How to Stand Out Online with your About Us Page
Often overlooked, a company’s About Us page is where you showcase your company profile, history, milestones, and what you contribute to society. This is where your bragging rights are displayed front and center. This part gives you the opportunity to pitch how well, effective, and efficient your company is all about. Through this page you can build your company’s credibility and integrity online.
After the homepage, your About Us page comes second in line of order of importance, especially if you are a service oriented company. If your homepage was able to grab your reader’s attention, their next stop would be on your About Us page. To get to know you better, they need to understand you better. And to learn more about you, they need to see how well you present yourself on your About Us page.
Remember, users online don’t like to read huge chunks of paragraphs, especially when it comes to website content. But if you write a compelling headline with an attractive sub headline, you can catch your reader’s attention and increase your chances of getting noticed and getting heard to finish line.
Because in today’s technology, there are many businesses that emerge in the same industry you are in, your competitors become widespread. Constantly popping up, new businesses are built every day. It is your job to strengthen your company’s core values, mission, and vision to be able to keep up with the trend. Your goal is to outwit your competitors through your improved corporate identity. If you fail, your audience has a lot to choose from and can quickly shift to your competitors. While there are many other website elements that will increase your online presence, for now let’s focus more on your company profile, your crown jewel.
People need to know who you are. The way you express yourself, the way you talk about your strengths and weaknesses, your products and services, the way you present yourself, are all judged by your audience. Because we judge too quickly and we mostly focus on the bad side of something, how you present your company profile will largely depend on what you say and how you say it.
Here are 8 awesome tips you can use to stand out online with you About Us Page:
- It must tell a story from your humble beginnings
People like a great story. Where you came from and how you started are good ways to start your company profile. People enjoy stories of underdogs, how they rose from defeat and eventually became an empire famous worldwide.
People are fascinated with anecdotes that contradict their first impression of you. One example of a great About Us page is from Marie Catrib’s. She runs a restaurant of her own specializing in a variety of delicatessens filled with unique and creative concoctions of flavors and spices. But reading her about us page will surprise many as it turns out, she was banned from the kitchen when growing up.
What adorable stories can you share your audience that can surprise them? What stories can you share that they wouldn’t have thought about your company?
Others rely on your years of experience, practice and hard work. You can showcase your talent by telling them how you started. For example, in the beginning you were just a one man team, and then eventually your business gradually improved and grew. Things like these matter to your audience. They are looking for ways on how your company came to be.
Your audiences are humans too. You don’t want to bombard them with Wikipedia texts on how your company came to be. You want to be a conversationalist. Give them room to imagine your trials, your defeat and your success. When you tell a story you want to grab your reader’s attention and get them hooked so that they’ll finish reading your about us page. You want to connect with them and show them that they too can achieve what your company has achieved.
It’s not just about stating facts where you started, when you started, how many you are in the team, and so on. You must create an atmosphere where readers will feel welcomed and invited. You want to connect with them on a human level where they can feel that they can tell you anything and that they will get what they are looking for, and that you are approachable and you don’t care even if they are just canvassing your products and services.
You want to talk and engage with your audience as if they are humans. You want to tell them a great story with funny anecdotes and cute adorable situations from your struggle to your success. People love that.
People also like inspirational stories. They engage more in a company with a cause. Another great example is the about us page of Yellow Leaf Hammock. With every purchase of a hammock, you impact artisan communities. Their page is simple yet powerful. Through job creations, they break the cycle of poverty prevalent in the artisan communities. The way they crafted their about us content is simple yet powerful. It’s direct to the point and with a firm goal that is to help communities fight poverty.
Remember, your audiences are humans too. Be engaging by using cute and fun stories about your company. Be conversationalists by inserting interesting anecdotes from your humble beginnings.
- It must speak of your mission and vision
Your about us page is a reflection of what your company stands for through your mission and vision. You must give your audience a clear direction on what and where you stand in the marketplace. For example, when you think of Steve Jobs, you think of innovation and progress. What do your company stands for? To get to know you, your audience must understand what your company represents.
Your mission statement will inform people what your organization is all about. Often times it’s short, simple, and captures the entire purpose of the organization. It separates what’s important from what’s not and it states which markets you are going to tap and serve. Finally, it serves as guidelines for employees to follow in order to be effective and productive, which in turn will benefit the market needs.
Your vision is what you aspire to be in the future. Crafting an effective and inspirational vision statement will put your target market at ease knowing what the company plans to achieve. If you talk of great business core values, your consumers will feel your concern for the masses. Remember, you can tap people’s emotion by being honest and true to your company values. If you show people how dedicated and committed you are in achieving your company goals and objectives, your audience will feel a sense of compassion, care, and a deep regard from your effort to serve the market by going the extra mile.
