Think about the About page on your website.
If you don’t have one, you should create one immediately after reading this article.
If you have one, what’s the point? Is it to show customers who your team is, to put a 'face' to the company? Or do you talk about the history of your company? Maybe it’s a recruiting tool?
About pages can serve a variety of purposes. The key to making them successful, though, is knowing what that purpose is, and designing the page to address that purpose specifically.
Your About page is the perfect place to encourage people to work with you, or to work for you. Below are some best practices to follow when designing your About page to achieve either of those goals.
1. Tell your story
Your About page is your opportunity to make a personal connection with prospective customers. Explain why it is that you do what you do. Are you passionate about improving your industry, your product, the world? Reveal your passion, and people will want to work with you.
Nick Braun, founder and CEO of Pet Insurance Quotes, took this one step further by helping potential clients imagine themselves in his shoes.
Braun’s About page includes the key elements of any successful About page: contact information, trust-building industry badges of approval, and clear CTAs. What makes this page stand out is Braun’s personal dog rescue story. He and his wife fell instantly in love with their new pup Beau, and started exploring insurance options so they could keep him happy and healthy for as long as possible. It was during this time that Braun realized how difficult it was to compare pet insurance providers, which gave him the idea to start the website. Braun’s site aims to help other pet parents avoid headache and heartache.
'There is nothing fancy about it, but what it does that most other About pages don’t is provide a story about why we’re in business. I always find it frustrating when I can’t get any sense of who the company is,' said Braun. 'We decided to share my story as a pet parent to provide context and help connect with our audience.'
2. Establish credibility
Chris Brantner recognized the sales opportunity an About page presents. Rather than offering another boring 'About Me' story on CutCableToday.com, he designed a page to encourage customers to take action.
The page begins with a trust-building banner. 'It validates the site as an expert source in the industry by showing where the site has gained national media coverage,' said Brantner. Once he’s established trust, Brantner keeps things fun and conversational, allowing his personality to shine. 'It’s a great branding piece that allows people to get to know the site mascot, and the guy behind him (me).'
Brantner understands that when people come to an About page, they’re already at a place where they’re interested in the product, and what they’re looking for at this point is reassurance that this is the kind of person they want to work with. After building trust and rapport with potential customers in the previous sections of the page, the page ends with a contact form. 'It drives people to action by convincing them to click internal links that will push them into the funnel, or at last resort, email asking for help to keep the conversation going.'
3. Feature your customers
As they say, the proof is in the pudding. There’s a reason why online reviews and customer testimonials are so popular'¦ they work. User your About page to show off your portfolio of work and share how happy your customers are.
Pet Checkers is a UK-based company that connects pet owners with pet care professionals when they go on holiday. As any pet owner can relate, it’s nerve-wracking to leave your pet in the hands of a stranger. Not only do you want to know that they will be safe, you want to know that they will be cared for lovingly. Building that sense of trust is a tall order for any pet care company, but Pet Checkers found a clever solution to this challenge in the design of their About page.
Owner Ben Doyle explained, 'We worked really hard to make the page look as welcoming and as personal as possible. All of the images we used on the page (and the site) are of actual pets we look after, so our clients can see that we make a fuss of their pets on the site. We also introduce our staff members to make the readers feel like they’re getting to know us before any contact even takes place.'
Does it work? You bet. 'The click through rate from this page to the contact page is the highest of any page on the site,' shared Doyle.
4. Introduce the team
Introducing your team is especially important if you’re a company where individual staff will be working closely and for prolonged times with clients. If this is the kind of business you’re in, be it a law firm, a design agency, or something else, hiding your team away can be a kiss of death. Make your team accessible through your website so your customers know they can expect openness and transparency in your working relationship.
One company that took a clever twist on this approach is TunnelBear. Their mascot is a grizzly bear, so rather than displaying normal photos of their team, they created grizzly-inspired illustrations that reflect their unique personalities. The effect is endearing and makes you want to work with such a fun group of people. Accordingly, they end with a recruiting call-out and link to their jobs page.
5. Showcase your work
Not to toot our own horn, but we’re pretty proud of our own About page here at HostGator. We highlight the milestones in our company history, so customers can celebrate our successes along with us. These also help establish our credibility and tenure in the industry, as customers can note the growth of our company from a single office Houston to several international offices with over 2 million clients. At the end, we encourage potential hires to envision themselves working at HostGator and link to our Careers page.
Conclusion
We hope these About pages inspired you! When creating your About page, aim to follow these best practices:
- Tell your story.
- Feature your customers.
- Establish credibility.
- Showcase your work.
- Introduce your team.
- Incorporate your brand.
- Make it fun!
What is your About page all about? Do you have a favorite we’ve missed here? Let us know in the comments!
Amelia Willson is a freelance writer and content strategist who helps businesses succeed online. She covers the latest in ecommerce, marketing technology, and health and wellness. When she’s not busy writing, you can find her walking her dog Rockefeller in sunny southern California or blogging about Disneyland. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Great examples here Amelia! I feel that there’s a bit of a move away from the super personalised About Us page as of late – what do you think? I feel less is more in this instance, and it’s certainly a move I’ve been making with my own page.
Hi Camilla,
Thanks for reading! I think the amount of personalization that’s best really depends on your company/website. For some companies having that element of personalization is more important as customers want to feel connected with you – in the example of pet sitters above, for instance. While sometimes it’s more expedient to focus on what services you can offer your client. It all depends on your offering and what your customers are looking for.
I checked out your about page, by the way. Love the section “What am I good for?” :)