How “You” Will Generate Customers From Your About Us Page
It’s the most common mistake businesses make in marketing.
Looking in the mirror too often. Focusing on yourself instead of the customer.
And the About Us page is the poster child for this mistake. On nearly every website, the About Us page is among the most visited pages. It is often visited at that critical moment, when the prospect is considering becoming a customer. The right message in your About Us page will generate customers.
Most businesses use their About Us page as a place to sing their own praises about…
- How great their company is
- How great their products/services are
- How great their employees are
Then they sum it all up with a mission statement that tells you how great their company is, how great their products/services are, and how great their employees are.
That’s all well and good, but there’s just one problem…no one cares!
People care about themselves. They want to know how your company, your products/services, and your employees can improve their lives.
The best About Us pages do just that. The copy on them describes the business, but in a way that paints a clear picture of the benefits you’ll receive if you become their customer.
But I propose taking things a step further. If you’re going to dedicate a page on your site to “Us” (your company), then dedicate one to “You” (your customers)
Without customers, you have no business. Don’t they deserve a page of their very own on your website?
What Should Go on Your About You Page?
The About You page should let visitors to your site know whether they’re a good fit for your company or not.
On my website, the About You page has a bulleted list of qualities that describe my ideal prospect.
It describes who they are – local business owners and entrepreneurs.
It describes the common problems my clients have that my company can help solve – not showing up in the search engine results, not having enough customers, no longer getting good results from Yellow Pages ads.
It describes who they’re not – affiliate marketers or MLMs (multi-level marketers).
5 ways your About You page will benefit your business
There are a few main benefits an About You page provides.
1. It ensures at least one page of your website has copy that puts the focus right where it should be…on your customers!
2. The process of writing an About You page for your site forces you to think about who the ideal client for your business really is. Many small business owners, especially those just starting out, try to be everything to everybody. That often results in you wasting time chasing bad leads as well as servicing clients that can suck the life out of you and your business.
Writing copy for your About You page helps you clarify exactly the kind of client you’re looking to attract. You know, the ones that if you had 10 or 20 or 100 of, you’d be on Cloud 9.
(And even if you don’t want an About You page on your website, going through the process of writing out a profile of your ideal client is still a very worthwhile task!)
3. Prospects who aren’t a good fit for your business can disqualify themselves. When a prospect gets to that About You page, it should be crystal clear whether or not your business is a good fit for them. And if it’s not, they can move on, saving both of you the time of figuring that out later.
4. There’s a powerful psychological aspect to having an About You page on your website. When that ideal prospect comes to your site, you want them screaming out loud “Yes, that’s me!” when they read your About You page. You want to make them feel like that page is speaking directly to them and you understand them perfectly.
When you can give someone a feeling of excitement that they’ve found their Mothership, you’ve got a great shot of landing yourself a new client!
5. It makes you stand out from the crowd. I did exhaustive research (i.e. a few Google searches) and few websites have an About You page. In a web full of sites with the same Home, Products, Services, About Us, Contact Us, etc. options in the nav bar, the About You page is a great way to be different and set yourself apart from the competition.
So that’s my case for adding an About You page to your company’s website. This is uncharted territory and there are no set guidelines here. If you like this idea, run with it! Be creative. Have fun.
But most of all, take the idea of focusing on your prospects and customers to every page of your website. And don’t stop there…incorporate it into all of your other sales and marketing copy too.
Because when your copy focuses on your prospects, it ultimately benefits you.
About the Author: Adam Kreitman owns Words That Click, a St. Louis internet marketing firm focusing on SEM for small businesses. He also blogs regularly about local search marketing at the Main Street Marketing Community site. He could go on about himself, but he’d rather find out more About You.
Image courtesy of Malakh Kelevra
Love it Adam. Thanks for sharing. There seems to be this notion that the About Us is critical to build trust, show there are real people behind products or services, etc. But I think that’s done with the site as a whole. If your site is professional and appears to be legitimate, you probably are professional and legitimate. The traditional About Us seems to be a hangover from when everyone with a web based business was seeking capital. Maybe there’s still some need for that with some businesses, but we should make them click a little deeper to get there.
Interesting thought about the About Us page being a hangover from web based businesses wanting to raise capital. I hadn’t made that connection before. Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic insight Trent! Never thought of that.
You reassure me, Adam. I was considering adding this section to our website, but I kept second-guessing myself, wondering if it would send out the wrong impression (that of brown-nosing the prospective client) when all I want is to make it clear how we can make their life simple. I should trust my instinct more often!
Thanks, Rommel. Let me know when you get your About You page up, I’d love to check it out!
Thank you Adam, I’ll appreciate your feedback when it’s done!
This is some terrific insight, and i feel after reading this it’s a must that i incorporate this on our web site.
Thank You!
I love this post. The first time I saw an “About You” page was at http://www.tinyandmighty.com. It caught my attention because it did exactly what you mentioned–it put the spotlight on the customer and stood out from every other “About” or “About Us” page I had ever seen. I need to think about how to implement this…
I also agree that too many businesses focus way too much on themselves. The best example of is this: “We specialize in…” Nobody what cares what a business specializes in. They care about what you can do for them, the customer. This post goes along with that concept.
Thanks for the shout out Joseph! I “stole” the About You concept from this man, Mr. Adam Kreitman. Along with being an excellent resource for PPC, Adam is a heck of a copywriter and a sharp marketing mind.
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let me share how I landed here. While browsing Twitter, my eyes hit upon “wordsthatclick”. Cliche`. Followed him, and hit his website next. Saw “About You” page, right at the top. Pause. It was really so nice. Someone here was actually asking me, the reader, that hey, here is your page on the website.. Its certainly a revolutionary idea.. and as Seth Godin says, ideas which attract attention spreads like a wild wire.. no wonder this idea will blossom as well.. looking forward to more such awesome marketing ideas, Mr Adam Kreitman.
Thank you. I appreciate the comment and compliment!
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Thanks for sharing the idea Adam – the lady who’s doing my website sent me your page and I’m off to write the copy for my site. It really helps, as you say, clarify your ideal client and, in do that, helps me imagine success more clearly.