An About Us page is an integral piece of content to have on your website.
Every single successful business has one, no matter their industry or what they sell.
After all, every brand has a story – and your About Us page helps you tell yours.
That’s important because, these days, story and connection matter more than ever to customers.
In a Demand Gen survey, 55% of B2B buyers said content that tells a strong, resonating story is what would make them most likely to talk to sales.
Because your About Us page is one of the first places customers will look to find out about your business and story, it’s a foundational page that deserves time and attention to get right.
Let’s talk about it, including how to write an About Us page.
What is an About Us page?
An About Us page isn’t just where you share the story of your brand. It’s also where you tell your customer what you do for them and how you work to meet their needs in that area.
It isn’t so much “Here’s what we’re about,” but more like “Here’s who we are, why we started, and what we can do for you.”
This page can go by many other names, by the way:
“Our Mission”
“Our Story”
“About [brand name]”
Or simply “About”
An About Us page can include a wide array of information, but the most common sections to include are:
Who you serve and what you do for them.
Your brand story/history, including how you got started.
Your mission and vision for the company.
Your brand values, what you believe in, and how you uphold those values in your day-to-day operations.
Mini bios of the people on your team.
An explanation of your process, how your services work, or how your products are made.
You can include all of these sections, some of them, or just one or two.
It depends entirely on your business type, including your industry, what you sell, and how unique your products/services are.
On top of that, take into account your brand voice as well as what your customers would be interested to know.
As you’ll soon see, some businesses devote one or two short paragraphs to their About page – and that’s it. Others tell a long story of how they were founded, and yet more have multiple pages within their About page wheelhouse.
For example, if your brand is founded on strict environmental or ethical principles, you’ll probably spend more time explaining how you uphold those standards versus a brand that sells a simple, straightforward product.
How does an About Us page help your business and SEO?
We already mentioned that your About Us page is foundational to your website. That’s because customers expect it and look for it whenever they visit a new-to-them brand online.
People generally rank the About Us page as the second-most important element on your site (only contact information is rated higher in importance).
For comparison, it rates higher than product images and videos, live chat, social media icons/links, and even a blog.
That’s reason enough to create a great About Us page. However, there are even more benefits to creating one that might not have crossed your mind.
Brand transparency
Transparency matters to customers. They want to know how you operate, what goes on behind the scenes, and that you’re true to your word.
86% of U.S. consumers believe transparency in business matters now more than ever. To that end, your About Us page sets a standard for your transparency as a company overall.
Sharing values
Customers also want to know that the brands they support share their values.
84% of consumers worldwide said they’re more likely to buy from a brand with values that match their own. Your About Us page is the perfect place to lay out those values and what you stand for.
Connecting with customers
Writing an About page also helps you connect with customers, often during one of their first interactions with your brand.
Reading your story, mission, values, and purpose will help them relate to your company.
Boosting your website’s E-A-T
In terms of SEO, creating an About page isn’t necessarily about ranking the page in search.
Instead, it adds a layer of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) to your site by explaining your background, your knowledge, and why you’re uniquely qualified to sell what you sell, offer the services you do, or discuss the topics you publish content about.
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How to write an About Us page
Struggling to write an About Us page? Not to worry.
Here are the basic steps to write an effective one, including the details you shouldn’t leave out.
Share the ultimate goal or ‘big why’ behind your brand (your mission)
Why does your business exist? Why does it matter? What’s the ultimate problem in your industry you’re trying to solve?
Ultimately, this is your mission, and you should share it on your About Us page. And, if you’re like many businesses that haven’t clearly defined theirs, now is the time.
Why is stating your mission important?
Because a majority of modern consumers – especially Gen Z – want to know that their purchases align with who they are and that the businesses to which they give their dollars care about the things they care about. (Market research from Alter Agents found that 68% of Gen Z and Millennial buyers believe their purchases are indicative of their personalities and concerns.)
Explaining your mission gives your target audience another reason to align themselves with you. Give them your “big why.”
Explain how you help your customers with what you sell
Now it’s time to dive into the deeper specifics of your business on your About Us page. Lay out:
What you sell: Tell customers what you sell. If your products/services are unique, explain how they work.
The problems you solve for customers – both tangible and intangible – with what you sell. Examples:
Tangible: “We help health food brands create and execute smart marketing strategies.”
Intangible: “We help health food brands make genuine connections with their customers.”
Again, the key here is to keep your explanations customer-focused. Don’t make the mistake of turning your About Us page into one giant brag-fest. Instead, you should be positioning your business in terms of:
Why the customer should care.
How they can relate to you.
How you help them.
Tell your story
It’s a great idea to tell your brand story on your About page, including how/why you got started.
Were your beginnings humble? Did it all start with a seed of an idea? Did you have a novel solution to a big problem you saw happening? Or was your business a happy accident (or a disaster you turned around)?
Finally, don’t forget to tell the story of where you’re going. What do you hope to achieve? What are your biggest dreams for the future of your company?
Introduce your team
In the spirit of transparency, it’s a good idea to share the names and faces behind your business and the role each person plays. (By the way, sharing photos of real people is a great trust-builder. It helps customers see that you’re not just a disembodied logo, a faceless suit, or words on a screen.)
