How to Write an About Page That Builds Trust
Your website is your online home where people visit to learn about you. It gives your visitors the ‘who’ and the ‘what’ about you and your business.
A warm and clearly written About page is vital to your website copy.
It might even be the most important part of your website because it’s where visitors will head first to get the down-low on you to see if they want to consider working with you (this process also begins on the home page so you can include some information about yourself here too).
Your website visitors want to see who the human behind the idea is, and excellent copy on your About Page will allow them to do just that!
Why Write your About Page
Remember, humans want to buy from humans, not some bland, faceless company- so your About Us page is where you tell your story, mission statement, and vision, and it’s your opportunity to show up and shine!
Your About Page is an essential part of your website, so write an About page that builds trust by sharing your values:
-What is important to you?
-What keeps you awake at night?
-Tell us about your passions?
Tell us about them in your About Page copy!
Your About Page should have compelling copy that makes a connection with your readers and shows your personality (It doesn’t matter what you’re promising, if your reader doesn’t vibe with you, they ain’t buying.) A simple way to think about this is to write as you were having a conversation with them face-to-face.
But if you’re reading this and thinking, ‘yoikes, my About Page consists of a few trendy buzzwords thrown in with a basic bio line, and where I went to school!’ Don’t panic! This blog is for you.
How to Get Started Writing an About Us Page
Here are a few things to remember before you start:
You don’t need to go into minute detail, nor do you need to give a blow-by-blow account of your entire life. (People don’t need to know that your parent sent you to this school when you were 7 because it was on their car route to work. You get my drift.)
Paint broad brushstrokes of your story instead and only include the highlights that are relevant to your business. (‘Kill your darlings’ during the editing process- aka delete anything unnecessary).
When writing your first draft of your About Page, divide your story into ‘chapters’ to help you include the necessary parts, and go for 2/3 sentences per chapter (this can be approximately a paragraph at a time).
Write a Captivating Headline
You need to captivate your readers straight away with a headline (and possibly a sub-headline) that gives them a clear first impression of what you’re all about in just a few words. Mine is an example; you can see it goes straight to the point.
Hi, I’m Becky,
I’m a global-hearted British copywriter mum of 3 living in Istanbul, Turkey, and I love to strategically deliver words that create an impact and communicate a crystal clear message – and that convert.
Remember, your potential customers are reading your About Page to see why YOU are the ones for them to invest in.
Tell The Story
Explain your journey and what led you to the work you’re doing now. Remember to paint with broad brush strokes, but don’t be afraid to get personal.
Be vulnerable, relate to your customers, and connect your lived experience to the vision and values shaping your life and the service or product you sell today.
Show Them Your Credibility and Authority
Include anything that helps to demonstrate to your reader that you’re uniquely qualified to offer what you do. Tell them how many years you’ve been in business and about any specific business wins, such as awards or books you’ve written. If you’ve been a guest on a show or podcast- tell us about it and toot your own horn!
You can definitely explain your credentials on your About page if you want, but spend more time showing your readers how you get results because the internet is teeming with websites telling people about the degrees they got, but what people really wanna know is:
-Is this person really qualified to offer the service?
-Are they going to give me what I desire?
-Can they fix my problem?
Anyone perusing your webbie wants to be able to trust you and they want to know that you can get them the results they are craving!
Read on for how to show them that you CAN….
Write an About Page That is All About THEM!
Your About Page is about you… to a point.
The purpose of your About page is to help your reader get to know you, but if you write a whole page about you and your life story down to the most minute detail, guess what? That will be boring to your readers, and they will bounce.
Your About Page needs to be about your reader in a nuanced way.
Let me explain.
Write your About Page in a way that your reader can see themselves in your story.
Your About Page isn’t an online dating profile – there are strings attached! Any visitor to your website wants to know if they like you because they’re assessing whether the sort of person you are can give them what they want. So the key is to write about you in a way they can relate to you and to give them confidence that you can give them what they want.
Position your About Page Towards your Ideal Client
Position your About Page towards your ideal client and their needs:
Instead of this:
‘I struggled with diet culture for my whole life and never had a healthy relationship with food. But then I learned about proper nutrition and what my body needs, and now I nourish myself from a place of love, forget what the scales say, and have never felt better!’
Try this:
‘I struggled with diet culture for my whole life and never had a healthy relationship with food. That’s why I’ve dedicated my life to educating other women on proper nutrition so they can move away from the scale, nourish themselves from a place of love, and live a life of energy and freedom.’
