Imagine this scenario: your ideal customer went to their fellow entrepreneurs and friends and asked if anyone knew a “good” accountant, graphic designer, lawyer, social media manager, etc (insert-your-service-based-business-here).
That ideal customer was given your name and three other people that they were told were all excellent. To help them decide whom they might want to work with, they visit all of your websites to get a feel for who you are.
Most likely when they hit that website, they’re going to look at your services page and one other critical page to their decision – your About page.
The About Us page (or Our Story page, depending on your personal preference) is literally the place to show how you stand out amongst the competition.
But I see a lot of my clients make a few similar mistakes and leave some important details off of their About pages.
How can you create an About page that can help take that ideal customer from investigating to ready to buy?
Today we’re going to dive into some Dos and Don’ts and the best way to approach your About page.
And pro tip: it’s not all about you.
Don’t Just Make It About You
Our first tip might just surprise you, but your About Us page should not just be about you and your company.
This is a really easy mistake to make. Many people feel like this is where you immediately dive into your own story. Especially when you have more of a personal brand, it can be really easy to turn your website’s About page into a mini biography.
I hate to say it so bluntly, but no one really cares about you.
That is, until you’ve proven that you can help them.
When it comes to your About page, make sure that you remind them what you and your company can do for them.
How Does Your Company Help Customers?
It doesn’t have to be much, but open up your page with a couple of small paragraphs about how you help your customers.
What do you do specifically for them? What’s the benefit that they’ll get from working with you?
If your brand is a bit more personal, you might start with yourself at the top, but you’ll want to bring it back to them.
Why does your ideal customer care about what you’re saying? Do you understand what they’re going through? Have you been there before and now you’re going to help them make it through those same problems?
Whatever it is you do for your customers, you’ll want to ensure that your About page demonstrates that you can help them.
Showcase Your Expertise and Unique Value
Now that I’ve told you not to just make it about you, I’m going to confuse you and tell you to ensure that you’re showcasing your expertise and unique value.
I know, it seems like I’m all over the place.
But the reality is that your About page should include information about you and your company. So you want to include those pieces about how you help your customer, but this is also the place to introduce your skillset.
Don’t make this a biography about your struggles and how you came up through the world. You don’t even need to include your educational background (unless your customers might care about that).
What you want to focus on is how you are uniquely positioned to help your customer with the problem you’ve told them that you understand.
That means showcasing how your background translates into the expertise that you are now putting to use for your customers. Focus only on the stuff that you might talk about in a job interview. How has your past experience shaped your unique skillset? Why do you understand their needs better than a competitor? What have you gleaned through years of being on the job?
Your Mission & Vision
Have you ever sat down and put together a company vision statement? I’m not saying that this is appropriate for everyone to include on their About pages, but if your vision is a big part of why you do what you do, this is a great spot to include it.
Just don’t plop it in the middle of the page and add the headline “Our Vision.” No one really cares about that.
Relate it back to them with the headline so they actually read it.
Your Values
The same thought goes for your values. Not everyone is going to care about your values. They can be great guiding principles for your business and especially good for your employees so they understand what you’re striving for, but your customers don’t necessarily need to read them on your About page.
However, if your values directly relate to what you do differently (and how), or if you have a bit more of a mission-driven business, then these can be good to include.
Just like with the mission and vision, you don’t want to just throw these on the page. When you’re adding them to your About page, you really want to ask yourself why your customers would want to read them.
Introduce Your Human Side
One of the most important aspects of an About page? Letting your ideal customer get to know your human side!
The internet has made the world a smaller place and it’s also allowed us to work with people we might never have met otherwise. When someone is choosing a business to provide them a service, they’re not only looking for that service, they want to know they’ll get along with the people in the business, too.
After all, they’re letting you into their own business and possibly entrusting you with some pretty sensitive information about themselves.
Ditch the stock photos and use real photos of you and your team where you can. If it’s just you, that’s totally OK. And if you use contractors, ask them, but it’s completely fine to include them on your About page as well.
If there’s a chance your customer might be speaking to anyone on your team, they’re going to want to be able to put a face with the name and know a bit about you all, too. Nice headshots and a short bio with their unique experience, job title, and a bit of something personal about them helps your potential customer to feel better connected to you.
Add Some Social Proof
Want someone else to back up what you’re saying? Your About page can and should include some social proof!
Got some press mentions? Then you can add logos of publications that have featured you and your company here.
Ever published a book or have you been on some podcasts? You can add a little highlight for those.
You can even just include some logos of the clients that you work with or add a really strong testimonial to the page.
The key here is to reinforce and let people know that you know what you’re talking about by having someone else say it for you.
When someone clicks on your about page, they want the opportunity to get to know you and your company. The goal is to reinforce what you’re saying and back it up and build some trust. They’re far more likely to believe everything else you’re saying on your page when you showcase someone else who you’ve helped.
Include a Call to Action
This is true for every page that you have on your website, but especially for your About page – you need to include a next step. A call to action.
If your ideal customer has gotten to the end of your About page (and honestly, they’ve probably skimmed their way down), then you’ll want to tell them “what’s next.”
It’s likely that they’re ready to chat with you further or get to know you even better, so give them the opportunity to do so, and make it really clear what you want them to do.
On my own website, I include a little call out to book a Clarity call with me, because that will be the best way that my customer can decide (in 15 minutes) if we’d be right to work together.
You can also include some kind of lead capture that gets them to sign up for your email list and spend some time getting to know you and your business that way.
If you want, you can even send them to your podcast, blog, or social media to discover how you might teach and interact with clients.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure you’re doing it clearly so that they understand exactly what they need to do to potentially work with you and dive into your business a bit further.
Your Most Important Conversion Page
You might be surprised at this, but a lot of people are going to land on your website and go to your About page first.
Why?
Because they want to know your story, your unique value, but also how you can help them. They’ve probably talked to a few other service providers and are looking for the right fit for them.
The best way to grab their attention and convert them to actually booking a call with you or signing up for a consulting session is to literally help them get to know you.
Stand out, be you, and tell your story.
Just make sure you remember to let them know what’s in it for them as well.
