How to Write a Great About Us Page
In this blog post, I want to show you how to write a great about page or bio. Most websites already have some kind of about page or bio, but many people underestimate this very important page. Because of this, about pages get thrown in as an afterthought and are often poorly written.
Thankfully this situation is fixable. Let’s dive in.
Why are About Pages Important
Before launching into how to create a great about page, I want to address a point I made in the opening paragraph. The about page is an important part of any successful website but it’s often undervalued when compared to other pages. In all fairness, this is an understandable mistake for a website focused on selling a product or service.
The home page and product pages are going to be your site visitor's first stop and you need to make sure the copy and layout of those pages will draw a prospective customer in. However, that’s not where the site visitor’s journey ends. Once they decide you have the product or service they want at a price they can afford, many customers will then turn to your about page.
The reason people do this is that they want to learn more about your brand, who you are, what you represent, what process you use to obtain or create your products, etc. Your about page is a chance to answer these questions and instill a sense of trust and even connection in your prospective buyers. That means this page can be the final straw that will either convince them to purchase from you or make them go to a different web page. That information should be enough to convince any business that they need a good about page, but they aren’t the only ones who should be concerned about this.
If your website’s main goal isn’t to sell a product generate money then your about page is even more important. I’m talking about groups and organizations like churches, volunteer groups, non-profits, etc. It’s also very important for freelancers like me who have to build a connection with our clients before making any money. When people go to these kinds of websites they’re usually looking for information. That means their first stop, after briefly glancing at the home page, will be the about page.
Incorporate Your Story
The key to writing a great about page or bio is to center it around your story. Remember, you’re trying to connect with the customer. The more personal your about page or bio is, the better. Just make sure you stay true to your overall brand message at the same time.
All businesses have a lot of details and nuances in their story, even the ones that had a fairly easy start. You won’t be able to cram all of those details into your about page, it just isn’t practical. Plus, people who visit your about page don’t want to spend a lot of time there, which means it shouldn’t be needlessly long. I usually recommend keeping your about page’s word count somewhere in between 300 and 1000 words.
In the end, you’ll have to decide what part of your story you want to center your about page around. Here are three ideas to help get you started
How you got the idea
One common way to start an about page is to tell your reader why you decided to start your business. From there you can write about the steps you took to get your business up and running. This is a great place to add details like how you felt when making your first sale.
This makes for an interesting read, but make sure you don’t give in to the temptation to embellish facts. The point of your about page or bio is to help people get to know the real you, not some exaggerated version of you. If you highlight what’s unique about your business you’ll be able to stand out even if your business had a relatively “uninteresting” start.
How you got your success
This type of about page will center around the time your business went from barely making ends meet to being a profitable enterprise. Perhaps your business took off after it was included in a magazine article, or maybe you had to do a lot of networking and your business just grew over time. It doesn’t matter what your success story looks like, just make sure to make it personal (how you felt and reacted, etc).
You also need to make sure that you highlight how your success story is beneficial for your buyers. This doesn’t have to be an obvious “our business is successful, so we’re trustworthy” statement. It’s better to highlight areas where your product or service improved as your business grew and how the improvements benefit your customers.
Your Experience
The third approach to centering your about page around your story is to talk about the experience you have in your industry. This is a good strategy for freelancers and one-person companies because you’re able to quickly showcase your skills and how you got to where you are now.
If you’ve earned any special certifications or other achievements in your industry you can mention them on your about page to add credibility to your brand.
If you like more than one of these methods you can combine them. For example, when I set up the website for a construction company I combined all three of these techniques while writing the about page. Regardless of which part of your story you want to focus on, you should incorporate your business’ values into your about page or bio. That’s one of the main things people are looking for when they go there.
Incorporate Your Process
Highlighting the benefits of your product or services can be a lot easier when you center your about page or bio around your process instead of your story. It also makes for a shorter about page, which will appeal to most of the people visiting your website. Like I said before, each business is different and so are their processes, but here are two common and successful methods for writing this kind of about page…
How you do it
You can start building a good connection with your prospective customer by being transparent on how you create a product. You don’t want to give a full tutorial, but you want to show them that you’re worth their money.
For example, let’s say you are selling handmade wooden items. You could mention the types of wood you use and how you add personalized detailing. This lifts the curtain for your prospective buyer and reassures them that they’ll be getting a quality product that they won’t be able to find anywhere else.
Where You Get it From
A lot of businesses don’t make all or any of the products they sell. Instead, they order them from other companies or sellers. If your business falls into this category you might want to center your about page around where the products are coming from. Give some details about your sources and the products they supply you with.
I did this while writing new web pages for a health food company’s website. They ordered all of their products from organic farms and eco-friendly brands, so I added that to the web pages I wrote for them. This would help them lure in customers who preferred those kinds of products.
There are some other tips I could give you but I think you’ve got the gist of it, so I’ll end with the most important part of writing an about page.
Your USP
Your Unique Selling Point should be incorporated into all of your web pages, and your about page or bio is no exception. This is the page that lets people see a part of your business that they’d never see otherwise, so make it count. Your USP might not be something obvious, so you’ll have to be very direct in pointing it out to your customers. Your about page is the perfect place to do that.
Of course, you can't highlight your Unique Selling Point if you don’t even know what it is, so it’s worth it to sit down and find the one thing that truly makes your business different from your competitors. Be thorough when you do this, sometimes your Unique Selling Point is right in front of your nose and you don’t even realize it. I heard a story a while back that illustrates this point perfectly...
During my copywriting training, one of my instructors related an experience he had while working with a piano manufacturer. He was trying to find the company's USP, but they didn’t seem to be any different from other piano manufacturers. Since he knew he needed some kind of USP to write the copy the company wanted he started doing a little research. Eventually, he found that they added a special bar into all of their pianos so they would be sturdier and last longer.
The company had been doing this for so long that they didn’t even think about it when my instructor had asked for their Unique Selling Point. That’s why you have to look carefully at both your own business and your competitors to see what makes you stand out the most.
Once you’ve found your Unique Selling Point all you have to do is incorporate it into your story or process and you’ll be good to go.
Like I said before there are other smaller tips on writing a great about page, but I think this is enough for one blog post. Maybe I’ll do a series on writing web pages for specific types of businesses, groups, and organizations. Until then, I wish you the best while writing your new about page.
Also, if you still can’t find the time or inspiration to write your own about page or bio, you can always ask me to do it. After all, I do write web pages for a living.