The Teckki Says

This is a multipart series on websites that will discuss what pages common to many websites should contain. This article discusses the About Page.

In the last blog post, I went over what should go on the home page. To summarize, the Home page is the page that introduces a visitor to your site. It has the primary function of capturing interest and compelling visitors to go further into your site.

The About page, which can include a number of things, such as mission, goals, history, and staff pages, describes who you are to the outside world. It is not the place visitors seek, but it is an important section as visitors who are looking for a closer relationship turn to for assurance that values, philosophies and experiences mesh with theirs.

The About pages are some of the most underrated pages of a website, and I will argue that most organizations under utilize these pages. It's not hard to figure out what these pages display – "This is us, this is our history, these are our values, this is our mission statement and this is our staff". I assert this because just about every website I've done says this, and those whom I've read do the same. The about either gives a historical timeline of birth to now, or staff capabilities and credentials, and vision statements in terms of what the company wants to accomplish. I would also argue that your visitors are greeting this information with a big fat "So what!"

One of the best mission statements I ever read was one from an automotive company that stated from the customer's perspective how she was pleased with the professionalism of service rendered, the quality of the repairs and the price she was charged. She also said that she would recommend her friends. Although websites weren't in use by many businesses back when this statement was developed, this company's "About" page would have revolved around this statement. Would it be easier for someone to identify with a customer-quote-like mission statement, or one of the traditional statements that start with, "We will provide…?"

About pages should be something that the site visitor can relate to. Once someone knows your name and what you do, they want to know who you are. Your about page should say, "I'm like you", or "I'm what you are looking for because you understand who I am," or something that gets a light bulb going that relates back to the visitor.

Your about page is really not about you. It's about getting your visitors to relate to you.