How to Create the Perfect About Us Page

Tone 

The tone you use is hugely important when talking about yourself and your business. This is for a number of reasons. You want to appear professional but approachable, as well as knowledgeable without being exhaustingly too detail-heavy. 

You don’t need to pen a strict Dickensian monologue. Relax and imagine you are addressing a friend of a friend. This way, you’re less likely to come across as overly friendly while simultaneously having your guard down enough to feel a certain level of comfort. It’s okay, too, to sound excited – especially about your business or a particular product. So, enthuse and don’t be shy about your belief in what you do. 

A good way to test the tone of what you have written for your About Us page is to read it out loud, to yourself or someone else. You could even record yourself reading it out, then play it back and see where you think the tone should be different. This will also alert you to any sentences or phrases, which are awkward or unnatural. Then you can fix them and write the way you would normally talk to somebody. 

Your Company and Your Values

What to incorporate here will be determined by whether or not you are writing for your own business or as an employee for your employer. If it’s the latter, then you will in all probability have been given a very specific set of guidelines, as well as a list of things to mention. Writing for your own business is another matter entirely. 

Mentioning two or three core values goes a long way to laying down a foundation for your brand in the eyes of your potential customers. Relaying company values on a business and even human level is akin to an actual person asserting where they stand ethically on a given subject. It asserts position – people know where you stand. In this case, they’ll know where you and your business are coming from. It’s a glimpse into the heart and soul of your business operation. Your brand tone will also be expressed in the process of making a logo by choosing the right color scheme and design.

Be careful though when choosing your words… One surefire way to kill even the best plotted ‘About us’ page is the casual throwing in of buzzwords. Don’t use words such as ‘integrity’ because you think you have to, because everyone else says they have it on their web page. It’s one example of many, and at this point in time, it looks disingenuous and as if it is being said just for the sake of saying it. 

Don’t go with the buzzword flow – be you, be your own business, and word things your way and how you would when talking to that friend of a friend. You want your business to stand out – all business owners do. So don’t use generic buzzword blueprints for your spiel. Be original – just as you and your business are.

Don’t Believe Your Own Hype

Firstly, you want to avoid repeating yourself, so don’t fill the ‘About us’ page with the same details and information that are on your home page.  Your visitors have seen that already, you don’t need to say it again. It was seeing that which kept them clicking and brought them to your charming and enlightening ‘About’ page’ in the first place. You don’t want to turn them around now by autonomously repeating yourself. Keep the energy moving forward…

No one likes a bragger, so avoid boasting. You can show off a little bit but only if you really have the substance behind the brag to prove it and pull the brag off. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with highlighting something such as an industry accolade, or a very robust testimonial. But don’t hype yourself up beyond what you, your business, or a product can actually do. If you do this, it really won’t be long until you get found out – and your precious customer is heading back out through the metaphorical door, shaking their head, never to return. 

So, don’t make claims beyond your business or product’s actual capabilities. You won’t get away with it, simple as that. 

Be clear about what your company and its services/products can do and then evidence it. You need to be able to quantify your claims with proof that is there, right then, when the claim is being read. You can’t just go wild saying this, that, and the other about your business and your team member’s near-supernatural capabilities. Keep it genuine and honest and let your visitors be able to see your sincerity for themselves. 

Make Your Presence Known

In the old days, business meetings were held face-to-face, and customers had no choice other than to walk through a door, of a building, on a street, in a town. Today – it’s all changed. You can still speak to people face to face if you really want to (sometimes anyway) and go to an actual retailer or business entity, but… A massive percentage of business and retail transactions these days are of course done over the Internet. Which is about as impersonal as it can possibly get. It’s all words on screens and buttons on keyboards while dealing with some unseen entity. 

The possibility is there still to – sometimes, at least, – speak to a human being through a telephone. By integrating cloud phone systems companies can keep in better touch with customers and provide support. However, this of course is still somewhat detached. The person on the phone could, in theory, be anywhere. You don’t know where they really are. It’s a factor that can’t be expected to instill trust in everyone who dials a number. 

So…. a simple way to make your business seem less detached from all real existence is to list a physical address. This gives visitors a geographic impression within their minds. They’ll know how close or far away your business is. They’ll know whether it’s the same country or the other side of the earth. Just giving a city name is better than nothing. Giving a street number and office number is even better. You are real. You are reachable and much less of a phantom. There is a physical point of reference at which you can be contacted – and that is a good thing for customers to be aware of. 

This is also the best time and place to also include phone numbers and email addresses. Yes, these are the reasons, which made listing a physical address important in the first place, but the addition of these contact details will bolster the perception of your business’s existence. The phone number will be linked to the physical address in the minds of your visitors. Ditto the email address. 

Don’t Make Claims, State Facts

On the heels of over-hyping, you also shouldn’t make bold claims that sound too good to be true – because they are. Just relay facts, and do it without an overblown fanfare. If your product, for example, has been proven to outlast that of a competitor, just convey the honest facts that show this to be the case. 

It’s your chosen business. So you know the kind of questions your customers will be asking. Answer them. Your About Us page is the billboard to concisely let your customers know what they need and will want to know. Whether you’re doing SMS marketing or an email campaign that will take receivers to your website, the About Us section is like your first impression.

Keep it Interesting

Generally speaking, resumes are dull and formulaic to read. Don’t make your business ‘About us’ section read like a resume. Make it fun by including little details about the business. Perhaps there is an interesting reason as to why the company is named what it is? Tell the story (concisely). No need for Dickens here either. Maybe there happened to be a domino topple of events that led to the formation of the business. No luck with the existing companies in the same field, for instance, when you really needed something. Liven it up a bit with some real-life back-story that is engaging and arguably more importantly, relatable. 

Make it Look Nice

As simple as that. Don’t just opt for some slate-gray background to throw chunks of text onto. There’s no need to turn it into a Kandinsky painting either, but keep it colorful, lively, and just generally nice to look at. A plain dull or even kaleidoscopic nightmare of a background theme is not going to enthrall your visitors and induce them to read whatever you happen to have written over it. Just make it look nice. Keep it clean and present it tidily. 

As an extra bit of pizazz, you can include some relevant pictures or a video. Don’t go overboard with any photo effects or illustrations, and if you do use any, make sure they are relevant and look good. If you are an LLC or other similar business entity, an explainer video could be an excellent option too, especia