You’ve seen people taking selfies like the photo above. Perhaps you yourself are guilty of being a selfie lover. That’s fine… but what isn’t good is when your About Page on your website is just a big “selfie”.
What do I mean? Although I don’t take many selfies, I think of selfies as the desire to capture the moment and place yourself in the middle of what’s happening. The focus of course is on you because you’re the main focus of a selfie.
Are you getting why this is terrible for your About Page?
Most business websites have an About Us page. But did you realize that the About Us page is really About Your Visitors?
It’s sort of an oxymoron of a page. You want to say something about your business, but the only thing the person reading it cares about is their needs.
So a good About Page will speak to the needs of the reader. This is the biggest mistake of the About Page, most people make it about themselves rather than their visitors. AKA the Selfie Page.
A person reading your About page wants to know if they should work with you and hire you. Thy want to know that they can trust you, and they are basing that decision on your About Page. Because of this, you will want to connect with your visitors on several levels.
You want to connect with them on an emotional level. This can be done very simply by including a real life photo of yourself or your team. Next, you want to make sure to avoid all the jargon and highly technical language. Keep it real, but keep it interesting.
Don’t forget the most important item… your name. I was horrified when I went back to audit my own “About Page” and guess who had forgotten to put his name. Yup, yours truely.
Now that we’ve taken care of that, we want to include some information about ourselves, but we don’t want it to drag on or be boring. Let me suggest using a short paragraph of experiences and biography. Be sure to include any particularly interesting projects you’ve worked on or experiences that contribute to your credibility.
And as you write your experiences, you’ll also want to connect your experience with your customer’s goals and desires. How do your experiences translate into reasons a prospect should choose your services? To get higher conversions and more clients, you must connect the benefits of your products with their needs.
Another great way to connect with your visitors is to include testimonials or social proof regarding your services. On my own website you’ll find this testimony from a Yelp Review:
Arlen is the most fantastic computer guy/web designer I know! Not only is he savvy on everything computers & web, but his customer service is excellent. He is very prompt and can break things down for me in laymen’s terms so that I actually understand a topic that I generally shy away from. My websites are beautiful & have attracted more business since Arlen set them up (graceworksllc.com & hookollc.com). -Rhesa K. ~ Waipahu, HI
Then you must have one more thing on your About Page… You must have a way for that visitor to take the next step. Yes, the ubiquitous Call to Action. Add a product to the shoppping cart, fill out a contact form, subscribe to a newsletter.
Before your website visitor leaves this page on your website, you want them to do something.
Let’s Recap…
The Anatomy of a Great About Page:
- A Recent Photograph of You
- Your Name
- A Short bit about you so people can begin to connect and trust you.
- Who you serve and how you can help them.
- Social Proof and testimonials
- Contact Information and a Call to Action (Possible a form)
Today’s 10 Minute Project:
Every article or podcast episode, I will leave you with a 10 minute project. Here’s the project for today.
- Read your About Page
- Does it only talk about you, or do you make connections to your website visitors?
- How can you improve on those connections?
- What is the Next Step at the bottom of your About Page?
- Do you have a clear Call to Action?
Spend a few minutes improving your About Page. I can guarantee you’ll generate more sales and clients if you change “About Me” to “About You.”
Before you go…
Now before you leave this page, would you consider signing up for my weekly newsletter? You’ll get a series similar to this post giving you ideas to improve the various pages on your website. And this is just the start to a larger, more comprehensive Podcast and online course about Building Websites that Convert visitors into Customers.
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