Your About Us Page Isn’t About You!
It really isn’t—sure you could write a boring about us page which tells the readers of your website how wonderful you are and how marvelous you think your new inventions actually are. But let’s face it – if that were written about a complete stranger, would you be reading the about us page? Would you care in any way shape or form? Assuming you don’t have the world’s most boring personality and you are honest, the answer is of course a resounding no. So why would you foist that on your visitors?
Put Yourself in Their Shoes
Okay, so you’ve decided to write an About Us page for your website. The first thing you need to do is to forget about yourself. Instead, think about your customers. You obviously started your website to solve a problem of some kind. What is that problem? If for example you started your website to sell a disposable mop, then the problem you are solving is the dirty, disgusting mop that everyone seems to be stuck with in their homes.
Grab Their Attention by Showing You Get Them
Keeping up with our mop scenario, you could start out by saying, “We created the world’s first disposable mop – it lets you throw away the grimy mess and start fresh each time” as your first sentence. The thing is, that’s boring and it’s all about you.
How about this: “When was the last time you ever wanted to lick your mop? Yeah – that’s a pretty disgusting idea, right? But you still keep that filthy, germ ridden thing in your home and your baby probably does lick the floor that it’s touching.”
It’s about Customers
In other words, you want to show your customers that you understand their problems. Their problems are your problems and that’s why you came up with a solution. Only at this point, once they’ve commiserated with you should you be telling them about yourself.
Be Authoritative
Another thing to think about when writing an About Us page is that you need to sound authoritative. This is especially true if you’re writing a blog on a complicated subject or offering your services as an expert on some subject or another.
For example, how many of you would choose to hire a lawyer who says “I graduated toward the middle of my class from night school and then went on to study law. I passed the bar after only three tries, which is pretty good considering that lots of people take six or seven times to do it.” I don’t know about you, but this guy, who sounds like he’s trying to put a positive spin on his life story really sounds like a loser whom I would never hire.
How about this with the same biography: After many sleepless nights while working my way through law school, I graduated in 2004 and was licensed by the State Bar Association in 2006. I consider myself to be tenacious – someone who never gives up and I promise never to give up fighting for your rights as well.
Bottom Line
The bottom line, as with almost everything I write about here is to put yourself into your customer’s shoes. Make yourself feel what they feel and then you’ll be able to write an effective About Us page.
I often have trouble with the about us page. The best thing I’ve found to do is to be down to earth with your clients. They want to know they are dealing with a person. The success behind many small businesses these days is the closeness of the business owner and customers. Hence why social marketing is so popular now!
Exactly — people want to feel as if they are dealing with a real person, not some nameless faceless giant corporation. That’s the new normal these days and those who adapt to it are able to actually do well for themselves.