How to Write a Small Business About Us Page That Gets Noticed - #46

Show Notes

A good About page serves both your readers and your business. Being able to create an interesting, let alone a ‘good enough’ About page for your website is important. For one thing, visitors who take a look at your About page are about 5x more likely to make a purchase, than visitors who don’t.

If you’re struggling to create an interesting ‘About’ page for your website you’re not alone. And, there’s a pretty good reason for it, too. It’s not easy! In this episode Lori Vajda and Nola Boea want to make it easy for savvy aspiring side business entrepreneurs to create a great About page with these amazing tips, ideas and real examples. 

Thanks for Listening!
Ready to start your business or grow your personal brand? Schedule a free 20 min. consultation call now. 

Sticky Brand Lab is the place for professionals who want to take their knowledge, experience or ideas on the road less traveled. 

If you enjoyed this show, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you’ll never miss an episode. Want to get to know us more? Find out more about us and our services at Sticky Brand Lab

We love hearing from you! Leave or speak your message here

If you haven’t already, please connect with us on Facebook! 

Would you like to be a featured guest or have your question, comment or review mentioned? Ask Muse!

Business success strategies are in the works. Come have a listen!

In This Episode You’ll Learn 

• Why an About page is so important for your website and business.
• How your About page can help increase sales.
• The purpose of your About page and WHY it matters.
• 10 Tips to help you create an About page that stands out from your competition.

Nearly every company wants a website that demonstrates its uniqueness. Yet, the majority of those businesses will create an About page that is uninspiring, and all too often looks, sounds and behaves more like a resume than a valuable marketing asset. As Nola and Lori share in this episode, writing an interesting About page gives visitors a way to get to know you, your business, and form a better connection with you. 

(4:57.78) Just like an awesome first impression when you're meeting somebody at jump-starts the relationship, your About page has the ability to be your business's first impression calling card. 

(6:55:11) Research shows that customers who visit a brand’s About page spend this amount more than buyers who don’t.

(8:32.94) An inspiring About page can sound like a love letter to your ideal customer, like with this example of a graphic designer who makes several life changing decisions before starting her own business. This is her beautiful story.

(11:34.90) Three social enterprise examples of unique About pages that tell both a story of how each company came to be as well as the good each company does.

(17:28.26) 10 DIY, easy to implement tips to help you create an About page that truly stands out.

Resources 
You can subscribe to Lori and Nola's show, (we love you and want to make it easy) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Download your free tip-sheet: ​10 About Page Tips to Help You Stand Out From the Crowd  https://www.stickybrandlab.com/podcast-freebies.html

This episode was supported by: Be-YOU-nique
​
Sweet Fabula https://www.sweetfabula.com/about​

Sticky Brand Lab https://www.stickybrandlab.com/about.html

Soul In Service https://www.soulinservice.co/about.html 

Kanda Chocolates - https://www.kandachocolates.com/ -https://www.kandachocolates.com/pages/our-story-1

Bombas - https://bombas.com/ - https://bombas.com/pages/about-us 
World for Good  https://worldforgood.com/about/

Yummly - https://www.yummly.com/  - https://www.yummly.com/about

Yellow Leaf Hammocks - https://www.yellowleafhammocks.com/ https://www.yellowleafhammocks.com/pages/about-us

ConvertKit: Our #1 Favorite Email Marketing Platform 
(This is an affiliate link)

Transcript

Nola: 0:00You've decided to start your own side business. You're feeling pretty awesome about your decision. Now it's time to put the finishing touches on your business website. But how do you write an About page that isn't lame, boring, bland or looks and sounds like everyone else's? Stick around listeners, because we're going to teach you how to flex your marketing muscle so you can create an About page that not only rocks, but has customers inspired to do business with you.

Announcer: 0:25You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, where time strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you'd love in as little as three hours a week.

