A great About Us page has the power to convert prospects to customers and can elevate you to being the go-to expert in your field. We often encounter clients when they are setting up a new website or updating an existing site. Many tell us they want a compelling About Us page, but they’re not sure what information to include. This blog post aims to help fill in those blanks.
Portraying the story of your business can be tricky, especially if you and your team are not entirely clear on what that story is. So, doing some work on your brand story, and knowing what your business stands for, can be a helpful first step. This includes getting clear on your mission, vision and values. A good business coach can often assist if you’re struggling with defining these.
Getting Started with Your About Page
Some people don’t want to appear as though they are bragging about themselves or their business, while others say they don’t want to reveal their identity, preferring to “hide behind” their business name. Just to be clear, the whole purpose of your About Us page is to introduce yourselves to prospective customers. Essentially, it’s a sales page, without being a true “sales page”. The intended outcome is for potential clients to read the page as their first step in the “know, like, and trust” process.
An engaging and persuasive About Us page will sell your business and your team to the prospect. For this reason, hiding behind your business name is not an option. In fact, if you want to win more business, staying out of the spotlight is rather counterproductive.
The secret to writing a compelling About Us page lies in telling an engaging story that is actually about your customers and how you help them, just as much as it’s about your business or team. Prospective customers want to know how you solve their problems and what you can do for them, then they want to know who you are and what you’re about.
Do you have an existing website? Take a close look at your current About Us page. Does it tell the story of how your business was established and has grown, i.e. your “origin” story? Hint: if your About page starts with something like: “Our business was founded in 19XX, you’re doing it wrong! If your About page tells the story of how your business delivers great outcomes for your customers and how you make clients’ lives better, while incorporating your business story, it is more likely to convert readers into prospects and/or clients. Which one would you choose?
Did you know? After the Home or Landing Page, the About Us page is the most visited page on most websites
Don’t miss this golden opportunity to impress your readers!
Your About Us page must help establish and build relationships
The About Us page is the seed of your budding relationship, so it’s important to write in an engaging way, to establish a connection with your ideal customers and start to build trust with them. Speak to your audience as though you’re having a one-to-one conversation – invite them into your business, virtually and literally.
Depending on the length of your customer buying journey, most people will Google your business to find out who you are, then read your About Us page. Most will also check reviews that rate the service you deliver. This is why it’s important to carefully consider how to write a compelling About Us page story.
Once you break it down, it’s actually quite simple. Think about what your prospective customers want or need to know about your business. Then tell them WHY they should buy from you, rather than your competitors.
Tips on writing a compelling About Us page
Start with a clear benefit statement. For example:
“We collaborate with service-based businesses to help them connect with and engage their ideal clients“.
- Be sure to tell the STORY of who you are, the outcomes you deliver and the benefits of doing business with you
- Facts win over fluff, every time – keep it simple
- Detail the solutions your business delivers
- Tell prospective customers HOW you rise to the challenge and solve their problem
- Outline the story of your business – and WHY you started or developed it (don’t be afraid to show how passionate you are about your product, service or industry)
- Clearly articulate your UVP – Unique value proposition
- Know your mission and direction – share it with your audience
- Don’t make bold claims you can’t substantiate – most people will see straight through these
- Be human, be authentic and confident, without sounding boastful
- Use reviews to enable others to reinforce your story ( for B2B businesses, offer to link back to their website as an incentive)
- Express your brand’s personality
- Include details of your business model where appropriate
- Be sure to include any awards you’ve won or been shortlisted in as finalists
- Make your story warm and engaging
Introduce your team to readers
A compelling About Us page focuses on people, not products or services. Readers want to know who is behind the business and who they will be interacting with. After all, people do business with people, not entities. Be sure to introduce your team members and include a team photo. You may also want to include a Meet the Team page with a photo and profile of each person, detailing how they help customers and what they enjoy most about their job – readers love this.
Why are business values important?
It’s important to know what your business core values are because customers buy from businesses whose values align with their own. For example, if someone is a vegan, they may only want to buy from a vegan-friendly business. So, if you have particular values that differentiate you from your competitors, be sure to detail them – and why they’re important to you – on your About page.
Knowing your business/brand values and what you stand for will help underpin the story you tell and make for a more compelling About Us page.
Tips to improve About Us page engagement
- Write as though you’re penning a letter to your ideal customer – use inclusive language such as “your” and “we”
- Use benefit-driven sub-headings to break up the text, just as we’ve done in this blog post
- Use short, punchy sentences that are easy to read and understand
- Consider using a list of bullet points for ease of navigation
- Use a different colour or larger font to highlight certain text
- Be sure to outline the story of your business, but DON’T start the page with “Our company was founded in ….”
- Discuss how your business has evolved over the years (where appropriate) and what that means for customers or clients
- Reveal your “aha” moment, where you recognised a great idea for a business and acted on it (where appropriate)
- Talk about the type of customers you serve and HOW you help them
- Be sure to link to your testimonials or reviews – this type of third-party endorsement is particularly powerful in converting prospects to customers
- Link to blog posts that expand on your story – or your client success stories (case studies)
- Media mentions can also be particularly impactful, e.g. as seen on Channel 9’s X Show or a story published in X publication
- You may also ask them to follow your social media accounts or check out your products or services pages (always include links)
- Ensure you update your About Us page at least annually because your story evolves over time
Google’s E-E-A-T ranking guidelines
Did you know? Demonstrating your real-world experience is more crucial than ever for Google Search rankings, as this is one of the criteria identified in their updated search quality rater guidelines. The latest version of these guidelines expands the previous concept of “E-A-T”, introducing a new acronym: E-E-A-T or Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness. Your About Us page is the ideal place to display your experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness.
To keep web traffic and build trust among customers, it is vital that you regularly update your site with relevant content. You can expand your experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness over time by publishing regular blog posts on your website. Topics that are relevant to your audience, particularly those that answer frequently asked questions, are ideal for this purpose. Doing this will reinforce a sense of authority and reliability in both potential clients and search engines.
Include a Call to Action
It’s important to direct readers to the next step in your sales process. Readers are busy and need to be told what to do next in a clear, polite way. A Call to Action (CTA) tells readers precisely where to go next. Buttons and links are ideal for this purpose. Examples include a link that goes to your email address or phone number (to contact you), a Buy Now button, or a link to complete your lead generation form to qualify prospects. For those businesses with long-term lead generation strategies, such as real estate or finance, you can invite prospective customers to connect with you on social media. One of the best CTAs is a button directing prospects to sign up for your email newsletter, that way you capture their email address. This will often include some kind of incentive, such as a free download or some kind of lead magnet.
Consider your page design and layout, as well as your audience, then incorporate a CTA that will work on your site. It’s a good idea to test your CTA for a set period, then revise it if it isn’t helping to generate leads for your business. The vital element here is to ensure every page on your website, including your About Us page, has at least one CTA.
