The personal touch
That ‘About’ page on your website is important. Why? Because people like people. To put it as simply as I can, people want to know who they’re dealing with.
People want to put names to faces, they want to connect. It’s why social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook exist. We’re all just big gossips deep down!
But to get back to my point, I’ve seen some great ‘About’ pages recently. Companies that have obviously gone to the trouble to think a little bit outside the box.
I find the best ones are those which really emphasise the company’s human side. Take Pownce for instance, the newest information sharing and networking site on the block. With a little bit of thought (and humour) they have created something which, while achieving its aim of conveying background and context, also serves up a big dollop of personality.
The feeling I’m left with after looking at their ‘About’ page is : ‘They’re just ordinary folk like me!’
Now, not every company can take such a personal approach. But even the big boys could take a leaf out of the Pownce book.
My advice? Be direct, be a little light-hearted (if you dare!) and don’t be afraid to use pictures. Show your customers who you are. When you meet, it’s one less obstacle to break down.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Breaking the mould with these pages should be one of the first pieces of advice given to companies when they’re working up/reworking a site.
A refreshing, outward-looking about us page breathes life into what is, on the majority of sites, a very terse, boring page. It needs to reflect the ‘why we do/love doing what we do and what we’re aiming for’ - that’s what I go for when I’m writing them.
Bring out the passion of the client for their business and delivering what the client wants, not the ‘oh well, everybody else has one of these pages so I suppose we’d better dump a poorly reworked version of our mission statement or company history in here; why bother? Get them excited about themselves again. It works