Lori: 0:41In this episode, we're not only busting myths, we're sharing our tips and tricks for creating About pages that truly resonate with your ideal customer. And we'll be showing you how the seemingly insignificant and underutilized marketing tool is actually a magical website landing page that too many small and large businesses ignore. But before we get started, if this is your first time tuning in, hello! And if you've been a listener, welcome back! We're Lori and Nola, your co-hosts. And it's our thrill to help professional women launch a profitable side business and brand they're excited about. Now, if at any point during this episode you hear something that resonates with you, we'd appreciate it if you'd click the subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or wherever you're listening to this podcast. Not only do we love getting new subscribers, but it gives us a chance to help you because each week we come out with new content, so you can hit the ground running and be the most Inspiring, magnetic, confident, powerful business owner ever. Now, if all that sounds like your kind of delicious dessert, then let's get this episode started.

Nola: 1:52Imagine you're single and looking to date. You go on a couple of online dating sites, read some profiles, narrow your search down to a handful of interesting prospects, and agree to meet. But during each date, all the other person does is talk about themselves. On top of that, with the conversation being so one-sided, there appears to be little you have in common. If your first impression is that each dating prospect sounds eerily similar to each other, what's your motivation for going out on a second date? Lori, you were a dating coach. Is that what you encountered?

Lori: 2:27As you were talking about this, the very first thought that I had is, oh, please, I don't want to go on any more dates, which I don't have to since I'm happily married, but then you asked me the question about being a dating coach. And I have to say that my dating practice at the time that I was doing this was pretty well split between men and women and both of them, both men and women, this was continuously the number one complaint they had on meeting somebody for the very first time. Either the men said, she had this list of everything she didn't want, that she wasn't looking for in a person, and it was like, did I fit into her checklist? And the women would say, all he did was talk about himself, make himself sound, so, you know, he was like boasting. And he never even asked me a question about myself.

Nola: 3:13Oops.

Lori: 3:14Yeah, exactly. So it is a true complaint, which when you think about About pages, you know, can be very similar. But I do want to know, Nola, when you were single, was this your experience?

Nola: 3:27Well, I can't recall date that much. I really didn't date that much when I was single, but in the professional realm, I have been to networking events where people will just go on and on and on about themselves. And I am actually thinking about the event that we met at. We were drawn to a specific event and there was just one person who just went on and on and on about themselves, didn't ask any questions, didn't even talk that much about the whole reason why we had come to this event, the commonality that brought us together. So...

Lori: 4:04You are so right. I think you even tried to engage other people to share that commonality and he just railroad right over, and we'd go back to talking about what he did and what he was looking for. Oh yeah. That memory, you were the only good connection that came out of that bad experience for me.

Nola: 4:26Likewise, my dear. Why are we talking about this? It's because that is exactly what too many business About pages are like. Okay. They're full of generic, navel-gazing, corporate jargon, or resume speak. There's not really any information about the person or people behind the business, nothing that really connects with you and draws you in and inspires you person to person. So what is the purpose of your About page and why does it matter?

Lori: 4:57You know, this is the exact reason that we wanted to have this episode. So I'm going to start with the purpose, right? When we meet new people, like we used the example of dating, or as you pointed out, at a networking event, we naturally want to find commonality. So we're listening with that. And when we hear something that connects with our values, our beliefs, something about someone's experience, interests, whatever that is. We light up. Our brain gets excited because we have identified something that could be a meaningful connection to each other. So just like an awesome first impression when you're meeting somebody at jump-starts the relationship, your About page has the ability to be your business's first impression calling card. And why does that matter, Nola?

Nola: 5:51Well, your About page is like, instead of meeting someone in person, face-to-face, it's the substitute for saying, hi, how are ya? Let me give you a handshake.

Lori: 6:02You're right. It's a digital way of doing that.

Nola: 6:04It is the digital version. And so when you're having this conversation, you're telling about yourself and you're able to use the About page to share your unique story. So, people who have come to your About page are already kind of interested in you. And so you're able to tell them more about who you are, why you do what you do and why that has manifested itself into a business, not just why you're selling what you're selling or, you know, why you're providing a specific service, but it's really the mission behind that why. And it also helps you connect the dots as to how what you do relates to them, your reader.

