When I visit a company’s website, ‘About Us’ is one of the pages I’m most likely to click on. Sometimes it’s because I want to get a better feel for the company I’m dealing with and find out more about how they work. Sometimes it’s because I want some insight into the company’s background, to get some idea of their stability within the industry. And sometimes it’s because the company has not made it clear enough on the Home page what they do and how they can help. (Problems with the Home page ought to be addressed first; see my previous post about writing a great Home page.)
As a freelance copywriter, the About Us page is one of the ones I give the most attention to when I write websites for clients. If you have no Services page, ‘About Us’ is likely to be the second page your visitors will click on after your Home page.
But lots of About Us pages are enormous missed opportunities because businesses haven’t appreciated their importance.
Here are 5 tips to help you get your About Us page spot-on.
1. Don’t just talk about yourself
Yes, by clicking on your About Us page, your visitor wants to know who you are and what you do, and this does need to be communicated in the copy. But what I’ve seen businesses do is take this too literally. They reel off a wordy life history of the company that’s more likely to put readers to sleep than inspire them to buy.
All the pages on your website should revolve around answering your visitors’ questions. You always need to keep your audience in mind. So before you start, consider what questions your visitors want answering when they click ‘About Us’.
Often their first question will be: who are you and what do you do. Hence why it’s important to communicate this. But they’re not asking for chapter and verse on how your company was founded and how it’s grown, or exhaustive detail about the lives of your founders and directors/managers. You should keep background information and company history brief, relevant and interesting. Obviously, if there’s an interesting story to tell about how your business came to be, tell it. But check with others that it’s actually something people would want to read about.
Your visitors also want to know how you can help them, and why they should choose you, which leads me nicely onto…
2. Remember to sell
Lots of businesses forget that their website is not just there to provide information. It’s there to advertise and promote as well. ‘About Us’ is another opportunity to sell your services, reiterate the main benefits of doing business with you, and communicate your unique selling points.
So work these into the copy. When you’re talking about your company history, explain why your history is important to your customers. Are you a leading player in your industry? Have you won any awards? How many years’ experience do you have? Explain why these facts are important, and what they mean for your customers.
3. Be friendly and relatable
Often people click an About Us page to get a better idea of the company ethos, and a feel for the sorts of people they’ll be dealing with. Adopt a friendly and approachable tone. Talk about your values and why these are important to your customers. Ultimately you want people to relate to you, to know that you’re human like they are. If you’re a larger business, link to your Meet The Team page. Even small businesses will benefit from a Meet The Team page, as these immediately humanise a company’s corporate image.
4. Include links to other pages
If you have a Services page, Contact Us page, Meet The Team page and any other relevant pages, include links to them in your About Us copy. If your About Us page is the second page that your visitors click on, you need to tell them where to go next if they’re interested in buying your products or services. And links are good for your SEO and Google rankings. (For more advice on writing SEO content, see Copywriting tips – how to write better SEO.)
5. Make sure you have a dedicated About Us page
This might seem obvious, but I’ve come across a number of businesses who have all their About Us copy on their Home page. Your Home page serves a different purpose to your About Us page. It’s there to welcome people to your website, sum up what your site is about and explain succinctly how your business can help. It’s not a place for background information, company history or details about your staff.
Hopefully those tips have steered you in the right direction, but if need any further help with your About Us page, please feel free to get in touch. Drop me a line at cr_berry@outlook.com or call me on 07411 331721. You can also find out more about the services I offer, the previous work I’ve done, and the reasons why you should hire me to write for you.
And if you’re thinking about giving your website an overhaul, but you’re not sure where to start, I offer a website health check for the low sum of £30. This means I will review the main pages of your website and provide you with a short report about how it might be improved.
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Other articles you might find helpful:
Copywriting tips – how user-friendly is your website?
Copywriting tips – how to write a great home page
