Think about what you do when you check out someone’s website for the first time.

You land on the home page, have a bit of a look. Maybe check out their products and services.

Before you leave the site, you’ll most likely go to their About Us page and see what they’re all about.

And it’s from the About Us page you get a feel for whether you’d like to engage with the company.

A poor or non-existent About Us page is a missed opportunity to convert more visitors into leads.

Here are five things you should take into account when you write your About Us page.

Be different

Your About Us page is the page on your website where you really get to stand out.

For this reason, there is no set formula you should follow when it comes to putting together your content.

Instead, let your creativity shine and use the page to set yourself apart from your competitors.

What’s your story? How did your business start?

Why does the company exist? What does it stand for? What is it trying to achieve?

Who is behind it? What makes them interesting?

Answering any (or all) of these questions is a great way to demonstrate that you’re different and show people you’re a company that would be awesome to work with.

As an example, strategy, process, and achieving more with less for our clients are key differentiators for us at System 7 and we’ve made sure these themes come to the fore on our About Us page.

Be engaging

It’s all very well to be different but if your About Us page comes off as bland or corporate no one is going to bother to read it.

Your company should have a personality, so use it.

Write in the first person. It’s your About Us page, you wrote it, so it sounds odd being written in the third person and is definitely not engaging!

Use a conversational tone.

Your goal is to connect with the visitor. In real life, we connect with people through conversation. Do the same with your About Us page.

Website development and getting a new website built can seem pretty daunting for clients so we’ve made sure the tone of our About Us page is down to earth and friendly.

We also let our personality really come through.

Be real

People who land on your About Us page want to get to know you.

They don’t want to read through a page of hype about how awesome your company is.

So, stick the facts and show people why you’re an awesome company to deal with, don’t tell them.

Business is about trust and one of the reasons people go to your About Us page is to see if you’re someone they can trust.

If you’re not authentic and honest on your About Us page your visitors will pick it up.

And if that’s what comes across from your website then that’s the impression they are going to have about doing business with you.

One way to build trust is to show the people behind the brand. People like dealing with people and it’s another opportunity to be different and show personality.

We’ve featured our whole team, along with Bustar (arguably our most important member!), our office dog and de-stressor.

Be about them

While the page is called “About Us”, it’s really about them – your potential customer.

Have this in mind when you’re putting together your page.

Who are they? What do they want to know? Is it obvious how you can help them?

After all, visitors are on your website to see if you have a solution to their problem.

And then from your About Us page, they want to see if you’re the great bunch people they want delivering the solution.

There are lots of web design and development companies out there.

If people want a website, great – we can deliver them a solution. But what they really want is a website that will deliver business results.

That’s what we do and that’s what our About Us page tells visitors we’ll do for them.

We can also do it within their budget, and we show them the process we follow on the page (both answers to common questions potential customers have).

Be concise

Once you have figured out what you want to write, it’s easy to get carried away – particularly if your company has been in business a long time.

Like with the rest of your site, it’s important to be concise. People don’t need to know your whole life story, just the key parts.

If you’ve had a lot of key milestones, look at how you could display this graphically on a timeline that doesn’t take up too much space but gets the important points across.

You may want to have detailed bios about each team member, so have their images on your About Us page and the ability to click through to another page with the full bio.

If you have lots of different types of content on the page, make sure there is a logical flow that is easy for someone to read through.

Conclusion

After your Home page, your About Us page is one of the most visited pages on your website.

So, it’s important you put the time and effort into making it effective.

While there isn’t a set structure, it’s important your About Us page stands out, is engaging, real, is about your visitors, and is concise.

Tick these boxes and you’ll convert more of your website visitors into leads.

We’re more than happy to take a look at your About Us page and give you some advice on how it could be made more effective – get in touch.