- It must showcase how you can make a difference in the marketplace
People hear, read, and see the same gimmicks, ads, and sales promotion all the time. Out of other companies similar to yours, how can you make a difference in the lives of your target market? How are your products and services going to revolutionize the lives of many?You about us page must highlight your products and services and their benefits and features. What are you going to do to solve your market’s problems? How your products and services are can make a difference in the world of chaos. How will you take advantage of technological advancements?
All these are important questions that need to be answered on your about us page. Crafting them in such a way that your readers will be able to absorb them easily is very crucial. Remember, people don’t like reading huge chunks of paragraphs on your about us page. Be clear, simple and direct to the point.
- It must speak specifically to your target market
Knowing your target market is very important. Not all people speak the same language. Women and men speak different languages. Teens and adults speak different languages. If you want to empower you must use words of empowerment, you must sound firm and you must sound tough. If you want to be creative you must sound clever and witty as well as fun and upbeat. Your choice of words and how you craft them are your tools for grabbing your reader’s attention. One way to assure your audience how great your company is through testimonials. Testimonials will assure your potential clients that your company is revered and respected for your professional competence and years of experience. By allowing your loyal customers to give feedback on how you do and displaying them on your about us page, you increase your chances of being liked and approached by other online visitors and will put new customers at ease knowing that you are getting good reviews.
- It must speak solutions to your target market
People visit your site because they need a solution to their problems. Briskly describe them in bullet points what you are offering so that they can gauge if your company fit their requirements. Don’t go full blast and list as many advantages of your products and services. Just give them a little peek on what’s in store for them.
- It must be able to capture your target market’s emotion
Users make buying decisions based on their emotions. Through a compelling copy, you can attract your audience and grab their attention.
How can you capture your target audience? Different people have different preferences. Understanding your audience will greatly improve your copy. You want to make them cry, laugh, get angry, and all emotions they could possibly feel.
But, how?
List all the benefits and features of products and services. What is your unique selling proposition? Meaning what are you offering that others are not? How are your products and services different from your competitors?
Benefits show the end result your products and services; what they do and how they can improve the lives of the people. For example, by crafting an effective about us page, you are reaching out to your potential customers to purchase or avail your services. The benefit is increasing your conversion rate.
Features are the dimensions and specs of your products and services. An effective website, for example, have features such as user-friendly navigation, cohesive design and attractive design elements, equipped with social proof and success indicators, these are the specs or dimensions that make your website effective in order to benefit your potential customers producing an excellent user experience.
- It must showcase your milestones
People love to see how you progress. Show them where you started and then create a timeline of how you continually improve every single year. This will strengthen your position in the market because you’re showing people that you continue to improve and develop. You are assuring people that your company is learning over the years and won’t stop and that your product will endlessly improve for their benefit. Similar to Google and Moz about us page, they have created a timeline from their humble beginnings up until their success today.
- It must include testaments from clients
You can list all the things that make your company great, but if you don’t have any proof, people will not buy into your bullshit. They can read through your lies and deceit. Equip your page with some testimonials from your loyal customers let the world know what others are saying about you. One great example website that does this is FortyOneTwenty. Instead of them bragging about themselves, they let their customers do the talking.
To learn more about how to stand out online with your about us page, here are some examples of websites with awesome about us page:
- Lessfilms, a creative a company who knows how to be creative, fun, and simple. They will make you laugh even the cynics. When crafting content, it’s important to know your voice and your corporate identity. While not all can be creative, your about us page must set a specific tone that represents what your company is all about.
- Rent the Runway has a different approach on their about us page, instead of client testimonials; they let their employees speak for the company. They show their target audience what type of people make up the company and how they are treated by their bosses. Next to testimonials, nothing beats a positive remark from a satisfied and appreciated employee.
- MailChimp, a software that allows you to email blast multiple newsletters to your potential customers. A bit technical for a layman, MailChimp is able to create a simple and easy-to-understand content that allows users to effectively use the software.
- Pencil stylus for 53 is a company that sells stylus for smartphones. Their sleek web design paired with engaging content produced a minimalist yet elegant effect on the readers.
As mentioned above, your About Us page is your opportunity to showcase what your company is all about, your products and services and their benefits and features. You don’t have to write in blocks with huge chunks of texts, just be human, be engaging and be a conversationalist. Talk to your audience directly and be transparent, no lie, no deceits, and no over the top achievements. Show people that you are human too. Your company is built to care and built to serve.
What other tips can you share that will make an About Us page stand out online? Share your comments and suggestions below!