Does your website's 'About' page says exactly what you’ve asked it to say? Usually, about pages are fairly simple. Maybe yours has a couple of paragraphs about your brand's views, morals and expertise. You might also have added an FAQ, or even some Meet The Team snippets. At the very least, your page should have a basic description of your business - basically, who you are, what you do and why you do it.
Some businesses don’t bother to do much more than that. I’m here to tell you that they’re missing out. You most definitely should put in a little more effort into this often-overlooked page.
Your About Page Offers Insight About Who - and What - Your Business Is
How does a customer decide how to choose your business for the products or services they’re looking for?
Millions of hours of research has been done on this exact subject, concerning every level of the sales funnel. What remains true for every customer no matter their stage, is that they want to know more about you before they trust you with their money.
In an age of high competition and easy research, the way your portray your brand can make or break your conversions. If you’re selling a similar product to your competitors at the same reasonable shipping cost and with similar additional extras - for example, customer service, warranties and guarantees - your about page can be how you set yourself apart.
How to Use Your About Page Effectively
It might just be a page on your website, but there are many ways you can utilise the space within it to communicate directly with your customers. Your about page should be considered an important part of the inbound marketing journey, and on top of that, it should represent exactly what your brand priorities are.
Think outside of the box. Instead of writing out a few paragraphs lifted from your employee and brand handbooks, try to match the personality you want your brand to have with the way you share that information.
Some ideas for you:
● Design up an interactive timeline of your business’ history
● Add videos and team interviews for more unique insights
● Tell your story creatively.
How Your About Page Can Inform Your Brand’s Tone of Voice
Tone of voice is a vital part of your brand. It might not be something you’ve considered on its own, but if you choose certain words or phrases to describe what you do in any of your literature on in your web content, that’s your tone of voice shining through.
Basically, the words you choose help to build up a picture of who you are. If you use the words 'professional' and 'experience; in the same paragraph, you begin to build up a picture of your business as an outfit people can trust, Using words like 'care' and 'your needs' gives off a different impression; one that shows your business aims to look after and support your customers or clients.
Using these brand-aware words and phrases in your about page will help to build your image psychologically.
Take a look at these successful brands' about pages and you’ll see what I mean.
Jewson: Leading providers, friendly customer service.
Pampers: Care, protection, love.
Edinburgh Zoo: Connection, conservation, experience, research.
Fancy Some Homework?
After taking a look at those three examples and comparing them, how would you improve them? Using that same constructive criticism, take another look at your own about page. Does it need an update?
Finding the Time to Update Your About Page
Of course, updating and refreshing your web content can be another important task in a long list of jobs you have to tackle this quarter.
Why not outsource to a professional copywriter and web content creator? I have experience with working with businesses of all shapes and sizes and in a huge range of industries. Get in touch to find out how I can help you.