Part 2 : Tips on Small Business – The About Us Page

Hello everyone, here is my second installment in the Tips for Small Business Series. The About Us page.

The About Us page is one of the most overlooked, but the most highly ranked page on most websites. People want to know about you! This page offers your clients and customers a personal impression of who you are, connecting the virtual and physical worlds. I know it is hard to write about yourself, so here are a few tips to get started. 

OK, so you sell products and online, what else? You have a degree, big deal. What do you do on the weekends? How do you spend your time outside of the office? What inspires you? Why did you name your company what you did? These are the types of questions that pull your audience into learning more about you. The more ‘out there’ you go, the better. Ask a friend what are some great stories that you tell and tell again that help make you who you are? Use it.

Good copy writing is part of web design. Your visitors aren’t going to read a whole page of text because usually they’re looking for something specific or something of interest to them. They do this by scanning the whole page very quickly and looking for things to focus on — so give them those focus points. Use engaging and descriptive language in quick sound bites to grab attention.

You should provide very short and concise focus points for each bit of vital information on your page. These focus points should do two things: grab your visitors’ attention and call them to action (Go here. Buy this. Vote now). Additionally, create hierarchy in your typography. Use bold text, large headlines and images to provide a scannable structure to your content.

2. Appeal to Emotions: Post a picture!
Your visitors can’t see you and you have probably never met, but add a picture of you and they instantly have a human connection.

Recently I took the plunge and posted my picture on my website. I was hesitate about it because it seemed so revealing, and I didn’t want weirdo’s contacting me or knowing what I looked like. But, for the sake of my business and being transparent, I did it. Since updating my About Us page and adding a photo, I have signed two new clients who I have never met face-to-face in California and Indiana.

A huge percentage of the brain is dedicated to remembering and recognizing faces. I have seen focus groups test how a person’s eyes travels across a web page. Without hesitation the eye consistently lands on a photo of a human being, as if they are being lead to make eye contact with the photo. So, appeal to customers emotions and use a cute picture of you on the weekend, or in the studio, smiling and looking at the camera.

3. Link link link!
Because the About Us page is the most highly visited page on most sites use it to your advantage by linking to other areas in your site like your ‘top 10 products,’ your design process, or charities that you work with. Add friends and vendor’s sites here too in hopes that they will return the favor.