The ‘About Us’ page is one of the most overlooked aspects despite it being a crucial brand asset that educates consumers about a company and what it stands for.
The About Us page can play as big a role in a buyer’s journey. It can drive people to your website from search and convince them that they are making the right decision in purchasing something from you. It also helps you to position your brand accordingly and build trust.
Fortunately, you only have to get the About Us page right once. It does not require any investment over time apart from a few tweaks if and when you change or update your business offerings.
Entry point
Your About Us page can often be the first point of contact for users that have entered a search query looking for products or ideas that align with your keywords and product/service catalogue.
The About Us page usually shows up in sitelinks in Google alongside other important areas of your website.
Making a favourable first impression is crucial when visitors land on this page as you will want them to continue their journey and browse other pages on your website.
Visitors who visit this page may already have high brand intent having searched for your company name in Google or Bing. You will need to meet their needs here to retain their interest.
Plays a role in the buying cycle
Your About Us page is more than likely to feature at some point of a buyer’s journey.
It may be during the awareness phase when visitors enter your site via this hub or later on in the cycle when a hot prospect or client is using it as a final research point before they add a product to the basket and checkout.
The About Us page therefore plays a vital role in driving conversions. You need to be able to provide the information that consumers need to take the next step in their respective journeys.
Whether you have engaged someone on social media or via an in-person event, they will probably check out the About Us section before following up on their interest.
Acts as a ranking signal
Google mentions the About Us page in its guidance for E-A-T, a short acronym that stands for ‘expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness’.
This means that the page can act as a vital entity optimisation asset. It will improve the visibility of your website and let Google know that you are a credible source.
Google uses the information on this page to create its own knowledge base, so it is important to get the most crucial business details in there.
Concise and powerful
The About Us page is no time for in-depth analysis or lengthy messages. You need to start strong and use short sentences to get the point across.
Consider using this page as a business card of sorts that provides information in a simple and digestible manner. It should give something for a consumer to latch onto or learn from as soon as they set their eyes on it.
The page should be memorable. You could use a mix of images and short bursts of prose to get the job done. Using a motto or tagline that encapsulates your brand is a good idea.
Starting with this tagline and then working in a short sentence or two that tells people what makes your business unique will communicate quickly to consumers what they need to know.
You can tell a story here, but do it in an eye-catching way. For example, business communication platform Slack uses a tagline, two sentences, and then four large numbers showing how many daily active users and paid customers they have in addition to how many countries they operate in.
ABM platform Terminus does things a little differently, starting with a short ‘Hi! We’re Terminus’ before quickly detailing its journey from start-up to market leader and finishing with two ‘Technology Fast 500’ and ‘Inc. 5000 badges’.
Meanwhile, video conferencing company Zoom lists its company values under ‘Our mission’, ‘Our vision’, ‘Our values’, and ‘Our culture’ and finishes with a short professional video that highlights its features.
All three of these examples are short and to the point. There is no hype and no lengthy messages, just clarity of facts and clear benefits.
Include a call to action
Your About Us page should give a clear indication to visitors about what they should do next after landing on the page. A failure to do so can lead to lost conversions and confused visitors.
As noted earlier, the About Us page acts as a conversion trigger at certain points of the buying cycle, so you need to give consumers a heads up or gentle push to take action afterwards.
This is where a call to action (CTA) comes in. You should tailor the CTA to your business type, but generally it needs to urge the visitor to contact you using a relevant hyperlink.
You could include a CTA that asks them to request a personal demo if you offer software, or talk to a chatbot for more product specifications or general information.
You can use your About Us page as a wider landing page that aims to convert customers rather than it merely being a simple resource for business information.
Engaging content
First and foremost, your About Us page needs to be an excellent piece of content in its own right. A subpar, self-serving and uninspiring read can turn off visitors immediately.
Don’t be afraid to seek outside assistance if you need to access professional creatives to come up with a landing page that hits all the right notes.
Working with an agency will give you access to writers and editors that can create an About Us page that will engage and convert customers regularly.
Key takeaways
You only need to create an About Us page once, but it is important to do it right.
Weaving in backlinks and CTAs into a concise yet memorable piece of content will build brand trust and drive better conversions, and act as a primary resource for customers wherever they are in their respective journeys.
