When you’re building a website, you’re probably focused on promoting your products and services, providing ways for people to contact you, and making sure that all the links work. What you may not be thinking about (or actively avoiding) is taking the time to let people know more about your company and the people behind it. Learn why your website should have an About page as part of your business and marketing strategy.
People Buy from (Real) People
While a cold corporate veneer might work for big businesses, the opposite is true for small and mid-sized businesses. In a world growing increasingly fake with the rise of AI images and content, the human connection is more essential than ever. As the saying goes, “people buy from people,” and so making an About page and including the story of your business and the prominent people behind it (even if it’s candid photos) helps build a connection to customers.
Learn more about fostering these connections in our blog post, Is Your Branding Too Professional? Putting People Into Your Marketing.
Keeping Visitors on Your Website
I’ve been looking at our client’s website traffic for a long time: did you know that the About Us page is usually the second- or third-most-visited page on a website? While people may come in via your homepage or a blog post, those interested in your company (and therefore your products and services) will often want to see who is behind it. Especially in service-based businesses, these pages can be the tipping point to generating a lead.
What Should an About Us Page Contain?
An About page doesn’t need to be a long, sprawling page, but most share the same common features. Depending on how your business is set up and scaled, this can also be a directory for customers to reach individual departments or staff members. Here are the standard elements:
- Information About Your Company: Tell people a bit about your company. This can include its history (including founding date), why it was founded, and how it’s changed and grown over the years.
- Information About Your Staff: Include top-level staff, such as the president/CEO and other C-suite members. See the “personal branding” section below for more information. Other staff can be included as well, including a directory.
- Additional Information: If your company has a mission statement, is involved in the local community, or has any other information you think would be beneficial to share, make sure to say it here and link appropriately.
- Awards and Accolades: If you’ve got any awards or accolades of note, this is a good place to put them (you can also put them on your home page and link here for more information. Note, if you’re looking for awards, know how to spot fakes.
Make sure this content aligns with the tone and style of the rest of the website to avoid jarring readers.
Personal Branding on Your About Page
Your About page can also be a part of a larger personal branding initiative—especially important if you’re an owner/operator or running a one-person business. Having your name and photo on your website, along with social media (including LinkedIn), is an important part of personal branding, so your website shows up when people search for your name, and they can find more information. Learn more about personal branding on websites in our blog, Can You Use SEO for Personal Branding?
Having this kind of human connection on your website can be the difference between users selecting your service or clicking away, making it vital marketing for small businesses in competitive marketplaces. Thankfully, you don’t have to go it alone. Vision has been helping businesses combine marketing and websites for years, and we can help you, too. Contact us today. Want to learn more? Check out the rest of our Vision blogs, our enVisioning Success podcast, and our downloadable Marketing Strategies Playbook.
