4 Steps to Write a Wildly Effective About Us Page

The “About Us” page is one of the most wildly visited pages on most websites (often second to the homepage). It’s especially frequented by people who haven’t interacted much with that company before. (Read: people who haven’t purchased yet.) That means the copywriting on the About page can mean the difference between customers trusting the company and making purchases versus, well, not.

Copywriting About pages is tricky because a lot of copywriters fall into the trap of writing about the client on the About Us page. “Wait,” you may be thinking, “who else would it be about?” It’s about the potential customer.

About Pages Can Have Different Names

Before we get into how to write them, I just want to make a note about what they’re called. Some companies call them About Us pages while others call them Our Company, Our Team, or even Who We Are. For the most part, they’re all the same thing.

The only difference might come in if a company is separating the content onto two pages; say, instead of one About Us page, they have an Our Team page and an Our Mission page. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to continue to just refer to it as an About Us page.

Why the About Page Is So Crucial

Potential future customers people visit an About Us page to determine if this is a company they can trust and they’d feel comfortable purchasing from. Potential job applicants view the About Us page to see if it’s the kind of company that’s worth applying to. Both of these are very important audiences, and all their needs are very important to meet.

In truth, the About Us page is one of the most important pages on a site, so when it’s your job to write it, you have a great opportunity to shine!

4 Elements to Include When Copywriting About Pages

The About Us page has a couple of key missions: to communicate the company’s mission and values, to establish its trustworthiness, to highlight any key players on the team, and to give some idea as to its personality.

For example, if you’re highlighting team members, will the customers get support from these pros, the best-of-the-best in their respective fields? Or is the product the company offers going to transform the customer’s lives because it’s backed by the most brilliant minds?

Consider why the customer should care about each element of the About page and then make sure you clearly convey that benefit in the copy.

Highlighting the Company’s Mission & Values

When I say “highlight the company’s mission and values,” understand that I don’t just mean literally writing out a mission statement and some bullet points for values. I mean writing about who they are, why they do what they do, and why they see that as important in the world. This is the company’s opportunity to tell its story.

If it has a good origin story/history, this is a great place to put it here, too. People want to purchase from and work with companies that truly believe in what they do and believe in helping people with their products or services. The About Us page is the place to convey that.

Developing Trust With Your Audience

The element of trustworthiness is going to come about as a natural byproduct from conveying the mission and vision. You can also help to increase the trustworthiness by including real pictures of staff and, when applicable, their stories. Seeing the real people behind a company helps people believe in its inherent trustworthiness.

Showcasing the Company’s Team

If there are people at the company who have made an impact on the world (founded other companies, written books, given TED Talks, etc.), this can also be a great place to highlight them. Now, you obviously want to feature them with some humility, but their impressive resumes tend to lend some of that status to the company they work for. Think: “If this company has that person working for them, it must be pretty good!”

Weaving in the Company’s Personality

Finally, this is the place to convey the company’s personality through photos and through your copy. Potential job applicants especially want to know if a company is creative, laidback, focused, straightforward, uncompromising, irreverent, challenging or any other possible trait. This is a great place to give an idea of the company’s culture, yes, but even more than that, its personality.

To a large extent, your tone and word choices can help convey the personality, too. A company that uses language like “Submit an application to join our team” is different than “Inquire about open job positions.”

Putting all these elements together helps to paint a vivid picture of your company and helps the many people who visit this page understand more about them and decide to interact with them much faster.

Read More: Other Copywriting Projects

As a copywriter, you’ll be given lots of different projects, which makes for exciting and diversified work! Here are some other projects you’ll likely be assigned:

• Why Landing Pages Are the Perfect First Copywriting Projects
• How to Sell a Sales Page Project
• Writing Subject Lines for Solopreneurs
• Writing Proof of Concept Copy

Your Turn

What are your tips for copywriting About pages? What About pages have you seen that are particularly good and what made them good? Let us know in the comments below!

Last Updated on October 1, 2024