1. Use the Right
Tone and Voice
The tone and voice you
use does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to communicating who you
are and what people can expect from your business. For a more
buttoned-up, formal business, you might want to write your About page
in third-person. In contrast, if you run a business as a solo
entrepreneur, using third person or the “royal we” can sound awkward
and pretentious.
If you’re a creative,
using your natural voice can help your potential clients connect with
you, but doing the same as a doctor or attorney can make people feel too
familiar with you, making it difficult for them to see you as a
professional.
In choosing your tone
and voice, also think about the clients or customers you want to
attract to your business and why they need your services. A pediatric
dentist can use a more casual tone, but someone looking for an oral
surgeon won’t have much confidence after reading an About page full of
slang words or jokes.
2. Include
Photos
Your About page isn’t
the place for stock photos. Include photos of yourself, your team, your
location, etc. These days, it’s easy to set up fly-by-night businesses
on inexpensive website platforms like Squarespace and Wix, and having a
generic About page with stock photos makes it difficult for potential
customers to differentiate between your legitimate business and one
that’s not on the up-and-up.
Photos also give your
customers the opportunity to see the person behind the business. People
are more likely to support businesses when they feel as if they “know”
the owners.
3. State Your
Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
What makes your
business unique and sets it apart from your competition? What problem
does your product or service solve? Your About page should answer these
questions.
When thinking about
these questions, it’s important to dig deep. Too many small business
owners approach their UVP from their own perspective, rather than the
perspective of their customers. You might pride yourself on offering
exceptional customer service, but all of your competitors probably say
the same thing about themselves on their websites—what, specifically,
do you do differently?
If you’re having
trouble identifying your UVP, you might get some ideas by looking at
5-star reviews your customers have left for you online. If you have
enough reviews, you should be able to notice a pattern in the positive
qualities people mention when relaying their experiences with your
business.
4. Use Bullet
Points, Short Paragraphs, and Headings
People read websites
differently than how they read books. They’re more likely to skim the
page on a website instead of reading and pondering each sentence, and
this is especially true when they’re faced with a wall of text. People
don’t have the attention span for that!
When writing for
websites, use short paragraphs and skimmable bullet points for
important information that you don’t want potential customers to miss.
Lists of services, benefits, awards, and milestones are all well-suited
for bullet point formatting. Headings are another great way to break up
the text on a page and help people find what they’re looking for. They
also allow you the opportunity to incorporate keywords about your
business.
5. Tell Your
Story
Some business owners
feel timid about sharing the story of why they started their business,
but this is the kind of information people are looking for on an About
page. They already know from the rest of your website what services you
offer or what products you sell—the About page is where they go to
learn the why behind your services and
products.
You don’t have to tell
your life story here, but you should talk about why you started your
business and what your qualifications are. If you wish, you can share a
little bit about your family and your background, but if you’re a
private person, don’t feel like you have to—it’s the story of your
business that’s most important here.
If you don’t run a solo
business, you may want to include short bios for either all of your
employees, or a few key employees who interface with your customers.
These should be no more than a paragraph or so, and pair some brief
background information with qualifications or work experience in the
industry. These bios are less about telling the stories of each of your
employees, and more about demonstrating that your business has a solid,
knowledgeable team behind it.
6. Share Your
Achievements
Your awards and
achievements should be mentioned on your homepage, but they should also
be included on your About page. This doesn’t necessarily need to be
text, either—you can use badges or other images that represent awards,
memberships, and other ways your business has been recognized by your
peers and customers.
Think of your
achievements as another component of your unique value proposition.
They differentiate you from your competition, and they’re also valuable
social proof that demonstrates your business’s popularity and esteem
within the community.
7. Don’t Forget
Your Contact Information!
When Google Quality
Raters assess a website, they’re told to look for clear contact
information. You should have a separate contact page, of course, but
you should also include this information on your About page.
If your About page
features a few different team members, include email addresses and/or
direct phone numbers for each of them. Often, people look for contact
information for specific employees on About pages.
Need Help with
SEO?
At Main Street ROI, we
specialize in SEO services for small businesses and we offer one-time
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