. Tell them what you’re all about.
Answering those questions and more is a tall order, but one you should approach with enthusiasm. After all, this is the one place you can and should sing your own praises. This is your opportunity to tell the world why your company is awesome. But you’ll need to do it tactfully, and that’s the tricky part.
Need help writing your About Us page? Get a quote.
When writing your About Us page, you don’t want to say the same things that appear on your Home page, and a long, detailed, historical summary will bore the reader. You also don’t want to sound like you’re boasting. As in most things, the best answer is to find the middle ground.
Much like a resume you’d use to land a job, your About Us page is the place to toot your own horn. To avoid bragging or appearing pushy steer clear of hype. Instead offer a straightforward presentation of the facts and figures. Avoid superlatives.
For example, explain why people should do business with you. What benefits can you or your product provide that your prospects will value?
If you can, quantify those benefits. Saying your product increases productivity by 18% is a lot more persuasive than simply saying it improves productivity.
Tell them what problem you solve. How do you make their life easier and better? Describe your capabilities and why you’re uniquely qualified to offer the service or product you sell.
On your About Us page, explain what problem you’re uniquely qualified to solve.
State how many years you’ve been in business and the experience you and your key people bring to the table. Mention some of the milestones in your company’s history. Did you move to bigger facilities, acquire another company, change leadership or direction at any point?
By providing information about your background, you should be able to demonstrate to visitors that you understand what they’re seeking, and you’re able to offer a solution that will work for them.
Need help writing your About Us page? Get a quote.
Before the internet came into existence, most business transactions occurred after a face-to-face meeting. The prospective customer would talk with a sales person or business owner to learn about the company and determine if he felt comfortable doing business with them. Of course, that’s not the case today.
Your About Us page is the virtual substitute for meeting someone in-person for the first time.
Your About Us page is one of the most important pages on your website. It’s also likely to be one of the most frequently visited. So you’d better make it good. Keep the following suggestions in mind:
Much of today’s business is transacted over the web or over the phone without an in-person meeting. For that reason, your About Us page must do more than communicate what’s special about your company’s products or services; it also must inspire trust because without trust, you’ll never get the prospect to reach for his wallet.
One of the easiest ways to begin building trust? Tell them where you’re located. To visitors, you’re probably just a website address. That’s pretty impersonal.
Even if you have your mailing address on your Contact page, it’s still a good idea to mention at least your city and state on your About Us page. Then visitors have a sense of how close, or far, you are to them. That’s information they can relate to, especially if you’re a local business. So simple and yet so many businesses neglect to do so. Every nugget of information you openly share helps inspire a little more trust.
A key function of your About Us page is to inspire trust in your company.
According to digital marketing expert Jeremy Smith, “The entire purchase experience depends upon trust in order to be successful. Every conversion is an indication that trust has been won. Every new customer represents a person whose trust has been earned. Every return customer represents a person whose trust continues to be held.”
As you write your About Us page, imagine who is most likely to be reading it. Visualize your prospective customers. What are their wants, needs, objections and hot buttons?
You can see how targeting each of these personas or demographics would require a different approach in writing your copy.
Consider your target customers as you write your About Us page. What will excite them about your products?
Just as a magazine or television program is designed with the audience in mind, your About Us page must speak the language of your visitors. Your copy must relate to them and address their specific needs. It should tap into their emotions and motivate them to take action.
Once you’ve developed targeted copy for your About Us page, you can include some of the most salient facts in other locations of your site, such as on landing pages.
Need help writing your About Us page? Get a quote.
Visitors to your About Us page spend 80% of their time looking at information located above the fold, according to recent studies using heat maps to detect reader interest.
Content positioned in the upper half of a web page is visible without scrolling down, so naturally it gets read more than the lower half of the page (below the fold). Makes sense, right?
With that in mind, you want to include your value proposition — the innovation, service or feature that makes your business appeal to customers and sets you apart from the competition — above the fold of your About Us page where it can’t be missed.
