What should I put on the ‘about us’ page?

#whattoput on the about page: recurring question 

During our 20 years in the website design industry, we have seen and worked on so many websites! We’ve helped our customers rebrand, upgrade their sites, optimise their content, and even start their digital presence from scratch. Regardless of the industry, budget, website style, there is a recurring question: What should I put on the ‘about us’ page? 

about #whattoput

We build the website and the client provides the content. It’s been the deal on most of the websites Smokeylemon have built since 2001. Our clients know their businesses more than anyone else, but the majority of them freeze when it comes to explaining what they do and why. Writing content is always the stage in the process that causes difficulties and the main reason why many website projects get delayed.

In an effort to make the process smoother and help our clients write or review and optimise their content, we have put together this series of blogs to help you develop website content in an easy and search-engine-friendly way. 

It sounds like a redundant and useless page that many people include in their sitemaps just because it’s one of those ‘everyone-has-one’ things. But believe us, it can be much more than that. It is usually one of the most visited pages and it’s no coincidence that all big brands with great research budgets have one. The about page helps you get organic traffic from Google by adding a snippet to your listing and once users land on it, its content will position your brand in their minds.

If you get your ‘about’ page right, you will be positioning yourself or your brand as the go-to expert in your industry. This is free, and priceless.

'About' snippet on Google Search Results.

A deconstruction process.

The ‘about us’ page is one of the most awkward pages to write, mainly because it requires a deconstruction process of asking yourself who you are, what problems you solve, and why should people choose you against your competitors? Due to the busyness of day-to-day business, many companies don’t have these questions answered, although they think they do -until they come across tasks like writing the ‘about’ page. Eek!!!

We’ve done it ourselves!

Questioning this topic and with these tips in mind, we decided to rewrite and redesign our ‘about’ page. We love it because it's unique and reflects who we are as a team. Check it out: 

What to write in the about page.

1. Answer the 5 ws (plus one)

Every ‘about us’ page should answer the 5 W’s questions: 

Who. This question is all about people, inside and outside the company. Talk about people in your team, they say a lot about the company, because they are the company. Also mention who your customers are, your audience, and who you are talking to.

What. Make it clear what it is that you do/offer, but most importantly say what problem you solve.

Why. Your business has a reason for being. Why do you solve that problem? How did this idea come up?

When. The temporal dimension is important as it shows how long you’ve been in business, how experienced you are. This builds trust and authority. Talk about when the company was founded, how long you’ve been running it for. 

Where. This question is related to the location or area you can reach with your services/products, and it is also related to where people can find you, physically or online. Give them the relevant information so they can find you easily.

How. The addition to the 5W’s is how. How do you solve the problem? The methodologies and the personality reflected in the way you work will be reflected here. This relates to the company values, which we’ll talk about below.

2. Tone of voice is important

As you answer the above questions, write conversationally so readers feel closer to you. Although the tone of voice will vary depending on your company - a law firm’s ‘about page’ will read differently to a creative agency’s one-, the content should be accessible and enjoyable. Write like you speak!

3. Share your values

Your values are what make you different from other companies, which is basically all you want to show in this page. Unveil the human side of the business, its personality and uniqueness. 

4. Let your customers talk for you

There might not be a better placement for testimonials than the ‘about page’. Let your customers speak from the experience, it’s proven that users read testimonials and trust them.

5. Add a call to action (CTA)

You can use the ‘about us’ page to guide users to other places on the site that you want them to check, or simply invite them to take action. This action could be anything from contact us to browse your products or applying for a job. Think about what would be most beneficial to your customers.

How many words should I write on my about page?

There is no minimum or maximum word count per webpage. We recommend a minimum of 300 words on each page. However, to have optimal results on Google rankings, you need to focus on the quality of your words. Use as many words as you need to cover the 5 items above in a dynamic and compelling way. Your visitors and Google will do the rest!