Just like your thank you pages, your about page is one of the most overlooked pages on most websites. They are, however, one of the highest ranked pages on many websites.
So no matter what you call them, About, About Us, Meet the People, your About pages are important. REALLY important.
Surprised? Think about it from the perspective of the customers. They land on your website, the see your products, but they have no clue who you are. Your “About Us” page, is the place where they can not only find out more about what makes you, your business, or your product tick but more importantly what you can do for them.
Next to that, because they are most of the time the highest ranked pages on your website, it could also turn out to be one of the most common entry points.
So if this is such an important page, when this page sees so much traffic, why are most “About Us” pages so BORING?
Most of the time people spend days or months working on a good piece of content hoping it will rank well and will generate lots of traffic, so why aren’t you taking the same care for your About Us page?
In this article, we will show you 6 different ways to make your “About Us” page a lot less boring and a lot more converting.
#1 Grab their attention
First things first, when someone lands on your About Us Page for the first time you need to grab their attention. You want to stand out from your competitors, and for them to not leave straight away, you need to grab their attention.
Grabbing someone’s attention might sound complicated, especially if you’re working in a “boring” industry, but there are still some ways to make sure you grab the attention of your visitors.
One of the easiest ways to grab someones attention is by opening up with a punchy statement that perfectly captures the attitude, your style and the business you’re operating in. In other words, the things that make you and your company, well you!
Nothing grabs the attention of a reader as good as a bold, benefit-driven headline. According to David Ogilvy, a great headline is read fives times as more than the body copy. The visitors on your About Us page know already what that page is about, they came there for a reason. So instead of repeating that information to them again with a boring “About Us” opener, try opening with something interesting or unexpected.
Another way to grab the attention of the reader is using eye-catching pictures and videos. By creating pictures of yourself, your staff and your business, you can give your company a personal touch. A video makes it even more compelling to show the behind the scenes at your business and helps in building trust.
Don’t underestimate these small but very powerful items to give a human touch of your company. If you’re always trying to close a deal, you might scare people away. Let them know; there are real human beings working at your company. People want to know that you’re not just another corporate machine, they want to know the persons behind the company to see if something is worth paying attention to.
Of course, another item that needs to grab the visitors attention is the Call-To-Action (CTA).
Getting visitors to your website to do what you want is one of the missions you have as a marketer, and your “About Us” page is no different. It could be a button urging people to subscribe to your newsletter; maybe it is a link to your most popular posts or your product.
Whatever the purpose of the CTA on your About Us page, you need to include one. Don’t just think they will continue to read the rest of the article automatically when they’ve finished reading this page, make sure they do and give them a reason to stay a little longer.
#2 Leverage social proof
When you’re thinking about choosing new dentists, a new television or you want a mortgage for your house; you don’t base your decisions on what they say about themselves.
You turn to the people around you, your friends, your family.
Online this might be a bit more difficult, and that is where social proof comes into play.
Your potential customers are looking for reasons to trust you, stories about positive experiences, links to relevant case studies, and any other forms of testimonials will help your company establish itself as an authority in your field. Give your readers a reason to choose you instead of the other company.
Be sure to include as many details as possible to add credibility to your testimonial, think pictures, full name and relevant details that could add credibility to your testimonials.
There are five levels of social proof:
- Customers – your existing customers (for example testimonials or case studies)
- Celebrities, influencers and experts – celebrities, influencers or other experts talking about your product or services (for example celebrities who have bought your product or visited your store, a famous journalist in your industry writing about you, etc.)
- Crowds – large numbers of people using your product or services (for example “over 10.000 people help grow their business using our newsletter”)
- Friends – showing individuals who are friends of your customers/website visitors (for example “49 of your friends like Inbound Rocket”)
- Certifications – a credible, third party that has certifications that showcase your expertise, or that your trustworthy (for example “Apple premium reseller”)
Be sure to include the most relevant ones for your business.
#3 Paint an honest picture of yourself
Every brand tells a story. Even if you think you don’t have an interesting story to tell, you can still tell a story.
A short biography helps your readers connect with you and get to understand you better. But of course, it has got to be honest. Don’t be afraid to tell where you came from. If ten years ago, your headquarters were in the basement of the parents of your CEO, celebrate it. The more that people can identify with you the more they trust you.
People are becoming blind for marketing and sales talk, with more than 20K marketing messages hitting us every they, what you want to communicate to people on your about page isn’t just who you are and what you do, but WHY you do it.
You don’t have to tell people everything though, if you are around for a very long time, it is not interesting to read a year-by-year account of all the little things that happened. Filter the messages, focus on the key elements that are interesting for your readers.
That brings us to our next point.
#4 Keep your scope narrow and relevant
Your “About Us” page is not the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And even though you might feel inclined your About Us page, is not the place to share your company’s entire professional history or your complete autobiography.
And sure, some companies have a long lasting history and are around for ages. Adding a longer form of your history to the About Us page makes sense for those, as long as it doesn’t become a bore and scares away people.
Always remember, unless your history builds up an interesting story of where you are now, or if it is something your audience can relate to, you should not bother by including it.
Relevancy is key here, knowing your audience and your Unique Value Proposition is what helps you generate leads. What makes you so special that they should stick with you and not your competitor? Why are you the best solution for your visitors? Focus on those points and leave out the rest.
#5 Include your address and contact details
There is still a vast population on the internet, who grew up without it, and for those and a lot of other people trusting someone online with their money is still a significant burden.
If you don’t include simple ways for people to contact you, like an address or a phone number, potential customers might hold out a bit before getting in business with you.
Make sure that all your contact details are up to date as well, it sounds obvious, but when the need is there, and someone tries to phone you, there is nothing more off setting than to find contact details that are out of date. It might even end up with you losing the sale.
Don’t forget to include your social handles and Skype details if applicable.
#6 Even though it’s called “About Me,” it’s really about THEM
And finally the most important point. Although the title of the page is “About Us”, it is about THEM. Your reader, even more so than all the other content on your website, this page should build empathy with your (potential) customers.
It might sound strange, but brands and companies are being built because people want to identify themselves in your mission statement.
Your readers aren’t just arriving at random on your website; they arrive there because they were triggered by a search result, a tweet or some other way that led to your website, they’re coming to you with pain points hoping you have the cure. When they click on your About Us page, they’re usually not interested in your entire biography, what they want to know is what you have to offer to them.
They want to know how you can solve their problems for them.
Next, to that, they are also looking for you to anticipate to take away any objections or fears they might have before they start a relationship with you. Maybe they still doubt if your product is the best fit for them, or maybe that one of a competitor might solve their issues better? The last thing you want is for that problem, those objections and fears to be unsolved and unaddressed.
As you can see, there are multiple ways to help your potential customers take away that last bit of fear. And now it is time for you to start inspiring your readers, to start addressing their pain points on your About Us page and take advantage of one of the most important pages on your website.
