The Learning Center

First impressions can make or break a relationship.

When it comes to establishing a relationship with a potential customer, you need this first impression to be a good one.

Link building is a proven method of bringing traffic to a site with the ultimate goal of converting potential customers into clients. While it is common to direct traffic to landing or sales pages, it just might be worth your time to consider building links to another page of your website.

Your “About” page is the key to not only showing what makes your business special, but earning their trust. A great “About” page can be helpful in converting customers if done the right way.

What makes a great “About” page? 

The truth is that there is no all-encompassing formula for a great “About” page. However, it starts with understanding what you need to say:

• “Who Are You?”
• “What Do You Do?”
• “What Have You Done?”

These are the questions that your “About” page should answer. The goal is for people to understand your story. They need to know who makes your business successful and what you do that other’s don’t. This process isn’t easy. There are so many ways to go about telling your story, and it ultimately depends on what you think needs to be said.

Who Are You?

Tell the story of your business. Give them your name. Prove that there are actual human beings that work there.

Potential customers will be much quicker to trust a company that actually shows the real people that make the business special.

So show off your talented staff with one of those never-before-done (wink-wink) yearbook-style pages with goofy photos and wacky quotes. Maybe incorporate the awesome historic building that you get to work in every day. The choices are endless, but it’s vitally important to remember to keep the content relevant. If the story you are trying to tell isn’t relevant to your business, people are not going to trust you, and, therefore, will probably not do business with you.

Reward people for ending up on this page with a great story that works in accordance with the design.

The key to the design of a great “About” page is that it shouldn’t detract from the story. Over-the-top design can hurt the content just as much as dull design. The focus of the “About” page is the dynamic and relevant content, which should be supplemented by the design. A stunningly beautiful design will not make up for lackadaisical content.

What Do You Do?

Another important aspect of your story is what exactly it is you do.

Steer clear from using big and scary industry terms that will make potential customers feel uninformed. Explain your business in terms that any average person would understand.

Determine what makes your business different from the others. Your competitive advantages cannot work for you if you if no one knows about them. Are you the only plumber offering pipe relining services in your area? Tell them about it. Make sure every potential customer that visits your “About” page knows that you are the one to call for your particular service.

Do you offer 24-hour customer service? Is your business eco-friendly?

These are the types of questions you need to ask yourself when determining what makes your business different, and the types of questions that a great “About” page will answer.

What Have You Done?

Show people that your business is worth their time.

Give some hard-earned examples and cases of past accomplishments that a potential customer can look at and quickly think, “Sure, I’d be proud if my kid turned out like them.”

Some (I repeat: some) awards you’ve won, certifications you’ve worked hard for and received, or testimonials of past customers are all great ways to get people on board with what you’re doing.

Be careful not to get carried away with this, though. The last thing you want here is a watered-down and biased version of Yelp with your logo on the top to distract from the story you are trying to tell. The goal here is to establish their trust, and if they feel that you trying to overload them with positive reviews, they might suspect you of trying to distract them from something else.

Tell Your Story

Hopefully by the time a potential customer has read your “About” page, the answer to this question is easy. They should know exactly who you are, what you do, and what you can do for them. The beauty of this whole process is that you are the one that gets to shape their understanding of your business. You have the power to paint a picture of your business as the person who understands it best.

Just focus on answering those simple questions and make sure that you feel comfortable about the story being told.

After all, who better to tell your story than you?