The Importance of the 'About Us' Page

Everybody loves a story. It’s in our DNA. As a species, humanity has shared knowledge and history through stories for thousands of years, which is why we still revere them as an art form, a teaching tool, and even a marketing tool.

This is also why a company’s About Us page is often the second most-visited page on most websites because it’s filled with stories. That may seem unusual for a “professional business” website, but the traffic on most B2B websites goes 1) Home, 2) About Us.

So if it’s your second most popular page, shouldn’t you treat it as your second most popular page?

This is the place to put your business story, your personal story, how you got to where you are, what you love about your company, why you love what you do, the thing that lights your fire.

The one thing that separates successful business marketing from everything else is that story of yours. No one has the same story, business, or personal, but very rarely do we have a product or service that is truly one of a kind. There is always a competitor, and everyone looks and does pretty much the same thing.

Are you the only lawyer around? Of course not. There are thousands in your state, dozens in your city, and you’re probably not even the only lawyer on your street.

But there is no lawyer on Earth who thinks what you think, has done what you’ve done, and believes what you believe. The reason you got into law, what you love about it, what you specialize in, and so on. That story is uniquely yours.

Are you a manufacturer? Why do you make the products you make? If you are the first to ever make something, you won’t be for long. So you need to figure out what makes you the best, the most interesting, and unique.

Telling your story enables a personal connection between you and your customer. Before they ever pick up the phone, there’s a good chance the customer already knows who you are, because they’ve read that particular page to get a good idea of who they want to give their money to.

What Should Go On an About Us Page?

First, avoid all that nebulous marketing BS and those jargon-y buzzwords. We’re so mired in corporate buzzwords because we’re constantly exposed to that nonsense. There’s no reason a small business has to look, sound, or act like a corporation. So stop trying to be a corporation and be a small business. There’s a strength in that.

In small business, we have the opportunity to create personal connections with clients and customers that corporations have a difficult time doing. It’s much harder for a corporation to create the personal connections that a small business can.

It’s that personal connection that gets you clients and helps you keep them. They think of you as friends, or at least they think of you with some affection and warm regard. Corporations don’t have loyal customers, they have price-conscious buyers. It wouldn’t take much to get someone to quit buying from Target or Walmart or Black and Decker, because there’s usually no personal connection. But when there is brand loyalty, it’s usually because of a personal story.

For example, in my family, we get Heinz ketchup and Hellmann’s mayonnaise. Why? Because that’s what my mom bought in our house. And I can think of all the times we had burgers or sandwiches, and my mom reached for the Hellmann’s and Heinz to fix my sandwich just the way I like it.

So even though I’m loyal to a big brand, I do it because of my own story, not because the people at Heinz made me feel a connection with them.

Bottom line, stories are a critical part of who we are, how we define ourselves, and how we related to other people. Your company’s About Us page needs to tap into this emotion, tell us who you are, and connect with your customers better.