Consider what is most important to your prospective customers and make those facts the most prominent, whether by including them early in your About Us narrative or by highlighting them in some way such as with a subhead, call-out or bold type.
Perhaps it’s your professional credentials such as your education, licenses, awards and depth of experience. In that case, lead with specifics that speak to your qualifications and will give you instant credibility in their eyes.
Describe your unique, special qualities on your About Us page. This is not the time to be bashful!
However, if being able to relate to your customers and good communication skills are what set you apart from the competition, then start your About Us page with your company’s definition of these attributes.
You can even include a brief anecdote that demonstrates your corporate philosophy. Remember the movie “Castaway” and Tom Hanks’ efforts to deliver a FedEx package? Okay, that story might be a little extreme but you get the idea.
Think of your meetings and phone calls with customers. Answer the questions they most frequently ask, avoiding bold claims that sound too good to be true.
If your water heater will save on energy costs and will also last longer than its nearest competitor, bolster your claims with specifics. State how much the customer can expect to save on energy costs per month and precisely how many years longer they should expect their water heater to last. The details you provide in your copy will serve as proof, making your claims more memorable and believable.
Anytime you can add specific facts and figures to support your claims, you gain credibility in the visitor’s mind.
Jeff Haden, a reporter for Inc. magazine provides a useful example in his article, “8 Ways to Improve Your ‘About Us’ Page.”
He states, “If I want to outsource product fulfillment, ‘providers of outstanding customer experiences’ means nothing to me, but ‘99.7% on-time shipping with a .0021% error rate for the past five years’ means a lot because it shows you care about, measure, and deliver a service critical to my business.”
If your business is new and doesn’t yet have facts, figures and testimonials to support your claims, talk about your goals and describe what you’re doing to achieve them. And start collecting some data. Think about revisiting your About Us page to add in those numbers once you’ve established a track record.
If you have more more than a few numbers, consider creating an infographic that can be an eye-catching visual on the page.
Want your About Us page done for you? Get a quote.
Some people choose to write their About Us page as though an objective third-party has provided the information. That approach can come across as stiff and insincere, especially if you’re a small, privately-owned business.
Everyone knows the About Us page is written or at least approved by the website’s owner. So go ahead, use first person (I) or first person plural (we), depending on which is more appropriate for your situation.
Corporate-speak copy is boring. So is excessive use of jargon. A visitor to your website wants to know a real human is behind this business. Be conversational in your copywriting. Write as though you’re speaking face-to-face. A friendly tone will make you more likable.
A friendly writing style on your About Us page will help you connect with visitors. Be as likable in your copy as you are in person!
Convey the passion you feel for your company’s mission. Be sincere and personal as you tell the story of your brand. There’s nothing wrong with letting your personality shine through.
You can still appear professional while being casual, even humorous, in your writing. Stuffy, formal copy can be dull. Instead, let them see your affable, enthusiastic spirit.
As in real life, be authentic. Your sincerity will come through. Even vulnerability can be seen as a positive virtue and therefore could be incorporated into your About Us page. Show the human side of your business. How many times have you seen business owners cry on the TV show “Shark Tank” as they relay the story of their business’s birth?
Write as if you’re speaking to an individual, not a company or group of people. You’re not the pope addressing the masses. As far as your visitor is concerned, he or she is the only one reading your About Us page and the only one with whom you’re building a relationship. So, for example, it’s better to say “We offer you…” as opposed to “We offer our clients” or “We offer people.”
People want to connect with other people. That’s easy to forget when writing a corporate website. But consider the incredible success of Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. These social networking sites are essentially a colossal collection of About Me pages.
According to ThriveHive.com, “Far too many companies discount how important an About Us page is and as a result, publish generic blocks of text that fail to give potential customers that peek behind the curtains they’re hungry for.”
As you write your About Us page, think about connecting with your visitors, much as you might if you were meeting them in person. What do think it’s important for them to know about you? How can you engage them? What will they best be able to relate to? How can you persuade them to take action?
