About Me Pages, bios and b2bs

Businesses rarely seem to understand the value of a good About Me Page. Social media has changed the way we deal with potential customers and other businesses, but this isn't reflected on their websites. There’s a much more personable style. They chat, they get to know them, they may try to find what their needs are, their pain points. However, when that person, or larger scale company goes on to their website, what they see is something that doesn’t quite match the social-media-speak. Instead, what lies before them is a dry, somewhat stiff introduction to the business, and an about page that may speak of the company as a whole, and/or show individual bios of company members, perhaps the top 5 executives. All of it is dry, grey, dull boring, and that not only leaves a rather confused impression, it may also result in a loss of custom.

What I’m suggesting here isn’t a chatty, personal life story of each employee and a heartfelt tale of childhood trauma, broken marriages and terrible jokes. But an About Me Page is one of the most underrated pages on a website, second only in popularity to the Home Page, and a wasted opportunity to get other organisations you’re keen to do business with on-board.

Why is it that people get these pages so wrong?

The main problem is that no one seems to see their importance, they are there merely to introduce the company, the boss, the CEO and then spend more time on the Home Page. It’s perfectly okay to spend time on your Home Page of course, after all, this is the first page people see when they click on your site, however it’s important to give as much time to your About Me Page, because it will pay off in the long run. Crafted in the right way, a carefully written bio can make a huuugge difference, and ultimately result in extra business, as well as traction for your website. In this post today, I’m going to be looking at ways you can work your magic on an About Page for b2bs and create something wonderful. I’ll be looking at both individual profiles and groups.

Presentation is everything with an About Page, there’s no room for error. Ideally, the content should go hand in hand with the graphics, the colours, gifs or animations you use. The words can be enchanting, but if left in a white space using an ariel font size 11 you might as well not bother. By twinning both into a unique and original way you can make the most of both the web page itself and the words.

If you decide to alter your About Page radically though, you’ll need to change the rest of your website too, so there’s uniformity. But if you are overhauling your About Me Page, it’s likely you’re either setting up your website for the first time, or you’re spring cleaning your entire website. It could be for a launch of a new product, or perhaps your business is under new management, in which case the opportunity for a complete redrafting of your About Me Page is well timed.

The problem when you create an About Me Page for an individual running their own business, is that it seems a lot simpler, or so it may seem. You’re talking about just one person, and depending on what the business is, you can really let rip and put in funny stories, pics of them as children, throw in one really commanding story that connects with their reader, and be personable and chatty. It doesn’t really feel like you can do that with a business somehow, that perhaps it’s the one type of business where you can’t experiment, change or try something new.

But it doesn’t have to be that way at all.

If you do something really special with your About Me Page (AMP) you could give even more reason for potential clients to explore solutions with your organisation. An AMP can be the asset you’re looking for to provide brand story validation, with a message that stands out enough for you to be seen above all the other businesses clamouring for attention.

Make the most of links.

You don’t want to be constantly linking out but if it serves to demonstrate your expertise do it. Ideally, you should be looking to link inwards, to sales pages, offerings, contact pages etc. But link outs could be useful and ones to include are affiliations, memberships, mentions, press coverage, sponsorships, conference participation. Also include snippets from trade shows, webinars and any virtual events you’ve participated in.

Make sure that any contact information you choose to include on your AMP is clearly defined, or include clear directions to your contact page if you have one. You can use anything from thumbtacks to Virb, use whatever it is you think works, but make it clear, that includes any social media links if you prefer to have them on here. This is also a good place to put testimonials as well as your Home Page, in fact it’s better than your Home Page.

The AMP doesn’t have to be set out with paragraphs of text and a profile pic. If you’re writing a group/company page you could set it out in statistics and facts. It doesn't have to be as dry as it sounds, you can use infographics, animation and/or gifs. You can also include funny stats relating to one or two individuals, e.g. how much coffee someone consumes, or funny facts about the CEO or one of the execs. Including both serious and silly stats can make you look like a fun organisation to do business with, and one that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Storytelling is important

One story can make that connection that people can believe in. This is also perfect for individual bios, it could be an important snippet of how you all came together, or how the CEO had that light bulb moment. It needs to be something that you think will convey why your brand can be trusted and why it’s successful, and in turn can make the reader’s business successful too.

Why should someone believe in you?

You could feature the image of someone, say the CEO or the head honcho, in the centre of the AMP and features snippets of information around it, like an infographic, and again feature funny alongside the serious. There doesn’t have to be reams and reams of text, it can be short, sharp succinct paragraphs - and if you’re using only short bits of text, that content had better be well-written and sharp. No rambling sentences that make no sense, if in doubt hire a copywriter.

You can also focus on methodology, which might be good for a group bio, but could also work for individual bios too. You can focus on different areas, how you work, what it is you focus on within the business, why and what methods you use. An example of that might be an architect who’s job spec might be different to his colleagues who run the business, he may focus on a different area, and questions is - why? Again, the use of images, graphics, infographics and/or videos are helpful here. Rather than wordy paragraphs, target certain areas, break it up, again use colour, graphics, video where possible. Again, timelines are great if you’re featuring a history of your business.

I’m now going to look at examples so you can get a feel for what I’m talking about.

www.bulkbookstore.com have used some of the methods we’ve discussed above, they’ve used a video at the bottom of their AMP talking about themselves and why you should choose them.

Here they’ve used a colourful, useful infographic to the side.

www.rmjm.com is an architect business and here they’ve used the methodology method. Where they’ve discussed their approach, how they’ve been internationally recognised and what services and sectors they work with.

They’ve used a timeline here, great example to showcase a history, and it’s quick to read, easy to see at a glance.

www.restaurantware.com Sections of information tidely matched with colourful pictures.

Sadly, there aren’t many singular b2b about me bios I’m desperately in love with, however, here are some that I like. I’ve only been able to include two here, one that has a layout I’m impressed with and the other with the type of bios I’ve mentioned earlier that include funny and serious facts.

www.bewonderful.co.uk creative agency, they include short, sharp bios for each member of the team with a funny fact. Go look at their bio pages, this is only a short snippet!

I like the way this is presented for www.thinktank.org.uk you simply click on a picture and you get the bio for each person, but what I'm not keen on is the text itself. But it’s a great way of doing it and saves space on a page and makes it look slick.

To summarise:

• Be clear - the whos, whats, whens, wheres and whys of your business should stand out
• Be visual - as we’ve seen infographics, colours, videos, animation or gifs are all ways you can make your About Me Page more interesting
• Showcase your expertise and the company culture - don’t go for generic and waste an opportunity to show your audience what makes your organisation the best
• Proof - testimonials, webinars, conference contributions, trade shows attendance, virtual events, link, link, link
• Call to action - if there’s an offering, a product you want to sell, whatever it is make sure you provide a link to the sales page, or the product page and provide a carefully crafted call to action. It may be that you simply want to draw attention to something you’ve just created. Link to it with the CTA.  

Cut out the jargon, use powerful images, and show your success in the best and most original way possible.  And if you’re still unsure….I’m here to help.

I’m a copywriter and general ragamuffin, words are my ammunition and work is my oxygen, without it I’m nothing, and I wouldn't be able to afford quality biscuits...save me from this fate. Want to work with me? I’m here, www.taithcopywritinguk.com get in touch and I’ll tell you all about that time I tried to climb Snowdon in a pair of Dr Martens with a handbag full of makeup.