Why I Was Wrong About the 'About Us' Page (And What I Learned)

I'm guilty of ignoring About us pages. Only a few of my sites have them. And they stink.

You see, in the past, I thought About pages were just filler because marketing should be customer-focused. I didn't think they deserved much attention.

I was wrong.

The About us page is an important step in the conversion process. A good About page helps build trust. It creates a connection between a stranger on the internet and the humans behind the business.

The problem is that most About pages - mine included - are rubbish.

I decided to learn how to create an About page that helps my clients get more leads.

The best resource I found was a video by Wes McDowell and Andy Crestodina. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=att9LfaZBos It's worth the time.

What resonated with me most was the idea that an About page should tell the business’s story. And, even more importantly, the story of the people behind it.

Interesting stories start with a problem.

The most engaging stories grab our attention with a challenge, conflict or obstacle from the get go. There’s a dragon to be slain. A mountain to climb. A princess to rescue.

The problem creates tension and curiosity. The audience keeps reading or watching because they want to find out what happens. Without a problem, the story feels flat.

• What struggle or failure led to your business being started?
• What problem exists in the market that makes your business necessary?

In my case, I ended up doing Google Ads by accident. My wife and I moved with our four young kids from South Africa to the UK for a job as a structural engineer. Then the 2007 global economic collapse hit. Construction dried up within months of us landing. Suddenly, that job was a lot less secure.

Interesting stories end with a dead dragon.

A great story ties everything up nicely. The hero overcomes the challenge. The dragon - the big problem - gets slain.

In movies, it’s defeating the Sith Lord. It's the geeky underdog winning the heart of the hot girl or guy. It’s the dad rescuing his teenage daughter from the Albanian mafia.

For your business it's the problems you've solved for your clients. It's the lives that are better because your business exists.

For me, my family didn’t starve because Peter Carruthers invited me to join him. We taught small business owners to advertise on the internet. I built a tool that worked like magic for lawyers, plumbers, electricians, even a balloon-safari operator to get leads from Google Ads. Even if they'd never used Google before.

We started getting emails like:

• "Just got my first lead and the student is coming on Monday for an introduction meeting!"
• "I put site up yesterday and in minutes had an enquiry, to date had 18 clicks and 4 leads!"
• "I have gone from zero enquiries and zero income to 20-30 enquiries and +20k income."

One day one of our clients asked if I'd manage the ads for him because he was too busy to learn how. That sparked the idea of using the tool to manage ads for other people.

I’ll never forget how excited I was when we hit our first 1,000 leads. Later, we had our first 1,000-lead month. Today, that tool has generated over 2,000,000 leads.

The most interesting stories hint at a sequel

Every Marvel movie ends with a post-credit scene that hints at what’s next. Fans leave the cinema itching for more.

I don't think either of us will make as much money as the Marvel Cinematic Universe but we can borrow their idea and talk about the future.

Here are some ideas for things you can add to your About page:

• What are you planning to do next?
• How does that align with your values and what your clients need?
• What’s your prediction for the future of your industry?
• What’s your long-term goal?

For me I'm planning to keep doing the same for as long as I can, but I am concerned about the long-term viability of Google Ads. Especially for smaller businesses.

Google seems determined to capture as much of the profit from their ads as possible. Somewhere at Google HQ, an MBA has figured out that advertisers only need to make just enough money to stay. This means the cost of generating leads from Google Ads will keep rising.

To counter this, I’m helping my clients turn more of their leads into actual sales. I believe this will become a much more important part of what I do in the future.

I hope you found this useful. Here’s the video again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=att9LfaZBos

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