B Y T O M T O R T O R I C I
It turns out, there are a lot of different ways to approach your website About page.
It can depend on what’s important to that company. It can depend on what’s important to its audience. It can also depend on whether the site is for a solopreneur or a larger corporation.
With all the options below, it may make sense to break your website About page into separate sections. Or, if there’s enough info, you can turn each section into its own page, and they can all be listed in a drop-down under ‘About’ in the main menu.
Traditional Bios
If you’re just covering one or two company principals, their biography can be a detailed profile, covering the person’s educational and work history. But other than professions like law or medicine, a complete resume may be considered overkill, especially when it mentions classes and jobs that aren’t relevant to their current professional specialty.
Informal profiles
Often these days, especially for larger teams, a single paragraph can take a brighter, friendlier approach to introducing each team member. Here, your website About page may include their key skills/superpowers, as well as personal info such as family, pets, interests, hobbies and causes. Plus maybe some fun personal quirk or episode from their past.
Origin Story
To make this a true ‘story’ in the classic sense, this narrative about the founder or founders will start at some point in the past. The ‘heroes’ will then encounter some obstacle, conflict or injustice that affects them in a deep way. Their unique efforts to overcome this difficulty will typically lead them to their current role or company. There, having come full circle, they now use what they learned to help others successfully deal with that same kind of obstacle. Everyone likes a bit of drama – and a happy ending.
Company Facts
When prospective clients are planning to spend a lot of money, they want to know more about the nature of the firm before doing business with them. Who are the principals? How many employees are there? Are they a public or private company? Are they financially sound? Do they have industry designations such as LEED certification? Do they work out of a Buckhead office, or are they a distributed group? How long have they been around? Are they part of a larger corporation?
Awards and Recognition
Sure, you’re proud of your achievements. These items on your website About page may help you score some points and stand out from the competition, especially when they’re conveyed by a well-known entity. But like many of the approaches on this list, those citations may be more important for making an impression on a searcher in the early stages of the buying process than someone who is on the cusp of making their purchase decision.
Public Speaking and Authorship
If you’ve ever done presentations in front of business groups at meetups or conferences, this of course conveys a good deal of natural authority. Most people would rather hire a provider who teaches relevant topics than one who was just sitting in the room taking notes. Also, having written a book will certainly make an impression. But for most of us, authoring an ebook on an important topic, or having published articles on authoritative, well-known sites, is well worth mentioning.
Now Read Part II of What Should Your Website ‘About’ Page Be About for more ideas and options for getting your story across.
Also feel free to check out my website About page.
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About the Author: Tom Tortorici is an Atlanta copywriter and web content writer who helps companies make a genuine connection with their audience. His classes and conference presentations have focused on how writing, strategy and design can work together to grab attention and interest even among readers with short attention spans. In addition to working directly with businesses, Tom regularly partners with web designers and marketing agencies.
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Tom Tortorici Inc. | Tom@TomTortorici.com | 770-934-7861 | 3101 Rockaway Rd | Atlanta GA 30341
