For businesses, your About Us page is an essential part of your website that gives you a special opportunity: where most content on the other pages of your website describe your products/services, the “About Us” page is a place to describe your company. This is a comprehensive guide on how to write an About Us page that resonates with your audience and strengthens your brand.
Who Cares About Us?
Your potential customers do! Most likely, other companies in your area provide the same or similar products/services that you do. When consumers choose between competing businesses, they buy from the one they feel a personal connection to. The more your potential customers know about your company, the higher chance you have at making that connection. The About Us page of your website isn’t just for explaining what you do. It’s your opportunity to showcase what makes your business unique.
About Your Audience
Your About Us page shouldn’t be all about you; it’s also about your audience. If you’re struggling to find that defining factor that makes your business unique, think about what makes your audience unique. Before you write your About Us page, consider exactly who you’re writing it for. What do you think would make them excited about your company? Skip the technical jargon and boring timeline to focus on the things your prospects can understand and relate to.
The Human Interest Element
A successful About Us page humanizes a company. One way to do this is to talk about the humans that comprise the business. Write about who started the company, what they did before, why they decided to get into the industry, what they are passionate about, or even what they do for fun. You can do the same for the employees of the company as well. It should be clear from looking at your website that you are a company made up of real human beings with real lives and personalities, not a robot-company with no emotions.
Try to define your company’s personality. Are you a professional and corporate? Quirky and progressive? This is also a time to consider your audience and decide which parts of your company’s personality will appeal to them. You may be hilarious in real life, but if you’re a lawyer, you’ll lose business by writing a light-hearted, goofy About Us page. If you own a party supply store, however, a comedic tone might work for you.
The Storytelling Element
Storytelling is the basis of all good branding. People are attracted to narratives. Your About Us page should tell the story of your company in a way that engages and connects with your audience. Maybe your grandfather grew up on a farm and started the company with $10, and those humble beginnings remind you to work hard. Maybe your CEO used to be a doctor before becoming an entrepreneur, and that’s why your company is dedicated to making safe, healthy products. Whatever the case, if there’s an interesting story to be told about your business, use the About Us page to tell it. Just make sure there’s a point to your story. Always relate it to the reasons why visitors should choose you.
The Visual Element
Every storybook is better with pictures. The About Us page needs to visually represent you and your company so that visitors can look at the page and get a good sense for who you are without reading a single word. Photos of your business, your employees, your customers, and your products can go alongside your written content to supplement it. Consider adding a graphical timeline starting at your company’s founding, dating landmark events with photos and short descriptions.
More and more small businesses are finding that video is the best way to visually represent their companies. Make a short video describing your company, who you are, where you’re from, what you do, and why you do it. Show your process on camera. Let your employees speak. If it’s well-written and well-made, a video on your About Us page can give your website visitors a far better picture of your company than anything you could write. Professional photography and videography is a worthy investment for any business that wants to strengthen the branding on their website and make their About Us page memorable.
Ideas For Getting Started
Now that you know the components that make up an effective About Us page, here are some ideas to inspire your writing.
The Mission Statement
Missions statements are great because they are concise and they demonstrate your company’s values. Values are important to consumers because they don’t want to give their money to businesses that don’t care about anything besides profit. Let your potential customers know why you do what you do, from the heart.
The Problem & Solution
Another way to start your About Us page is to speak on the problem that your business solves. Describe what the industry was like before you came along and innovated. Describe what issues people always run into when working with other companies in your space and then explain how your company eliminates those issues.
The “You” Statement
Start off your About Us with a “you” statement to let visitors know right off the bat that you care about their needs. Think about “You might be wondering what’s so different about us…” or “So your a _____, who needs _____, but you can’t find a company who does _____.” The people who really need your products/services will immediately know that you’re talking specifically to them and that you understand their issues.
Wrapping It Up
You don’t want your About Us page to leave off on a cliff-hanger or leave visitors wondering what to do next. Here are several ideas for ways to wrap up your About Us page:
Thank You
You can end your About Us page by simply thanking your visitors for taking the time to read. Something along the lines of “We appreciate you taking the time to visit our website and we encourage you to check out our Products page” helps push your visitors to the next step so they don’t click away in some other direction.
Testimonials
Testimonials or case-studies from satisfied customers can go at the bottom of your About Us page. Reviews build credibility and they confirm what you’ve said on the rest of the page.
Contact Us
Many About Us pages end with either a contact form or contact information. Something like “If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call at…” or “If you’d like to request a quote from us, please fill out this form” will also work to lead visitors on to the next step towards conversion.
That’s it! Writing website content isn’t always easy for business owners. It can be hard to articulate your brand message in a short summary if you don’t already have it nailed down. But with this guide, you should be able to create something that helps your potential customers understand you better, and that’s the purpose of the About Us page.
