Imagine this — you’re at a networking conference, a man walks up to you, hands his business card, tells you his name and leaves. This happens over and over again, where strangers come rattle out an almost mechanical introduction, hand their card and leave.
In the middle of all this organized chaos, a lady swings by, gives you the warmest smile, talks to you about how she dislikes such events that lack a personal touch and shares a story about how she once slept through such an event. You both laugh, empathize, share some more stories and exchange contact details.
Weeks, months or even years later, who do you think you’ll remember from this conference?
I think we’ll all be on the same page here — the lady who made an impact, shared a story you related with and left you with an impression that makes you want to go back and get in touch.
A website About Us page design needs to be like that! Not monotonous, not dry, and definitely not that man from the networking conference whose name or even face is a blur now.
About Us Page — An Insight Into Who You Are
If you’re someone who believes, ‘Who even looks at an About Us page?’ Well, a marketing report shows that 52% of site visitors want to navigate to an ‘About Us’ page after they have landed on the Homepage.
Yup, you do need an About Us page!
Your website’s About Us Page needs to be three things:
- Simple
- Engaging
- Personal
Why simple? Because you don’t want to overcomplicate your introduction and open up a window for people to know who you are.
Why engaging? Because you don’t want a website visitor to stop the interaction with you. You want them to get engaged to know more about you.
Why personal? Because while your other pages may be offering products and services, this is the one page where you hope to connect one-to-one — not as a screen but as a person behind the brand. Just like when you’re building a landing page you aim to boost conversions, when building an About Us page, aim to boost communication.
Keeping these three aspects in mind, think about your About Us page as an introduction to your brand. It must answer all the questions that you may typically have about a brand or even a service provider. Here are some questions your About Us Page must answer:
- Who are you?
- Why should a person be interested in your brand?
- What do you offer?
- How would someone benefit from your offers?
- How are you different from other brands or what different experience can people expect from you?
Impactful, Positive, Exceptional… A Virtual Hug!
Yeah! You read that right.
When creating your website’s About Us page, aim to create something so positive, impactful and exceptional that it makes the reader truly connect with you. Share your story, show your face, add a personal touch and focus on building ‘human connections’, not customers.
Here’s a list of things you should keep in mind when creating or revamping your About Us Page:
Get Rid of Clutter
Clutter includes a lot of things when it comes to an About Us page design — too many images, too many different fonts, loud and/or too many colours, paragraphs after paragraphs of text, zero white space. If there’s too much happening on the page NOTHING is getting attention and EVERYTHING is losing significance. The reader will not be able to understand your key messaging, in short, they will leave without any idea about who you are. That’s why keep it simple, crisp, clean and drive attention to all the important things you want your readers to see or read.
Strike a Multi-Media Balance
Only text may be too boring, only videos may be too busy and not everyone’s cup of tea and only images leaves too much room for imagination. The answer is to strike a balance. Not everyone is interested or has the time to watch a long introductory video, thus, text is probably the most crucial. Include the most important things in the text, and maybe keep the video to share a story or a personal experience/use case. You can also add an image of the person who is addressing the About Us page, say, the Founder, Owner or Communications Head to put a face to a name.
Storytelling is an art — don’t overdo it!
Storytelling has the power to change how people think. Everyone loves a story but no one has the time or patience for a long, monotonous one. Put your personal or brand story out there but do so creatively, and concisely. You want to engage with your audience, not bore them; you want to pique their interest, not make them ‘close tab’. There are some really creative ways to share your story — infographics, timelines, slideshows — think out of the box but make sure it’s fun, appealing, short and sweet.
It’s an About ‘Us’ Page; not About ‘You’
The ‘Us’ in an About Us page has two connotations; Us as in the brand and Us as in the brand and its audience. When creating the About Us page keep this in mind. While you may be really inspired to tell your story and introduce yourself, and do so, don’t let that overshadow all about the brand and what it brings to the table for the reader. The page should be for the reader — why they should be interested and what they can expect from you — keep it that way.
Take Inspiration
If you’re looking for About Us page design or content inspiration, here are three of my local favourites to help you get started:
Build Curiosity; Give Insight
Your website’s About Us page design must be compelling enough to make people want to know more and do business with you. In this highly digital world, an About Us page is one of those rare spaces where you can hope to form a personal connection.
Highlight all the cool things you have in store for your readers, share the highs and lows of your journey and most importantly showcase your brand personality — who you are, what you stand for, and why you believe in what you do.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to drop a comment below. For more tips on building impactful websites, head to our Website Blog category.
