7 most common mistakes made on “about us” pages
Here are the top 7 mistakes made on most “about us” pages.
7. Not having an “about us” page
Customers want to know about you, or at least you hope they do. So if you don’t have one, they assume you have something to hide.
I have to admit they are a bit of a fad. At one stage they were a must, then they went out, now they are back in again. It’s a bit like Abba.
6. Just having a form
It’s not a “contact us” page, it is an “about us” page.
5. Just having your contact details
Once again, it is not a “contact us” page, it is an “about us” page.
4. Giving a history lesson
People don’t care that you first opened in 2001, unless it happened to be September 11th, and then that is just really bad timing. Let’s be really blunt here – even your mother would be bored with most of the history of your company.
3. Showing off
This may be a cultural thing, but we hate show-offs. Because this page is titled “about us” it is about you talking about yourself. I would argue that there is less you can do on this page than any other page. This is about you talking about yourself, so be careful about how you speak.
2. Being Boring
The number one boring picture is the photo of the office from outside. Unless you are Google, chances are your office won’t impress anyone else. Face it, we don’t even need to know what it looks like because our navigation system will get us to the front door without any problems anyway.
If it contains numbers, it is probably boring. If it is …, it is probably boring. Most “about us” pages are boring. Don’t be boring.
1. Thinking it is all about you
OK, I saved the best for last. This is really the key point, and by now you will either be agreeing with me and will see the wisdom in what I am about to say, or are disagreeing with what I said. In that case, just tune out totally.
The biggest mistake made by most web sites is thinking that the “about us” page is about them. It’s not.
The reader NEVER reads a page to find out about you. They want to know WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THEM. They want to know what sort of company you are so they can decide if they want to do business with you. They want to know if they can trust you. They want to know if they should like you.
Which means that the “about us” page is really an “about you” page. It should reflect that you understand what your customer or reader is like, and should reflect some of that knowledge back to them. It should show that you know how you can benefit them.
I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s start with something simple like “been in business since 2000”. Great. That’s also how long the GST has been in business for (I should know, I started my business the same month the GST was introduced).
How about “since 2000, we have helped over 20,000 customers find the right … for their needs”?
Or “Since 2000, we have seen many changes in our industry such as… It has been an exciting time to help our customers … ”
I play a simple game on all my sites called the “so what” game. If there is something presented, I like to ask “so what”. I want content that is relevant and interesting to the reader.
As for the OnSolution “About Us” page, we thought we would have a bit of fun and we thought that we would explain why being an Aussie is such a damn good thing. This is at a time when the number of international sales is increasing and we are really trying to enter the US market. Instead of trying to hide it, we thought we would promote it.
