The about us page in a social world

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The About Us Page in a Social World
Posted by:Bryan Eisenberg
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Posted November 18, 2012
Since my column about the Power of the About
Us page (remember 2006 when MySpace was
really popular) was written, not a week goes by
that I don’t receive a comment about it. Every
website needs an “About Us” page, it’s one of
the most import ant but undervalued element s
of a company’s website. This is especially true in
a world where social media profiles allow us to
connect content to people. The “About Us” page
needs t o show and tell about a company’s human
side.
“About Us” is often the most neglected page on any website; if the page exist s at all. It can put
a human face on an otherwise technical, dry, and impersonal websit e. Properly written, it can
provide some serious buying resolve to certain customer segments.
Humans want to connect with other humans. That ’s easy to forget in an overly-transact ion-
focused business world. This critically important page allows visitors to connect if done well.
However, this really important page seems to be t he most difficult for so many to write about
themselves.
As brands (from startups to multi-nationals), we should want people to like us, to share our
values, to feel validat ed by doing business with us. How are we supposed to get them to do
this if we don’t connect with them on a human level in a “human voice”?
What Your “About Us” Page Should be About
This is where you get to tell your story, why you exist, what
problems you solve.

The purpose of the “About Us” page is t o break down the
facade of conf idence-destroying anonymity of t he web
and of corporations. The visitor who clicks on that page is
giving you their permission to share with them all about
your company, in the spirit of transparency and with an
authentic voice t hat allows you to share all that makes you
the organization that you are.
Most companies are never shy about talking about
themselves until it comes to this page. However, when a
visit or clicks on your “About Us” page it doesn’t mean you
shouldn’t f ocus on why they are there and what problems
they need solved. Please try to remember they want to know about you but from their
perspect ive.
7 Questions to Start Writing Your “About Us” Page
Your company exists as it is for several reasons other than to make money. You could sell one
of a million different products or services, but you chose (or created) your products for a
reason. That reason is the story your company has to tell and the value it has to offer. Your
“About Us” page is the perfect place to tell that story. If you tell that story with integrity and
passion and speak to your customer personas’ needs, you’ll have a powerful piece that will
increase conversion.
Please answer f or your visit or:
1. Why do you do what you do? Really!
2. Who are the people behind the company? Even huge companies can do this well.
3. What kind of people are you? Who will I be working with or buying from?
4. What are you most proud of as an organization?
5. Why should your customers care about you or get know you better?
6. What does your company stand for?
7. What does your company stand against? – Read through AimClear’s “Our Philosophies”
(bottom of the page) and you can see who their “enemy” is.
Quick tip: It may help if you query your customer/fan base to share 3-5

words that describe what they think about when they think about “your
brand.”
7 Things your “About Us” page Should Do:
Let cust omers see a more human side of your company. This is where you get to
become more likable by including “individual information and personal interests.” E-Trade’s
advertising makes it seem like a f un company, but the E-Trade “About Us” page displays
none of that human personality. See how Dropbox shows and t ell about the people in
their company. As you navigat e the page hover over the picture of anyone on the team
and you get a fun blurb about the person. Or check out the bio’s and little known facts
about the Raven Tool’s team.
How do you choose the voice of your “about us” page? Here are some more
ideas:
What is the overall emot ional stance that your company has towards its
industry/market?
If your company were an actual person, who would it be?
Is there a favorite quote you or the people in your company have?
Is there one particular moment in the life of your company that would
capture its essence in a nutshell?
Do certain words or phrases keep popping up in your daily conversations,
your salespeople’s sales calls, your blog posts, etc.
Use the verbiage your customers use. Mine your live chat logs, emails,
cust omer service calls, in site search, and especially customer product reviews
if you have them.
As an exercise, do a “25 Random Things About Our Company.” Then pull out
the nuggets and insert them into your about us page. Or leave the whole list
as a link or tab f rom your about us page.
Make sure your voice on the about us page is consistent with the rest of the
site. Yes, you can afford to be a little more conversational and
personal/passionate, but the overall writing style should be relatively
consistent .

Tell your company’s story. Check out how creative PPC ad optimization company
DataPop begins to tell the story of why they exist and who the people behind this startup
are. SeoMoz does a nice job at sharing who they are, why they exist and sharing their
company history. They go over the top in a good way at letting visit ors get to know their
Mozzers team members, such as Joanna Lord, their Director of Acquisition and
Retent ion. My only wish is that they provided links to the social profiles of their team
members.
One way to do this is to use a company history t imeline. such as this one from 37
Signals, it is a great way t o highlight achievements without braggadocio.
Connect people to your leadership. See how Evernote includes links t o their Twitter,
LinkedIn or other relevant websites next to their executives’ names. Check out the Mark
Poirier’s profile page from the Acquisio Management team t o see how they connect t heir
founders to their social profiles.
Humans are attracted to humans, so why do so few sites include photos of
company employees? This is a social networking nirvana. Let’s check out how social
the social media plat forms are: LinkedIn which is all about connecting people, shoots
off bullet point after bullet point about the company with just 5 links to their
founder. FaceBook takes you to this cold profile page (they had a real hard time
here – notice the copy under “About” and “Mission” are the same. Twit ter at least
does a good job explaining what they are but not who they are. Instagram’s about
us includes a quick paragraph about the two founders and that is it. They don’t
show any pict ures or link off to any profiles. However, Pinterest does a great job
explaining why they exist, what problem t hey solve and sharing pictures of
numerous people from the company.
Reflect your company’s passion. Ok, when you think of hiring a plumber, passion is
not what you naturally think about. Watch this video from the founders of Austin’s
Radiant Plumbing and tell me you wouldn’t think about calling them if you needed a
plumber.
Make sure to take it easy on the sales pitch and give us you and your company’s
story. Show us your passion.

Reflect your company’s personality. If you’re a fun company, your “About Us” page
should be fun. Do you think MailChimp would be a fun company to work with? Behind their
wonderful mascot, t hey even highlight their customers so you can try to relate to their
stories as well.
Many “About Us” pages seem like a copy-and-paste job from AboutUs.com.
Thinking any old creat ive will do, will not do. The vast majority of “About Us” pages
are simply boring, stiff , and tight ly clenched pages.
Let the customer inside your company. Everything about how BodyBuilding.com has
had the success they have had is about profiling people. Did you begin to watch their core
values video?
I highly recommend the use of video to show off your human side. Of course, it’s
important to tell us what you do, but put that content on another page. When
visit ors click on “About Us,” they want to know about you.
Reit erate your company’s compet ence to serve t he cust omers by using all t he
above tools. Take a few minutes and see how Zappos runs you through the A to Z of
their company, team and culture. Google also walks you through from their mission, why
their are passionate about the 10 things they believe to be true, who their management
team is, why they value their corporate culture and what they do for you.
They have more pages dedicated to this area than many company overall pages
on their website
Tell me why should your customers’ care about you? Also, please f eel free to share your
favorite “About Us” page in the comment s below.
* Image: Social media network. Hand painted in people faces showing OK sign
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Aut hored by:
Bryan Eisenberg
Bryan Eisenberg is the co-author of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, USA Today

and New York Times bestselling books “Call to Action”, “Waiting For Your Cat to
Bark?” and “Always Be Testing”. Bryan has been the keynote speaker for Search
Engine Strategies, Shop.org, Direct Marketing Association, MarketingSherpa, E-
consultancy, Webcom and the Canadian Marketing Association.
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