Use your About Us page to establish a rapport with your customers.
Avoid fluff. Flowery language won’t win people over. It sounds contrived, even fake. Candor, on the other hand, is compelling. Your visitors will appreciate your honesty.
Don’t be afraid to show who you really are. That’s how you’ll establish a rapport with your visitors, and it’s the best way to make them receptive to what you’re telling them and what you’re selling them, too.
Need help writing your About Us page? Request a free quote.
Your About Us page should be more than a corporate resume. It should describe who you are. Write about your values and principles. Explain why the product or service you offer is important to you.
Skip the generic stuff. Get real. Write in a way that matches your brand’s goals. By getting personal, you’re being transparent and vulnerable, which are appealing qualities that can help win over even the most cynical prospect.
If there’s a charitable component to your business, this is a great place to mention it. One of my clients is a jewelry designer. Her company donates 10% of all sales to various humanitarian efforts around the globe. On her About Us page, she describes how personally gratifying it is to have a business that allows her to be so charitable.
Another client, a manufacturer of plastic containers that are used to deliver fresh water to people in crisis, was instrumental in rescue efforts in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010 as well as more recent disasters. The company tells that story and includes photos like the one below, as well as references some of its current charitable endeavors in Africa, on its About Us page.
If your company participates in charitable endeavors, tell customers about your good works on your About Us page.
Can you see how mentioning corporate missions like these will help visitors to know your company and want to do business with you?
Because emotions impact the decision-making process, your About Us page is the best place to share your brand’s values. It’s a powerful way to win over the hearts of potential consumers and help them to relate to your company.
Social proof is evidence that you are what you say you are. It can be a powerful motivator for your site visitors.
Your About Us page can include sections such as “Awards” and “Press.” It’s perfectly appropriate to mention past achievements provided they’re relevant and significant.
Got some interesting stats that reflect well on your business? Include those, too. If you’ve sent out any press releases that resulted in publicity in magazines, newspapers or online publications, you can use quotes from them. Been interviewed on a blog or ezine? Include a screenshot and link to the write-up.
Include links to your media mentions, endorsements and other PR on your About Us page.
If you have approval or endorsement from a celebrity, an industry expert or even customers, you may find a way to work them into your About Us page. Those third-party endorsements are solid testimonials that can go a long way toward persuading a visitor to trust you. In fact, 72% of people say positive reviews make them trust a business more.
Social proof such as designations you’ve received from the BBB and review sites like Angi and Yelp are worth including on your About Us page to enhance your professional image
If you belong to any professional organizations in your industry or in your geographic area, such as the local Chamber of Commerce, include their symbols.
The same goes for oversight associations such as the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Reports, Better Housekeeping (Seal of Approval), Angi (formerly Angie’s List) and other review sites. These items belong on your About Us page because they give legitimacy and credibility to your business in the eyes of the customer.
Need help writing your About Us page? Work with a pro.
Nobody wants to read an About Us that is the equivalent of a resume. Resumes, because of their bare-boned listing of facts, are boring. While appropriate for job hunting, you want something more engaging for your About Us page. Find a hook to capture the attention of your visitor.
For example, does your company have an interesting name? Tell its history and what the name means to you today.
One of my clients started his business as a way to save for his two daughters’ college education. It was only natural then, that the name of the company is a combination of both girls’ names, and that story is told along with a photo of the owner and his two girls on the About Us page.
Do you have an interesting hobby? One of my clients, a real estate broker, is also a marathon runner. In writing her About Us page, we drew an analogy between running and selling real estate – it’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon. We even included a photo of her running a marathon, which added visual interest and credibility to the page.
Need help writing your About Us page? Request a free quote.
Got an interesting hobby or leisure activity? Mention it on your About Us page, particularly if it relates in some way to your business.
Another client, a husband and wife, had an online business selling camping goods. They were avid campers and hikers. Their About Us page described their love for the outdoors and their hope that the products they sold would help others to enjoy outdoor adventures as much as they did.