Additionally, including bios for your team or site contributors gives Google clues about authorship and reputation.
Tell them what to do after reading your About Us page
Lastly, give your audience direction on what to do next after they finish reading your About Us page.
A few well-placed calls to action (CTA) will do the trick. For example, include a CTA button at the bottom of the page that sends them to:
Check out your services/products.
Read your blog.
Sign up for your newsletter.
Or do some other activity that keeps them engaged with your site and content.
13 About Us page examples
Now that you know how to write an About Us page and which sections to include, let’s look at some examples of About pages done right.
1. Oatly
Oatly’s About Us page is a great example of how your brand voice can and should carry over into every piece of your content and website.
Their irreverent tone and devil-may-care attitude are perfectly expressed in every section of this page, which, by the way, still manages to provide a ton of great company information for any curious consumer.
2. NerdWallet
NerdWallet, a financial services company, is a good example of a brand that expanded its About Us page into a multi-page experience, with information covering the company, leadership, impact, and more.
NerdWallet is also a great example of how to state your mission and vision clearly with a focus on the customer.
3. Chronicle Books
The publisher Chronicle Books has a super simple, text-heavy About page, but it works well due to the clear headlines and charming details added to their story.
For example, the company is headquartered in an old maritime machine shop – sharing that information helps you understand the brand is a little quirky.
4. Healthline
Healthline provides medical information and advice to the masses, so its About page needs some gravitas behind it to help prove they’re a trustworthy source (read: it needs some serious E-A-T).
Sure enough, the page is full of details about how they maintain integrity throughout their content and ensure it stays current and evidence-based.
5. Semrush
Semrush, the SEO and content marketing tool, is all about data, so their About Us page reflects that.
The company highlights stats and graphs to show how long they’ve been around and how many people trust their tools.
6. Liquid Death
If you’ve never heard of Liquid Death, it’s water packaged in a can. If that sounds weird, well… it kind of is.
Since they have a unique product, you’d think the company would feel the need to explain itself a bit more on its About Us page – but that’s not the case.
Sometimes, your product speaks for itself, and two paragraphs (including a simply-stated mission) and a “contact us” button are all you need on your About page.
7. Ogilvy
Ogilvy, a high-profile ad, PR, and consulting agency (and the company of the famed ad copywriter David Ogilvy), uses its About page to focus on the talent and diversity of its team.
Since this is a high-performing company that creates ads and other marketing for brands like Netflix and Coca-Cola, that makes sense.
8. Everlane
Everlane, an ethical clothing brand, devotes its About Us page to sharing behind-the-scenes information about how its clothes are made, how they partner with factories ethically, and what materials they use.
Since this is a brand that’s trying to differentiate with ethical practices, they really need to show that in action – and they do.
The company also uses separate but connected pages to further explain its environmental initiatives, carbon footprint, and more.
9. LegalZoom
On their About page, LegalZoom provides some impressive data to show their impact over 20 years.
More importantly, the company doesn’t frame their wins in terms of “what we did” but rather how they helped people: “Protecting loved ones,” “Helping entrepreneurs,” and “Giving customers access.”
10. Delish
Delish is an epicenter of cooks, chefs, bakers, and foodies sharing recipes and tips, so their About page also centers on the people behind it all.
The first thing you’re greeted with is a grid of gifs of various contributors (and there are a lot of them):
11. Amy Porterfield
Business coach Amy Porterfield’s About page is one long story about how she went from a corporate gig to entrepreneurship, but it also provides proof of why she’s qualified to coach you.
Telling your story like this is a great way to connect with your audience while providing your business background and proof of your expertise.
12. Wild Idea
Wild Idea is a family-owned company and ranch focused on humanely-raising buffalo and restoring prairie grasslands.
As such, their mission and family are prominent parts of their About page, as well as their unique process of “humane field harvest.”
Also note the use of panoramic photos to show off both the prairies and the buffalo herds they manage, as well as their down-to-earth family/founders. The right images can play a huge role in building trust while drawing your audience in.
13. Moleskine
If you’re a journaler, an artist, a writer, or a jotter, you’ve probably heard of Moleskine. Their notebooks are highly regarded, and their suite of About pages (called “The World of Moleskine”) reflects that.
Note how they use titles to imply their history and reputation: “Our Heritage,” “Our Manifesto.”
Bonus: If you have a lot of information to share about your company that your audience will care about, take a page from Moleskine and devote multiple website pages to your various company facets.
Write an About Us page to add E-A-T to your website
What’s the common factor tying all of these About Us page examples together?
All of them add necessary proof of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) to their respective brand websites.
Where it matters, they add author and creator information, too. (For example, brands who rely on multiple authors across their site have dedicated bios for each of them.)
They answer the questions, “Why does your business exist, and who does it exist to serve?”
And that’s exactly what your About page should do.
Sure, write one because it’s standard practice, but also make sure you write an effective About Us page that will help build trust with your customers and demonstrate why your brand is an authority on what you sell.
Don’t let your About Us page become an afterthought – it’s a foundational website page, and should be created and written strategically.
The post How to write an effective About Us page (with 13 examples) appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Source: Search Engine Land
Link: How to write an effective About Us page (with 13 examples)
