Transform Your Company's 'About Page' From Jargon-Filled to Genuine Show your company's true colors with a thoughtful and heartfelt introduction.
By Aaron Agius Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Many companies don't put as much thought into their About Page as they do their sales and marketing material.
That's a big mistake, since the About Page is one of the few places where you can illustrate your brand's quality and value all at once. This post will show you how to transform your About Page into another effective tool in building a relationship with your target audience.
Tell a story.
So many companies focus on business specifics in their About Page content, such as types of services and products offered. These are important parts who you are as a company, but people who've gotten to your About Page probably have already know most of this information. Now they want to know who you really are, why you do the business you do, and what your goals and values are. Your About Page should illustrate your business's humble beginnings and highlight the positive attributes of your team that helped you get where you are today. Tell an inspiring story of what you hope the future will bring for your business. The About Page is also an opportunity to set yourself apart from your competitors. Visitors should walk away with an answer to this question: "Why should I associate with this brand instead of others?" The answer can be incorporated into your efforts to create a brand personality that resonates. Demonstrate how your brand identifies with your audience's unique needs. Show how you've put yourself in a position to help them succeed.
On the Louder.Online About Page, we use visual elements and our story to demonstrate our unique selling proposition.
Related: 8 Great Entrepreneurial Success Stories
Use high-quality visuals.
Visuals are an important element of any kind of online content, and your About Page is no exception. People make a first impression in 50 milliseconds, and colored visuals can increase their willingness to read content by 80 percent. So use images and graphics, and make the page visually appealing. Showcase images of your employees and workspace to give visitors a feel for who you really are as a company. You might also consider creating an inspirational video to incorporate into your About Page. Just make sure it's a supplement to written content, instead of a replacement – opting for video alone will discourage visitors who prefer written content or have slower internet connections.
Include social proof.
Your About Page should help instill trust in your potential leads, but this is pretty hard to do with a page filled with self-praise. In reality, 92% of people will trust recommendations from other people (even strangers) over brands – which means your About Page is the perfect place to inject some reassuring social proof. Social proof can be as simple as a quote from an industry leader, or some verifiable statistics about your many happy customers.
There are some great widgets out there that will display your media likes, number of followers, and more. Hubspot has a personalized one on their About Page that updates their number of followers in real-time:
Related: The 10 Most Deadly Mistakes in Website Design
Offer a next step.
Most digital marketers these days are good about remembering to put a call to action in all their content, but About Pages are often overlooked as a marketing touchpoint. After reading your About Page, visitors should have some clear options for what they can do next. You can't rely on them heading back to your site on their own. Suggest related content that will keep them in the sales funnel. Make your contact information prominent so they can reach out to you with questions.
Related: 7 Ways to Online Improve Engagement With Visual Content
You can also include more direct calls to drive them to convert. The About Page on Louder.Online, for instance, includes a signup form for a free strategy session:
Avoid complexity.
There are some truly beautiful About Pages out there that use visual design elements to create a theme that catches visitors' attention better than anything else, but this strategy does have a drawback. Over-the-top design elements can ultimately reduce the effectiveness of your About Page. The Moz About Page is an example of one that I love and hate. They created responsive navigation so you can explore five different pages of About content:
The first page is "Our Story," and if you start scrolling, you get caught up in a beautiful visual timeline of the company; then you get to the bottom, and get no direction back to the rest of the About content:
Visitors who aren't that into exploring websites wouldn't get much from an About Page like this; which is a shame, because it looks great.
Remember these important points when creating your About Page to ensure it serves a valuable role in your marketing efforts.