Can you see the difference? Your About Page is about you but directly connects to your target audience. So, if you were a health coach, your website visitor would read the second example and immediately see how you can help women like her!
Telling Stories Through Your About Page Copywriting
Everyone loves a good story! When you tell stories on your About Page (yours and your clients), you allow people a peek behind the curtain, which we all want as consumers.
Now, only tell stories that are relevant to your business. (leave out that one time your hamster escaped and roamed your home freely for a week when you were 7!). But telling a story of why you started your business can be very powerful.
One of my clients had a dramatic near-death experience, which was the wake-up call she needed to make some huge changes in her life, which led to her launching her business. See?!
Your personal story is a vital part of your brand voice that will set you apart from everyone else, so weave it into your About Page and see whose hearts it touches.
Tell stories about the impact of your product or service on your About Page, too- and you can even speak to why these client breakthrough stories mean so much to you, providing social proof in the process! Here’s a great example:
‘I used to feel so unfulfilled in my 9-5 desk job that I started to feel like something was wrong with me. After taking the scariest leap of my life and leaving my job to do my coaching qualification, I now get to support others in leaving the rat race grind. Sandra was my first client, a corporate finance team leader for over 10 years. But years of stress had made her unwell and disillusioned, unable to live out her core values. I understood how she felt! After just six months of working together, Sandra was able to recover and lay the foundations of her new business venture. Today, she is her own boss, enjoying a balanced life of business and family where she feels peaceful and fulfilled.’
Convert Visitors into Customers
When you position your About Page to be about your ideal client so they can see themselves in your About story, thats when you start to build a relationship with prospective customers. If they can relate to you and see how you can help them simultaneously, they’ll warm up to your brand and click over to your Services or Sales Page next. Yay!!!
Combine Compelling Copy with Strategic SEO Practices for your Home Page
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy should be a key role in your marketing ecosystem for all your website copy and blogs.
We’ve already ascertained that visitors to your website get their first impression of you from your About Page, and in addition, an SEO optimised About Page will help boost your visibility online in organic Google searches.
By including relevant keywords in your About Page, you’re giving Google the thumbs up that your website can be trusted, and that people should listen to your expertise.
Research relevant SEO keywords and integrate these into your copy (without keyword stuffing which is an instant red flag for search engines!). Google favours quality, relevant content, so make sure your About Page is informative and provides value to your readers which can signal to Google that your website is trustworthy and that your page should appear in search results.
Don’t use Confusing Jargon or Meaningless Buzzwords
Your About Page needs to be easy to read and engaging, so don’t use trendy buzzwords like ‘premium’ or ‘uplevel.’ They’re too vague for any of us to know what they really mean!
Also, steer clear of too many over-descriptive adjectives. If you write ‘amazing, incredible, and fantastic’ in one sentence, those words lose their power.
Replace buzzwords and multiple adjectives a client testimonial and stories of real impact. Instead of this:
‘After implementing the XYZ programme, I up-levelled my business in incredible ways.’
Try this: ‘After implementing the XYZ program, my business increased in revenue from X to X per month, and I had a continual stream of new leads who wanted to work with me!’
Can you see the difference? In the second example, your reader will see the real credible impact of working with you, which is far more persuasive and influential than writing ‘incredible.’ (Note: you CAN use words like ‘incredible’ sparingly, but back them up with the WHY).
Get personal
Write openly and vulnerably- people want to work with real humans with real lived experiences and emotions, so the more openly you can share your story as a business owner the better.
You can also include a photo and also pictures from along the way to help your readers get even more of a peek behind the scenes.
Include a Call to Action (CTA)
The final section of your about page template is your CTA. Tell your readers what next steps they should take to work with you. This could be to book a call with you or to download a free resource from you.
Alternatively, you might lead them to the sales page for your signature offer.
Whatever it is, your call to action should be clear and straightforward so your visitor can seamlessly move from reading your website’s About Page to booking you! Yay!
Hire me as Your Copywriter, to Write an About Page That Generates Dream Clients on Repeat
If you’re struggling when writing copy for your About page for your business, it’s not just you! When your business is new or well-established, it’s precious to you. It’s so profoundly personal that it can be hard to transmute your story into words.
It can be scary to be THAT vulnerable, tell the world your story, and lay your dreams out on the table.
If you need support, I can listen, hold space for you, and help you process your story with my online coffee & chat process (where I ask you all the right questions to draw out your magic) and write your About Page for you.
I’m a website copywriter who is good at simplifying stories and crafting powerful narratives to make your About Page represent you and make you stand out from the competition as the unique world-changer you are.
Drop me a note in this form here, and let’s get started!
