Don’t skimp on your about page
The other day I was looking around at some other web design company blogs. Not to be creepy, but I like to see what other people are writing about on their blogs, maybe learn some new things or get some inspiration. And I got to one site and I noticed that it only had a home page and then a portfolio page.
There were no other pages on the site that I could see. I could list a whole slew of reasons why only having two pages is not great, but the thing that stuck out to me the most was that there was no about page.
And I thought, “Who is this person?” Who works there? Where are they located? How did they start this business?
I bet I’m not the only person that landed there that thought that. This is particularly important if you are an online business like ours, where you most likely never meet your clients in person.
Building credibility is vital to online businesses
How do you build trust with potential clients, if you aren’t meeting them in person. There are three basic ways:
- referrals
- reviews
- about us page
Referrals
When someone lands on your website because someone referred them there, there is already a level of trust with your business. Word of mouth is the best possible starting point you can have when building your business’s credibility.
Reviews
Reviews can play a big role in whether someone trusts your company or not, and I’m not just talking about reviews on your website. Of course the reviews on your website are all going to be great, because you get to pick and choose which reviews go there. But reviews on third party sites like Google and Facebook speak much more to your credibility than the ones on your website.
Side note: If you want to make your website testimonials more trustworthy, add the full name of the reviewer (with permission) and their photo. For our own website, we also link to the website we made so our site visitors can see the person who left the review but also the website we did for them.
About Us Page
When you are looking to hire someone, and this doesn’t just apply to online businesses, you often want to learn about the company you are hiring. Who are they? How long have they been in business? Where did they get their education? How big is their company? I could go on and on.
If someone is researching you and your company, they are going to look at that page. It is more than likely going to be one of the most look at pages on your website. So you need to pay attention to it.
What goes on the about page
There are a few things you should have on your about page. Often times, people submit a few sentences and maybe a photo they took with their phone, and consider that good enough.
It’s not good enough. In the time where all the information of the world is available in our pockets 24/7, you need to do better.
Answer the questions that people want to know on your about page. Possible questions include:
- Who are you?
- Where are you located?
- How did you get into your business?
- How long have you been doing it?
- Do you have any awards or accomplishments?
- Who works with you? Who is on your team?
- Why are you great at what you do?
Think about the questions you get asked when you start a new conversation with a potential client. What do they want to know? That’s what you should answer on your about page.
Tips to make your about page stand out
Make sure to have a good amount of text, but break it up with photos, lists, and headings. Nobody wants to read your autobiography. People are skimmers, so make the text skimmable.
Get professional photos if you can afford it, and if you can’t maybe have a friend with a nice camera go outside with you and get some decent shots. Don’t use photos you took with your phone inside your office, you’ll never get lighting good enough to make those stand out.
And don’t forget your call-to-action. After someone has read your about page, what should they do? Should they call you? Fill out a form? Follow you on social media? Be sure to give them a task to complete now that they’ve learned all about you.