A husband and wife whose business was selling camping supplies used their About Us page to describe their love of the outdoors.
Their About Us page also described their commitment to only promote products that were environmentally safe and made by manufacturers who shared similar values. Visitors enjoyed hearing the reasons behind the founding of the business. They could relate to the owners and appreciated their sincerity.
Finally, another client who owned a fine dining restaurant had a hot air balloon and frequently traveled to balloon rallies to fly. He was passionate about this hobby. On his About Us page, we wrote about his love for flying, which was second only to his love for gourmet cooking. We tied the two interests together by explaining how attending balloon rallies in different cities gave him the opportunity to try new restaurants and sparked new ideas for him to add to his own restaurant menu.
Write about your hobby on your About Us page, giving visitors an opportunity to get to know the real you.
Is there an interesting anecdote about how the business started? Share it. Everybody, young and old, loves a good story.
In fact, the best public speakers often communicate their information by telling personal stories. Apply that winning technique to your About Us page and you’ll forge a connection with your visitor.
One of my clients owns a company that sells African cooking sauces. On her About Us page, we told her story of immigrating to the U.S. She loved her new country but missed her favorite foods and flavors from home. That was the catalyst for her to start the company, which today successfully sells its products in Whole Foods and other major chains.
The owner of a U.S. African cooking sauce business described how missing the tastes from her home country inspired her to start the company. That story is revealed on her About Us page.
Another client is a former coal miner who wanted to start an internet business and get out of mining, but he didn’t know what to sell. One day he was shopping at a Macy’s department store and passed an eye-catching display of crystal figurines. For some reason, the picture of those crystal pieces stayed in his mind.
In the ensuing weeks he began researching crystal figurines and jewelry and soon found several high-quality crystal manufacturers, one of which was right in his own state of Pennsylvania. Within weeks he had launched his internet crystal business, now several years old and extremely successful. He no longer mines coal and his About Us page tells his story, starting with the day he saw that beautiful Macy’s crystal display. Inspiring, isn’t it?
Got an interesting story about how your business got its name? It’s worth telling and will make your name more memorable, according to Brandlance, which develops business name ideas.
What’s the story you tell when people ask how you started your business? That tale belongs on your About Us page.
If possible, combine your story with photos. One client of mine owns a construction company. His father before him had owned one as well, and he’d grown up going to construction sites with his dad, learning about the business and meeting with contractors.
He’d been the kid with his own little toolbox by age 5, whose weekends were more likely to include a visit to Home Depot than the local playground, and who chose hammer and nails over Legos when he felt like building something. That story on the About Us page was complemented by an adorable old photo of father and 8-year-old son on a construction site.
Yet another client had a good friend who had just been diagnosed with diabetes. The friend complained that he couldn’t find any frozen meals that fit his diet. He had to make everything from scratch, which was difficult and time consuming.
Your visitors will appreciate the behind-the-scenes glimpse of your business on the About Us page.
My client, who had experience in the food industry, connected with a group of dietitians and started a line of healthy, frozen meals that were suitable for people with diabetes like his good friend. As with the other examples, the story is told on the About Us page and includes a photo of the founder and his good friend. And it makes for compelling reading!
As you can imagine, those anecdotes put a human face on what might otherwise be a sales pitch or boring, impersonal page written in generic corporate-speak — “We’re committed to quality. Our mission is to be the best in our industry. Blah blah blah.”
According to the website E-commerce for Small Business, you should write your About Us page from a “storytelling perspective rather than using bullet points or a resume-style. Storytelling helps add context to the goals and mission of your online store, and makes the copy more enjoyable and interesting to read.”
Stories evoke an emotional response. And brain scans show that customers use emotions more than information when evaluating a brand.
People love stories. That’s why the most compelling public speakers make their key points using anecdotes. Their stories are relatable. And most of us have been hearing stories and learning from them ever since we were babies.
Telling a story on your About Us page can have a powerful impact because it:
Here’s the takeaway to keep in mind as you write your About Us page: Facts are important but stories get remembered and help you connect with your customers.
