Who is your About page really about?

?? Soapbox warning ??

An acquaintance of mine (we'll call him Bob) was running for a public office recently. After seeing several of his social media posts and videos that read or viewed like a résumé... I just.. couldn't.. take it.. anymore...

I called him up and asked him if I could offer some free advice. He responded with, "Yes of course, please!" But, I don't think he was prepared for what happened next...

"Bob. [long pause]. Let's get something straight. Nobody really cares about you and let's face it... you're not that interesting."

Truth bomb ??

I don't think he was really prepared for that, but he took it in stride and asked what then he should do different.

After calming his nerves and telling him that it was nothing personal (I'm not that interesting either), I shared with him a little human psychology.

The people want someone in office who will solve the problems they face on a daily basis. When viewing things through that lens, your experience is only secondary. You don't get the privilege of telling people about yourself until they have a reason to care.

Follow me here... Your website's About Pages is no different.

Most company's About Pages are often neglected, as they’re typically something that was hastily written when your website first went live. It’s not particularly common for a business to revisit an About page, aside from perhaps updating a team profile or adding a new picture of a team member.

A typical about page will have a few paragraphs about what a business does. It’ll be full of “we” or “I”, with the business talking about themselves. There might be photos and short profiles of team members, but that’s about it for the page.

When you realize that an About page is typically the 2nd most visited page on a business website, it seems crazy that they end up so neglected.

When someone visits your website, they’re looking for help with a problem that they’re suffering from. The particular problem will vary depending on the type of products or services that you offer. Your visitor could have a bad back, a broken computer or leaky plumbing.

The content on your website, including on your About page, should be written with your potential customers in mind.

One of the first questions that someone will have when they reach your website is if they’re in the right place. They need to understand your products or services and know that they’ve reached somewhere that can potentially help them with their problem.

If your About page is currently a short synopsis of your company, full of “I” or “we”, you should consider updating it to something with a customer first approach.

Pro Tip:?Start by talking about a common problem that your customers suffer from at the start of your About page. You can talk about why you want to help your customers solve this problem. You can also talk about the benefits of your products or services and how they help your customers to achieve the solution to their problem. If you can tie the solution to their problem to their aspirational identity, even better.

Taking this approach helps your visitors to understand your business and feel an instant connection. That connection is what helps someone to move from being a visitor into a customer.

You can still have information about yourself and your team members. That’s a great idea to have, especially with photos, as it adds an element of humanity and trust to your brand.

Removing “we” and “I” from your About page will help your visitors to feel included. They can better understand your business and how you may be able to help them.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that a great About page will help you to stand out from your competition. If they’ve all got a boring page that doesn’t offer anything to their visitors, imagine how refreshing your new About page will be to your visitors?