About pages consistently rank as one of the most visited pages on most web sites. It’s natural because anyone visiting your site wants to know who you are and what you are all about. Which is why you need to focus on building a better About page so you can wow your would-be clients who are checking you out!
Think about your About page from the perspective of someone who’s looking to hire you. For them, your About page is the first step to figuring out if you’re a good fit in terms of skill, experience and personality.
The job of your About page is to connect with those potential clients and make an outstanding first impression. An impression that makes them absolutely want to learn more about working with you and on their way to being ready to working with you.
Sounds good, right? The problem is that most About pages don’t do this. They turn out to be a long and boring resume of why you’re awesome and totally fail to connect with the reader.
If you’ve done the work to get someone to your website, you want your About page to do it’s job – which is to woo clients.
When you run a services business, you NEED your About page to connect with clients, so here are 5 hacks to help you build a better About page:
Hack #1: Understand that Your About Page Isn’t Actually About You
The name “About” page, is completely misleading because your About page is not all about you.
Your About page needs to be a place to connect with your clients and explain what you do and how you are qualified to do it. But you need to avoid launching into your life story and focus on clearly articulating that you understand them and their wants, needs, struggles and dreams.
If your About page starts with “Hi, I’m (insert your name)…” then you’re doing it wrong. The hook should be to find that point of connection with your reader and capture their attention before you launch into your song and dance routine.
Hack #2: Answer WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?)
We’re inherently selfish as humans so with your About page, you need to speak to how you can help you clients and why you are uniquely qualified to do it.
It’s not about you, but what you can do for your clients. What are the results you’ve got a track record of delivering? What’s your secret sauce that makes you the best darn whatever you are ever?
That’s what they want to know. They don’t really care about the details of where you were working in 2004, so skip the details and focus on the thing they want to know most – results, transformations and how you can help them achieve their goals.
Hack #3: Have Personality
The About page is your place to shine and for you to show up the way you really are. This is the #1 place people can get a taste of what you’re really like so they can quickly figure out if you are a good fit for them.
Your goal should be to stand out and not have an About page that any other person in your industry would have. Be you. (Also, don’t be anyone else as there’s nothing that breaches trust faster than when copy sounds nothing like you and there’s a major disconnect.)
Also, make sure you know your market. If you work in a more formal market, breaking out casual, conversational copy may not be appropriate. And if you work with free-spirited entrepreneurs, you want to lose the stiff corporate speak.
Hack #4: Don’t Tell Your Life Story
The idea of your About page is to have whoever is reading the page think “yes, I want to work with this person!”
Let’s face it, no one is going to read an epically long page that shares every little detail.
Think of your About page as an appetizer that you need to keep bite-sized. There’s no shortage of opportunities for you to inject your stories into your copy, so you don’t need to try to cram them all onto your About page.
This approach will help you connect with readers as they won’t be bored stiff and decide they can’t go on. Boredom is not a good strategy for getting clients to the next step.
Hack #5: Sell Yourself
Your About page isn’t the place for you to be humble. If you don’t sell yourself here, no one else is going to.
As you write this page, focus on how you can demonstrate credibility and establish your expertise. This doesn’t mean you need to brag, but rather you can speak to your unique level of skills, experience and what makes you really awesome at what you do.
If you fail to do this, people aren’t going to dig further. You need to use the content on this page to convince clients you’re the right fit for the job.
BONUS – Hack #6: Have a Clear Next Step
Hold on, I may get a little ranty for a moment. Do you know how many About pages end with…nothing. A big fat nothing and this is a crying shame!!!
If someone actually reads to the end of your About page, don’t miss this golden opportunity. Your About page needs to have a CLEAR next step by sending them to your services page. After all, you’re in business to book and serve clients, right? So let them know how they can hire you!
Creating a better About page that connects with clients will take time and effort, but it always pays off. Your About page deserves the same amount of care and thought you give your home or your services page, so use these hacks to build your About page so it stands out and helps you sell your services.
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