Need help writing your About Us page? Request a no-obligation quote.
Has your business been around for more than a few years? Does it have an impressive history of growth and achievement? A timeline can be a great addition to your About Us page. Include all the relevant milestones and details about your business. You can use a template, such as the one below offered by SlideSalad, or create your own custom presentation.
A timeline can be an eye-catching presentation of your company’s history for your About Us page.
Blue Fountain Media suggests you “take visitors on a trip through your company’s history. You can show them where you started, how far you have come, and everything your business has accomplished along the way.”
Timelines allow you to display a large amount of information and detail in an easy-to-scan format, adding graphical elements and visual variety to your About Us page.
A Forbes study recently revealed that 59% of senior executives prefer video to text if both are offered on the same page. And among Millennials, 7 out of 10 are likely to watch a company video when shopping online.
Add a brief video to your About Us page to capture attention and reinforce your message.
Video can be a quality addition to your About Us page. You can have it be “A Message from the CEO” or a quick video tour of your facilities or products.
The video doesn’t have to be long — you can say a lot in 60 seconds — and it doesn’t have to be shot like a major motion picture with award-winning cinematography. It just has to be effective in helping to deliver your brand message.
Are you building a mailing list? (If you’re not, you should be; but that’s a topic for another day.)
Your About Us page is a good place to include your email sign-up form. Or you can include a link to subscribe to your blog.
After your visitors have read all about you, let’s hope they like you and want to keep hearing from you. You might be pleasantly surprised at how many new subscribers you get!
Once you’ve gathered all your information, you may find your About Us page is lengthy. If it’s more than a few paragraphs, you’ll want to mold your page to include some visual interest.
Try breaking up the copy with descriptive subheads, much as I’ve done in this post. It will help organize the copy and also make it scannable, which is how many people read online.
Mold your About Us page into something as visually appealing as it is informative.
Also consider employing numbers or bullets. You can use them to create a list of your products or services, describe various steps in a process, or provide a historical timeline of your company’s development.
Bullets are a great way to convey a lot of information without overwhelming the reader. They also provide white space, which is areas without text that help keep a page from looking cluttered.
Look for opportunities to use graphics. Charts, logos, infographics or any other visual representations will make your page more attractive. Just be sure they support what the copy is saying. Include explanations as captions when appropriate.
Charts and other graphics add visual interest to your About Us page.
Finally, include relevant links. If you reference specific products or services, link to the pages where they’re described in detail. At the end of your About Us page, include a link to your Contact page so visitors can take the next step in the buying process.
Need help writing your About Us page? Get a quote.
Consider including a call to action on your About Us page. It’s where you helpfully direct your visitor on what to do next. Here are some examples:
Writing your call to action is easy. Just keep it short, make it easy to understand and offer a benefit.
As a website copywriter, I’d love to tell you that visitors to your site are most interested in reading your text. However, the truth is, we live in a visual world. Many people skim text, pausing just long enough to get the gist and determine its relevance to their needs.
Pictures though, grab their attention, adding color to your page and often making a bigger impression than any copy ever could, although it pains me to admit that.
According to user experience studies by Nielson Normal Group, customers spend 10% more time looking at photos than reading text.
Photos also help establish trust. A recent marketing survey revealed that including an image of the company founder increased conversions by as much as 35%.
Look for opportunities to add color to your About page with photos relevant to your subject matter.
While stock photos can work on some of your other pages, for the About Us page, you don’t want to use something generic. The visitor wants to get to know you, not the model posing in front of a too-perfect background.
Include your real photo and also pictures of your employees with products if appropriate. These don’t have to be studio portraits. In fact, they’re more interesting if they’re not. They can be pictures taken in your work environment doing what you love.
One of my clients owns a bakery franchise. We included a photo of the founder wearing her baker’s hat and apron, making bread in her shop, flour and eggs visible on the table in front of her.
A photo that shows you in your work environment adds visual proof of your professionalism.
