Anonymous web sites don’t provide much reassurance that their information provided is accurate because no one knows who is really speaking. Here is what should be included on an About page.
Paint a Picture
The more stilted the About page, the less likely people will actually read it. Imagine that the visitor knows next to nothing about your business and what you do. How should you introduce what the web site offers and if there is a business behind it, what does the business primarily do? Does it provide consultancy, offer other services or sell products?
If you’re able to get a bit more personal with a story behind the beginnings of the business and how it got from its start to now, that also works well. For companies with an extensive history, a separate linked company history page is a good idea too.
Validate the Business
Whether the site represents a one-person business or a huge conglomerate, visitors need to know whether you’re the real deal. Anyone can put up a website these days, so people who enter the site need to determine that you’re the real operation.
Share whatever credentials are available. If you’ve worked with big name companies, talk about it and show their logos. Any industry awards and recent highlights of note, don’t be shy to mention them to provide industry plaudits.
Value Statement
While the Mission Statement was something that companies completed, published and then quickly forgot, a statement about the values of the business demonstrates how they intend to conduct their business. Listing the company’s values demonstrates that the business is serious about being held accountable to the values they aspire to.
Testimonials
Depending on how you’ve laid out the site, you may wish to include a small handful of testimonials right on the About Us page. Other times, a longer list of complete testimonials would be shown on their own page. Testimonials provide a degree of social proof from previous customers. These customers should have submitted the testimonial themselves (nothing manufactured here) and have pre-approved the use of their statement on the site before its publication.
Pictures
With an About page, people usually expect to see some pictures. Ideally, these are photos of the CEO and key staff or the photo of the blogger if that’s you. Failing that, for companies with a corporate image, then at least show the corporate headquarters. Avoid having an About page with a wall of text with nothing visual to feast the eyes on.
Social
Suggest to visitors that they check out your social media pages. Provide links to the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other relevant social media pages that might be of interest. Show the number of likes or followers as additional social proof too. Visitors want to see that the company is publicly accountable for its brand, image and customer service.
Getting the About page right is important for every website because it’s the best introduction a site can make. For people who’ve never visited the site or dealt with the company before, it’s the public face of the enterprise. Most About Us pages are very poor. It’s quite easy to do much better than average here.