September 2006

Revisiting the “About Us” Page

About Us page When reading this article, please refer to the “About Us” page for the following three businesses:

One common feature of these three “About Us” pages is that they are easily accessed from the home page. Another important characteristic is that each site, while providing brief information about itself, makes an attempt to speak invitingly to the reader. In others words, these sites don’t just don’t toot their horn, but try to relate what they do to the customers they hope to attract.

You might wonder, “Don’t all About Us pages do that?” Actually, no. Check it out for yourself. Many leading, nationally-recognized companies subordinate the “About Us” link, locating it at the bottom of the page. On these websites, the company is already well known and thus higher priority is given to the actual content the site visitor comes to the site for. (Examples: Better Homes & Gardens; Macys; and Newsweek)

But, for small businesses that are only locally or regionally known, the “About Page” takes on great importance.

Three “about us” pages

Safeco is one of the largest property and casualty insurance companies in the U.S. Sold through independent insurance agencies, its bread and butter is auto, homeowners, and small business insurance. Safeco’s image of stability and conservatism is reflected in the utilitarian appearance of its website – almost to a fault.

The main problem with the three paragraphs of the “About Us” page is simply this: most every other property and casualty insurance company says pretty much the same thing about itself. In this regard, Safeco’s copy fails to distinguish itself from competitors. While possibly not an issue with consumers who are more familiar with insurance, new insurance buyers might not be sufficiently impressed to give Safeco any more consideration than another insurance company.

The Homestead is a premier, upscale destination resort in the mountains of Virginia. The “About Us” page quickly suggests that you don’t casually stop here enroute to somewhere else. Nor will you find budget accommodations complete with a neon vacancy sign. The Homestead is in a class by itself, and with an economy of words, sets the right tone for the rest of the information you will find on its site.

The only minor flaw in the copy, in our opinion, is the phrase, “The Homestead historic luxury resort is a perfect destination for everyone!” That may sound nice and appealing, but obviously this resort is not for everyone.

Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar is a newer Seattle area (Bellevue) restaurant. We’ve never eaten there, but the website puts it on our “must try when in Seattle” list. This site treats the “About Us” content a bit differently by providing a series of different pieces of information that distinguishes this restaurant from others and provides clues about what diners can expect. The “About Us” pages, along with the “Menu” pages, address the two most basic elements restaurant patrons want to know – atmosphere and food.

Check your own website

If you are a small business trying to get attention in your local market, you can’t afford to subordinate information about yourself. Indeed, you must make sure that “your story” is appealing, convincing, and inviting, and that it distinguishes you from others who offer similar products and services. Your website’s overall visual appearance, plus the “About Us” page content, influences what site visitors will think and decide about you.

Yet, while site visitors expect to find out what makes you different and why they should do business with you, you cannot simply talk about yourself. You must somehow relate what you do to what customers and prospects want and can benefit from.

What we say “About Us”

Here in Betagraph’s back yard we learned that one of our competitors, despite its name recognition and longevity, is slow to make website updates and uses account reps when working with website customers. If you’ve ever worked with an account rep (a euphemism for “go between”), you know that things often get lost in translation. Betagraph doesn’t use account reps. Our About Us page differentiates us by saying: “the people you talk with are the ones who do the work

For more insight into the value of the “About Page,” check out this informative article.