Key Elements for Your About Page

There are several key elements for an About Page. One of them even is remembering and/or learning the difference between a Landing Page and an About Page.

Landing Page versus About Page

First we need to clarify the difference between a Landing Page and an About Page. Sometimes these 2 could be the same- as in, you type in the web address and it’s the Home Page, it’s the “Landing Page” because, well, you landed on it…. But these terms aren’t necessarily interchangeable. A landing page is a single web page that is dedicated to a single subject. You can use them for singular foci like for an upcoming or current product, Freebies, signup page(s) or lead magnets that direct people from social media, advertising or emails to the one page. Landing Pages should not replace websites and/or express the entire purpose of your business.

I hope that this post can help you piece together the elements of an About page and help direct you to the writing process of creating an epic About page.

The Difference Between a Landing Page and an About Page
Why You Should Make Several Pages & Not Just a Landing Page
Key Elements of an About Page
Where and How to Start your About Page copy
Additional Elements to an About Page + a DOWNLOADABLE FREEBIE!
Notes about Online Style

Why You Should Make Several Pages and Not Just a Landing Page for a Website

Like I said above, nothing is wrong with having a landing page- it has its place. But all your website information shouldn’t present itself on one really long scrolling of information. There are 2 Top Reasons why you need several webpages (which means 2+ pages) and not just one long page that is about your entire business:

You need to give your web visitor dynamic elements and a journey that convinces them that they should pick you. Why should they pick you? What makes you standout compared to the other similar businesses? You can’t get all that dynamic with web design with a single page without it looking cluttered and unfocused. If you’re promoting 1 thing (ie 1 product, 1 free download, 1 signup lead magnet) that’s totally different.
You need to show that your business is organized and that your thinking is organized. If you’re using a single page to describe your entire website… gosh, I think you’re going to lose people halfway through the page- you’d lose my attention. My standard for a website needs 3-5 pages:

About Page
Contact Page
Services page
Blog
Biographies

You don’t need all of these pages, you don’t have to write up a Blog if you don’t want to, and it’s perfectly possible to combine the About & the Services page, or nix the Biographies/Our Team pages, but there is definitely a need for at least 3 of these pages,…..And that could be simply 1. About 2. Contact/Contact Form 3. Services If you want to read more about How to Organize Your Website, read this article.

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Key Elements of an About Page

An About page needs to be a lot like a Business Profile article that you would find in a magazine. It needs the basic who, what, when, where, why and you need to tell a story! Good web copy is all about bridging the gap between the what and the why, and the good that [this business] can contribute to [a customer or client]. Landing Pages that replace websites and About Pages, and contain spammy/hit you hard web copy comes across as inconsiderate; or as a business that only focuses on making sales. There is a huge difference between focusing on the quantity of sales and the quality of the service. (As I keep saying).

As I write in Approach Content Writing The Right Way, Content Writing (and therefore writing web copy) is all about telling a story for your reader. People want to know more about your business, and I think that conveying a business’ values is extremely important, and showing a history behind the business.

Answer these Questions for Your About Page

What is your business? Are you a jewelry maker, crafter? Are you a manufacture or supplier? Do you offer a service, taxes, consult representation?
Why does your business exist?
Who do you help? Who is your ideal client? Women, men? Business owners? Hotel Managers? People who are looking for affordable alternatives for AirBnb structures?
What are your responsibilities to your clients/customers? What do you want to do for them?
What is the history behind starting your business? How did you get to where you are today? Why did you turn your hobby into a small business? Why did you choose to start a business instead of working at someone else’s place of work?
What are your values? And how do those values influence the services that you offer?
What are your business goals?

Grab Your Figure Out Content Writing Workbook- $20

Start with a “History Story”. My first website design client makes high-quality magnets from vintage jewelry. She named her business after her 2 grandmothers, is constantly enveloped by the family history she hears from her clients, and even makes customized pieces from customers’ family heirlooms. I started the About Page copy by writing up a quick paragraph about the first moment the owner turned a piece of vintage jewelry from a flea market into a fridge magnet; then slowly brought the story to the present and explained her purchasing a similar business and expanded it to what she has now.
Start with a Standout Statement One of the more recent websites I designed was for a tax specialist, and let’s be honest, that isn’t a very exciting field of interest. But there are some very strong values and unique qualities to this specific business, so I started the web copy with a declarative statement in bolded text and then a paragraph explaining that. I also toyed with desktop management and utilized headings to separate their values and tie their services to each value. 🙂
Start with an “Elevator Pitch” quick note- an elevator pitch is a short summary of who you are and describes your qualities or qualities of your something that you need to sell. Sometimes I start the About Page with simply writing out what kind of business [this company] is and then following paragraphs lead through the most ‘standout’ aspects of the company (such as warrantees, standout features to the products/services). Sometimes I started is as “[This Company] is a …” or “[This Company” gives [Awesome Reasons 1, 2, 3,]”

Other Key Elements for the About Page

Call to Action buttons or links- if there is a lot of information about something (say your Services) and it’s too much to add to the first page, and does a disservice to product/service descriptions, then you need to create a dynamic element that redirects the web visitor. I use CTA buttons or link like “Learn More about Our Services” “Request an Estimate” (which leads to the Contact page). If Education is important to a business’ marketing strategy or it’s one of their core values, include “Education” as one of the last services and redirect them to the Blog.
Images– use images of your office space, product, a ‘mini-portfolio’, a family photo that is aligned with your History or core values. Visual rhetoric/ Visual Content is very important. Never underestimate its power!
Headings & Formatting– Think about how you want your readers to interpret the web copy on your About Page (and the visual content). Do you need Headings? Separators? Should you change up the colors of the fonts every now and then?
Consider Statistics-Do you know of a statistic or can you find a relevant statistic that will validate the purpose of your business and convince your ideal client to choose you? Write it and add that this is what you specialize in!

Notes about Style

As I have said in my post How to Figure out Your Online Writing Style, my writing style is quite conservative. After many years of working within word and page limits, I got very used to choosing as little words to pack the biggest punch! Style is someone’s writing fingerprint. Even if you’ve written several different websites for different business/organizations, there is always an element of the writing that says it’s you. But being aware of it helps. In fact, being aware of your Style and tone is extremely important for website and social media copy. Copy needs to sound energetic- like you actually care about your business and the people you serve. That doesn’t mean that you need exclamation points all over the place or big bold letters all the time. It means that you need to use words that point out to how much you value your business and the service you want to offer people. If your goal is to convince people to choose you, you can’t sound like you don’t care with dry copy. Use Action Verbs– Action verbs refers to a specific tense of a verb “to be”. “To give” “To Provide” They really pack the punch and save you ‘word space’ while sounding powerful and energetic. Use it in sentences like “We offer [you]” “We provide [this to you]”.

Here’s a list of Powerful Words & Phrases for Epic Web Copy