Your About page is one of the most important pages on your site. It’s probably one of the most-visited pages. And it can be a great page to help stimulate rankings and inbound links when done right. See what information should be included as well as examples to help you rock your company’s About page.
This week I’ve got the About page on the brain. It started with influential blogger Chris Brogan’s revelation that most of his site visitors were reading his about page (of course they are!) Then Chris Lake at eConsultancy called out those with no About page whatsoever in his post 25 reasons why I’ll leave your site in 10 seconds.
When you understand how people use the online medium to gather information, you can see just how important your About page really is. Especially if you’re pursuing SEO as a major means of bringing traffic. Consider that people usually don’t know who you are when they land on your site. Can you really expect them to do business with you without getting to know you first?
Site visitors aren’t going to visit every page on your site to get the complete picture. The About page is a great place to get across the most important points you would want any prospect, customer, employee, investor or partner to know about your company. As part of optimizing a site, SEOs would do well to work with clients to rock this section of the site better.
In his post About Us Information on Websites, Jakob Neilson recommends providing About information at 4 levels of detail:
With a descriptive tagline
1-2 paragraphs at the top of the main About Us page that tell about the organization’s goal and main accomplishments.
A section following the summary that elaborates on its key points and other essential facts about the organization.
Subsidiary pages with more depth for people who want to learn more about the organization.
Details to include on your About page
A good place to start for content is answering the questions a web user might have about you. Use Who, What, Where, Why, and When to make sure you’ve covered everything relevant.
What
What does the company do (or make)?
What does it care about?
What’s different about your company?
What evidence is there that you are a trustworthy business (testimonials, memberships, awards, etc.)?
What disclaimers or limitations should I be aware of?
Where
Where is your head office?
Where are your branch offices or facilities?
Where do you do business?
Where can your products be purchased?
Where can I find your blog or other social pages?
Why
Why was the company created?
Why is it a good choice to buy from your business?
Why would a talented employee want to work for you?
Why are you a good partner?
Who
Who is behind the company?
Who does the company serve?
Who do you partner with?
Who are you looking to hire?
When
When was the company founded?
When is your business open?
When were the major milestones reached?
How
How does your business offer value?
How do you serve your customers?
How do you make your products?
How can people at your company be reached?
Build out pages by topic
Some may feel they only need a few brief paragraphs to get the facts across. But I’m of the opinion that when doing business online, the more information you can provide about yourself and your business, the better. A new page for each major topic lets people find the information they want to see without overwhelming. In addition, these targeted pages are great for SEO.
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