For my dog food manufacturer client, we included a photo of the founder with his two dogs. It positioned him as a dog lover and also implied that he wasn’t just the company’s owner, he was also a customer.
For the camping goods company I mentioned earlier, a photo of the husband, wife and their little boy hiking was a perfect fit for their About Us page.
One company I work with sells a pharmaceutical product for dogs that removes tear stains. For their About Us page, the client wanted to include a photo and tell the story of his own dog, which had been the inspiration for inventing the product.
The business owner’s childhood pet was the inspiration for the company. The About Us page was the perfect place to tell that story.
Another client is a commercial construction company. We photographed the president standing at a large construction site wearing a hardhat and holding a blueprint in his hand.
Get the picture? A photo of you “on the job,” will make you seem more real. It’s interesting. And it makes you approachable. Visitors will begin to feel they know you. From there, it’s just a small leap for them to trust you and want to do business with you.
Want your About Us page done for you? Request a free quote.
Someone who wants to do a thorough job of getting to know you may be willing to check out your social networking pages on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or even YouTube. The same goes for your blog.
Your About Us page should include your social media links, so customers can connect with you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and more.
Promote these pages in your About Us write-up to give the prospect a chance to see additional dimensions of your personality or your company’s. It’s also a great way to add followers and turn casual supporters into raving fans. So don’t hesitate to post those social media links and call attention to them in your About Us content.
Your About Us page should be a work in progress. Keep tweaking it to make it better.
There’s nothing wrong with looking at how other businesses present themselves. Analyze their About Us pages to see what works and to get ideas that you can apply in an original way (don’t copy!) to your own page.
Update your About Us page as your company evolves and grows. If you target new markets, develop new applications or add key people to your team, those might deserve mention on your About Us.
If your About Us page starts getting a bit too long, break it into easy-to-digest sections. For example, I write for a non-profit organization that has a lengthy About Us page. I broke it into three sections: Who We Are, What We Do, and Why It Matters.
Anyone reading it gets a comprehensive picture of the charity but delivered in bite-size portions. The presentation is easy to consume. People will read a long About Us page if it’s well-organized and interesting.
As your business grows and you target new markets, update your About Us page. You want it to always be an accurate, current portrayal of your company.
If someone were to ask you about your business today, what would you say? Now make sure your About Us page includes all those points.
Ask someone who doesn’t know your business to read your About Us page. Then give them a quick pop quiz. Ask them what they think your business does and why its successful. They should be able to answer with ease.
This is a great experiment to try with your social media connections on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Most people are happy to offer their opinion and you might be pleasantly surprised at the constructive suggestions you get.
When creating your website’s About Us page, look upon it as an opportunity to begin building a relationship with prospective customers. Maximize its value by imparting useful, interesting information, not fluff. If you’re struggling with the words, hire a freelance copywriter to assist you.
The Internet is teeming with websites selling similar goods and services. Your About Us page should be uniquely yours. It’s your story and your opportunity to establish a connection with visitors.
Don’t be afraid to show your personality on your About Us page. For the right business, even a little humor could be just the thing to set you apart from the competition and make you memorable!
So don’t give only the same boring impersonal facts most people do. Get creative and have some fun. Showcase the exciting personality of your business and the people behind it.
Go ahead, give them a peek behind the scenes. Once your visitors get to know you, they’ll like you. And if they like you, they’ll trust you. And if they trust you, they’ll give you their business.
Does your website have an effective About Us page? If not, you need to get busy. Your About Us page could be the tipping point in converting more visitors into customers.
Need help writing your About Us page? Request a no-obligation quote.
Working with Susan Greene on my website was a fantastic experience. She takes the time to get to know you, so she understands her clients and their needs. She went above and beyond, and exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend Susan to any business owner who needs great copy for their website.
Maxine Kim
President
Citrine Management
Irvine, California
Susan Greene
Professional Copywriter
Affordable Rates
Orlando, Florida
floridacopywriter@gmail.com
(407) 578-5528