Lori: 6:44Good points. Really good points.

Nola: 6:46But that's not the only reason why it matters. So...

Lori: 6:49Really why else?

Nola: 6:54I'll tell you why. Because there's actually research to back this up. Digital commerce agency, Blue Acorn found that on average visitors who went to an About page were five times more likely to make a purchase.

Lori: 7:09Wow.

Nola: 7:10And those same customers who went to the About page would spend nearly 23% more than those who didn't check out the About page.

Lori: 7:20So, what you're saying is your About page can directly impact your bottom line.

Nola: 7:25Absolutely. And another reason why it matters is, your About page, just like all of your other web pages, they have an opportunity to rank on search engines such as Google, which is why it's such a good marketing tool, but we'll get to that in a minute. What you do need to know is, just like we said how the About page, it gives you an opportunity to tell your story. People love a good story. And when you listen to a story, your brain waves actually start to synchronize with those of the storyteller. Isn't that cool?

Lori: 7:58That is so cool.

Nola: 8:00And that is exactly why, when we hear somebody telling a story, we begin to connect with that person.

Lori: 8:08Absolutely. Again, you know, backed by research, not only when we are face-to-face listening to a story, or the same happens when you're like reading an Audible book, your brain is hearing it, well, when you read it, it actually activates regions in the brain that help you imagine that person's motivation and perspective. So, I have to share this with you. As we're recording this, I'm in Denver, Colorado. And one of the things that I love, besides cooking and baking, is eating. And one of my favorites is red velvet cake. So on a whim, I decided to see what bakery ranked as number one for red velvet cake. With, by the way, a good icing also. But that's another section. Anyway, so I was looking and I came across this website for a bakery and I was so impressed by with the visual images of what she made, I wanted to check out her story. I went to the About page. I actually, not even realizing what I was doing, went to check out her story. So the website is Sweet Fabula. And the baker is Catalina. And I was reading her story, I know nothing about this woman, nobody had given me the recommendation. Keep in mind, I simply was looking for a good red velvet cake, which is so hard to find. I went to her About page and I'm reading her story and it literally felt like a love letter. So this woman was a passionate graphic designer. She tells the story of how she made a career change. She was living in Colombia. She was doing online dating, found somebody that she connected with, and she weaves this whole story of switching careers, falling in love, coming to a new country, and in this case, a new state as well, having a family, her passion for baking and how she studied under a baker, she goes through this whole story. I'm so drawn in and rooting for her that I want to go try out her baked goods. That is the power of a good story. And that's something to think in mind when you're creating your About page, it's not so much about you, even though it is about your story. It's like, let me tell you a story that I want to connect with you on. So when you're crafting your story, if you think of one person, and it helps if you have a real person in mind, how would I tell why I started my business and what motivated me and what the passion is that brings that to me? So in Sweet Fabula, Catalina talks about accomplishing a goal, overcoming a struggle and the end result, or the amazing end result here, is her delivering these baked goods and using her creativity as a graphic designer to do that same kind of work on baked goods. That's how you craft a great About Us.

Nola: 11:19It sounds like it was really effective and gave a lot of opportunities for the reader to identify with her. Now, I would say nearly every company wants a website that demonstrates how unique they are, how much they stand out from the competition. However, the majority of businesses actually have About pages that look and sound just exactly like their competition. The end result is uninspiring business bio that looks and sounds more like a resume than the valuable marketing asset that it really could be. Yet. This seemingly insignificant and often underutilized storytelling tool is actually a magical website page. And we have some examples that we're going to put in our show notes and on our resources page. But I remember, see, you just love food. One of our examples it's for Kanda Chocolates.

