For some reason, informational web pages about organizations can be difficult to find or they give only minimal or formal information. It should be easy for visitors to your website to find out the basics of your organization, large or small. But surprisingly often, this important information is hard to find or is even missing.
An ‘About Us’ or ‘About [the name of your organization]’ page should give concise summary information (but not just repeating info posted elsewhere in your website). A suitable word count would be around 300-500 words, so readers won’t be overwhelmed by the volume of info. Include where appropriate:
Obviously, if you are a small or medium business, the content on your About us page can be adapted to suit. Overall, the page should represent your organization to strangers – you should put yourselves metaphorically in the shoes of a visitor and offer them a snapshot of your organization.
Don’t use fancy names like Info Center or put the information anywhere except the home page. This only makes it harder for a visitor to access the information they are seeking.
An easy-to-find About us page is essential for journalists. If you don’t have a separate area for the media, they will visit your About us page instead, or they will visit it regardless.
Make sure the essential information is accessible on your About us page, especially the contact information. Some large organizations merely give an email address for inquiries. This looks evasive. If your telephone number is not supplied, it gives visitors the impression that you are making it difficult for current and potential customers to speak to a live person and thereby dodging accountability for your products and services. Government websites are common offenders.
If your corporate information is hard to find or is out of date, visitors are likely to go to straight to a competitor’s website.
Why not conduct a quick usability check of your website to see how accessible your About us area, or its equivalent, is? Look for the name of your CEO, check your corporate telephone number and email address, and find your organization’s operating philosophy.
If you are looking for examples of useful ‘About Us’ pages, you can find some here:
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