One of the most popular TedTalks ever made was Simon Sinek’s, How Great Leaders Inspire Action. If you haven’t seen it, he preaches that the best stories, the best marketing, all starts with the ‘why’? That is where the power of your story comes into play. The best websites have an about us section to tell the story of your business, that section is where you explain why. Why your product or service is going to make their lives better, why your background makes you trustworthy, and why potential clients should choose your company over your competitors.
Feel like we’ve just been lowered into a pressure cooker? Don’t Panic! We’ve got a handy guide to writing an engaging and user-friendly about us page. Read on, intrepid traveler.
First Person
Please use the first person to write the about section. Many years ago, people thought it was more professional to write as though a third party was writing about your company. Glad that didn’t last very long… Unless you are writing the next great American novel, you probably shouldn’t be writing in the third person, sounds forced and can make you come across kind of creepy. If you aren’t comfortable with the I/me pronouns (or they just don’t make any sense) try we/our!
Conversational
Even the biggest money-making firms will write in a conversational tone. A good web design company can make your website look and feel professional so the copy in your About section doesn’t have to sound like a robot wrote it to build trust. You would be surprised at how much you can get people to lower their guard when you write conversationally. Be friendly, you can even be funny! Speak with passion and tell your truth. It’s smart to pretend you are explaining your business to one of your friends when you are writing and then edit down after you are done.
Opening
Visitors to your website will literally spend only seconds per page unless something catches their eye quickly. Great web design will get them to land on your about page, but a great story is what will keep them there. Draw people in with a great opening statement. Get personal, tell an appropriate joke, be self-deprecating, be different and you will reel them in.
Differentiate
Speaking of being different, be different. The marketing legend Jack Trout once said: differentiate or die. The About section of your website is a great place to show how you differ from your competitors. Whether it’s your product, your customer service, your experience or a combination of all of the above, this is a great place to prove how different you really are.
Images
Of course, just a bunch of text on a page isn’t going to catch everyone’s eye. A great about page tends to also have high-quality pictures of you, your business, or the employees hard at work. Fun fact, having some good quality images interspersed in your about page will not just make the page more visually appealing, but properly labelled images can also help your SEO score, so yay!
Already have enough on your plate? Scared of making a bad first impression? Our team also has a trained copywriter on staff, we can write all of your website copy for you! Just give us a call and we’ll see how we can help.