Lori: 12:18Yeah. So I came across Kanda Chocolates through a Deals-&-Steals. It was on the website, but I knew nothing about the company itself. So I naturally went to look for it. And what was inspiring about it is the coca beans come a hundred percent from Ghana. The founder, Karen Blackwell, is also the CEO of Sage and Alms. So, she's very much into being a benefit corporation. This was just another vertical in her overarching separate companies, but part of it. So if you go to her About page, what's inspiring and interesting about the way that she's laid it out is, she talks about Kanda Chocolate, you can also see an example about the owner, you can also link to her Sage and Alms page as well. And the reason why I wanted to share this with listeners is, there's not one right way to do it. In the examples that we're sharing with you, what you'll see is, these companies pop out for being unique. They pop out because you get a sense of what their mission is, what their purpose is, and often what their passion is. Another great example of this is Bombas. I don't know if you're familiar with Bombas.

Nola: 13:38I'm not. I'm La Bomba, but not Bombas.

Lori: 13:41No, not the same. It's not, this is not dancing and it's not a restaurant.

Nola: 13:45Alright.

Lori: 13:46So, I again came across Bombas, Bombas does socks.

Nola: 13:50Hmm.

Lori: 13:50So they're a company and they are a unique company. One of the things for every sock that you buy, they donate a sock to people in need. Right? Because that's the number one thing that they found in homeless shelters is that people needed socks.

Nola: 14:06Oh.

Lori: 14:06So while I make my purchase does good, I have to tell you, I love Bombas. Now, again, this is not an affiliate, this is a personal preference. This is a site that I went to. I checked it out. I love the way they told their story and I loved the product. And those two go hand in hand.

Nola: 14:26You mean as an examples? Oh, I see.

Lori: 14:32No, they don't go hand in hand as examples. I thought maybe you would want to talk about ones

Nola: 14:38The fact that you love the product as well as love the story, goes hand in hand.

Lori: 14:45Well, yeah, that is what is inspiring to a reader, right? The research that you had cited was the behavior that I did in some brands. And I didn't really know that. I mean, there's research to back it up, but that showed that what I did individually, fits the research that's out there. And that is what people do. They go check out who you are.

Nola: 15:10It works. So it's kind of interesting how your examples were social enterprises. And I guess it shouldn't be surprising since we did connect initially over the whole movement of conscious capitalism. But the About page that I find interesting as well, and it will also be listed in our show notes, is World for Good. Now, this website is where you can buy totes and bags. But it also has a purpose. But what's interesting about the website is that it start has a video. It has charts. So you learn visually and auditorily. Is that the word? What is unique about how these things are made and who makes them. By the way, proceeds go to helping survivors of human trafficking. And then after finding out, oh, this is really cool. I can really, you know, do some good in the world. I wanted to know more about exactly who also was behind it. And that's also on the About page. And you hear this woman's story. Which is poignant and moving, and I'll just let you discover that for yourself. But the whole point is, I really wanted to buy a bag and these were really well-made bags. They had unique designs, but I was motivated because I felt a connection. Not to a brand. It wasn't that I could see myself shopping in with these bags, although I really could. It was that I was sold. I was all into this brand, to this products. And again, I wanted to root for the person who was bringing this to market. So I would say that was an effective About page as well.

Lori: 16:48I agree with you. And listeners, if you have some inspiring About pages that you'd like to share for us to take a look at, please leave a comment where you're listening or go to our Facebook page, so other people can see the pages that you're recommending. You're bringing up some really good points on how powerful an About page can be. And one of the things is it allows you, when you really stand out from it, allows you to create something that's original, individual and creative. And you can do that in a variety of ways. Which kind of brings us to what we wanted to share with you, which is 10 tips to help you create an About page that truly stands out. Now, before we share those 10 tips, just as an overarching idea, when you're writing your About page, include messages that talk to the reader. So use the word You. Use I and we sparingly. It's not that you can't talk about, we do this or I, if you're an individual, but just use it sparingly. If you can, connect your reason for starting your business to the reader, so the reader gets drawn into your story.

Nola: 18:06Okay.

Lori: 18:06So Nola, do you want to lead us off on the tips?

Nola: 18:10Yup. The first of 10 tips. Tip number one. First of all, be interesting. Tell the reader something unique about you. Something about your unique identity. And the reason being relates to tip number two, which is forge a connection. Reveal what is it you have in common with your audience.

Lori: 18:31Like you shared on our About page, the number of countries that you have visited. Which, remind me what that number is?

Nola: 18:38Sixteen so far.

Lori: 18:40Amazing.

Nola: 18:41So, that's unique.

Lori: 18:43Tip number three, show some personality. Not only your personality as the single business owner, but that of your company. This is your opportunity to break the mold. And I think you should. Everything from the colors that you use to the language that you use, if you have a video that you want to communicate, just make it unique to your brand voice. Tip number four, quote yourself. And by quote yourself, we mean make that kind of a pop-out. If you go to our About page, you'll see that right in the beginning, we talk about muse and business muse, and we define that and it's quoted. And then if you scroll down, in Nola's section, you'll see her own little quote there. Which brings me to another piece. Tip number five, forego traditional headshots. Use lifestyle imagery. Matter of fact, this business owner, Jason Thompson, he did an A/B test by placing his own photo instead of a generic icon on a contact page. Check this out. He saw a 48% increase in the number of people contacting him just by having his picture there.

Nola: 19:53I wouldn't doubt it because people want to do business with real people. It's not just a black hole of a Contact page. And on, by that same token, just tip number six. It's okay to be vulnerable. It's okay to be a real human being with vulnerabilities. And in fact, it is encouraged. Again, making that connection. Also, tip number seven, keep the language very simple and meaningful. No jargon. You don't have to sound real formal to gain credibility and trust. In fact, being easy to understand will actually increase your credibility. And so will tip number eight, being succinct. Only make it as long as it needs to be. Being verbose doesn't necessarily increase your credibility. Being succinct does.

Lori: 20:41You're right. If you listeners go and check out any of the websites that we've listed in our show notes, you'll see that some are a couple paragraphs and some are a little bit longer. Some have many sections on a page and some have few. But whatever the amount of content they have, what's most important is how they maximize the message they're conveying in there. So you'll feel that connection when you're reading it. Tip number nine, include a lead magnet. Remember we talked about this being a marketing tool. If you go to our About page, one of the things you'll see is, we've got links, internal links, links to schedule a consultation, and we have links to our lead magnet. Which brings us to tip number 10, have clear calls to action. Ad Roll found that when Facebook ads had a call to action button, viewers were almost three times more likely to click through. Being direct helps people know what you want from them. What do you want them to do. In our case, we want to help you by giving you a lead magnet that could be helpful for finding a side business that works for you. Or scheduling a consultation. Use your About page, not only to tell your story, not only to engage, but also as a marketing tool.

Nola: 22:04And with that, we thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope it makes all the difference in you getting started on your side business so you can create your best and most exciting life. Not sure how to craft your About page story? Contact us at stickybrandlab.com/contact. We'd be happy to help you. If you found the information helpful and you decided to start working on your business website or update your About page, let us know by posting here where you're listening or on our Facebook page. This way we can check your website out, send you love, encouragement, and congratulate you on the amazing, and badassery decision you've just made.

Lori: 22:40Be sure to come back next Tuesday and every Tuesday for another informative, inspiring and motivating episode, and remember, actions create results. So tap into your desire to create a business and brand you love by taking 1% action every day. Small steps, big effects.

Nola: 23:00Do you have questions about creating a personal brand, side hustle or small business? Sign up for one of our clarity sessions. For more information, contact us at stickybrandlab.com/contact.

[OUT-TAKE] 
Lori: 23:12Okay. Can-- Kanda Chocolates, the founder of this company is also, let me, uh, scratch that. I had this on here and then, uh, okay.