Let's Talk About About Pages  ## Metadata - Author: [[Emily Omier]] - Full Title: Let's Talk About About Pages - Category: #articles - Document Note: ## Summarize: The article emphasizes the importance of crafting effective "About" pages on company websites. It highlights that "About" pages are often the second-most visited pages on websites and can significantly impact the visitors' perception of the company. The author discusses common mistakes made by startups in creating their "About" pages and provides guidance on how to rectify them. The key points are: 1. The "About" page should humanize the company by introducing the founders and leadership team and sharing the reasons behind starting the company. 2. Expressing opinions and points of view on industry-related matters can help differentiate the company from others and build trust with visitors. 3. Avoid using generic and uninteresting value statements such as "be kind" or "we love open source," as they do not add value to the page and may raise suspicion. 4. The "About" page serves as a sales page that should focus on storytelling and differentiating the company from competitors, rather than being filled with irrelevant content. ## Bullet Points: - "About" pages are crucial and highly visited on websites. - Common mistakes in creating "About" pages by startups: - Neglecting to humanize the company by introducing the founders and leadership team. - Lack of a clear narrative explaining the reasons for starting the company. - Missing expressions of opinions and points of view on industry-related matters. - Using generic and uninteresting value statements that add no value to the page. - Key considerations for a compelling "About" page: - Introduce the human side of the company by sharing the founders' stories and motivations. - Clearly express opinions and points of view to stand out in the industry. - Avoid generic value statements and focus on meaningful content. - Treat the "About" page as a sales page, using it to differentiate the company from competitors. - Provide valuable insights to build trust with visitors. ## Paraphrase: 1. Startups often overlook the significance of their "About" pages, which is surprising given that these pages rank high in visitor traffic on company websites. Crafting an engaging "About" page doesn't demand substantial investment of time or money, making it achievable even for pre-seed startups whose founders still hold day jobs. Addressing common mistakes in "About" pages can lead to a more compelling portrayal of the company. 2. It is essential for startups to humanize themselves through their "About" pages. Revealing the faces behind the company, along with their motivations for starting it, fosters trust and credibility among visitors. Expressing unique perspectives and opinions on industry matters helps differentiate the company and should replace generic and unremarkable value statements that offer little value. The "About" page, while centered around human elements, should also serve as a sales page, effectively telling the company's story and distinguishing it from competitors without unnecessary fluff. ### Conclusion: The article stresses the importance of crafting effective "About" pages for startups and identifies common mistakes to avoid. By humanizing the company, expressing unique perspectives, and maintaining a sales-focused approach, startups can create engaging and trustworthy "About" pages that set them apart from competitors. ### Questions: 1. Why are "About" pages considered crucial for company websites, and what impact can they have on visitor perception? 2. How can startups rectify common mistakes made in crafting their "About" pages? 3. In what ways can expressing opinions and points of view on industry matters benefit a startup's "About" page? 4. What makes generic and uninteresting value statements ineffective on "About" pages, and how can they be replaced with more meaningful content? 5. How can a startup's "About" page be effectively used as a sales page to differentiate the company from its competitors? ### Auto-tagging: Startup, About page, Company website, Humanization, Expressing opinions, Point of view, Value statements, Sales page, Trust building, Competitor differentiation. ### Index Creation: - About page (page 1) - Startups (page 1) - Company website (page 1) - Humanization (page 1) - Founders and leadership (page 1) - Motivations (page 1) - Expressing opinions (page 1) - Point of view (page 1) - Value statements (page 1) - Sales page (page 1) - Trust building (page 1) - Competitor differentiation (page 1) ### Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Importance of "About" Pages - Second-most visited page on websites 3. Common Mistakes in "About" Pages - Neglecting humanization - Lack of a clear narrative - Missing expressions of opinions and points of view - Using generic and uninteresting value statements 4. Key Considerations for Compelling "About" Pages - Introduce the human side of the company - Express unique perspectives and opinions - Avoid generic value statements - Treat the "About" page as a sales page - Provide valuable insights to build trust 5. Conclusion ### References: - None cited in the article. ### Future Research: Potential areas for future research related to "About" pages and startups: - Conduct user studies to analyze the impact of various "About" page elements on visitor engagement and perception. - Explore the relationship between the quality of "About" pages and customer conversion rates. - Investigate the role of emotional storytelling in "About" pages and its influence on visitor trust. - Examine the impact of incorporating interactive elements on "About" pages to enhance user experience and engagement. ### Hypotheses: 1. Startups with more personalized and humanized "About" pages will experience higher levels of visitor trust and engagement. 2. Expressing unique opinions and points of view on "About" pages will positively differentiate startups from their competitors. 3. "About" pages with compelling storytelling will lead to increased customer conversion rates. 4. Avoiding generic value statements on "About" pages will result in more positive visitor perceptions of startups. ### Methodology: 1. Conduct a quantitative analysis of website analytics to compare visitor traffic to different pages and identify the significance of "About" pages. 2. Employ user surveys and interviews to gather feedback on the effectiveness and appeal of various "About" page styles and content elements. 3. Conduct A/B testing to compare the impact of different storytelling approaches on visitor engagement and trust-building. 4. Analyze customer conversion rates and conduct user interviews to explore the relationship between "About" page quality and customer decision-making. ### Implications: Conducting in-depth research on "About" pages and their impact on startups can contribute to the field of website design and online marketing. The findings can lead to enhanced practices for startups in humanizing their brand, expressing unique viewpoints, and leveraging storytelling to differentiate themselves in a competitive market. Implementing these strategies may improve customer trust, engagement, and conversion rates, leading to long-term business success. ### Logical validity: The main arguments presented in the article are logically coherent and supported by the author's observations and experiences. The author highlights the importance of "About" pages for startups, emphasizing the need for humanization and expressing unique opinions. The logical fallacy present is an appeal to emotion when the author laughs at companies with value statements such as "be kind." While the article provides insightful guidance, it lacks specific empirical evidence or citations to support the claims made. Further research and data analysis would strengthen the logical validity of - Document Tags: [[AboutPage]] - Summary: About pages are often the second-most visited page on a company's website, yet many startups fail to create effective ones. The about page should communicate who is behind the startup, why they founded it, and why someone should trust them. It is also a good place to express opinions and articulate the company's point of view. Instead of using generic, uninteresting value statements, the about page should tell a story and focus on the humans behind the project. It should be seen as a sales page that differentiates the company from competitors and conveys the story behind the project. - URL: https://www.emilyomier.com/blog/lets-talk-about-about-pages This is a very tactical post, with a little seasoning of strategy. In general, about pages are the second-most visited page on a company’s website. It seems logical that website visitor would go from homepage to solution page, but particularly on a first visit to the site they usually click on the about page first. So about pages are important. Yet an astounding number of startups I encounter really flub there about pages. The reason I find this astounding is that a decent about page takes little investment of time or money, so there’s no reason a pre-seed company in which the founders still have day jobs can’t do a good job. Here are the mistakes I see, and how to fix them. **You’re not a faceless corporation.** You might aspire to being an impersonal, faceless corporation in the future (really?), but as a startup, even a large startup at Series C/D, you aren’t. Tell me who the founders and leadership of the company are. Tell me a tiny bit about why they founded this company. Ideally, you’ll have photos, but the most important thing is that the about page communicates who is behind this startup, why they built it and why someone should trust them to know what they’re talking about. **You have opinions and this is a good place to talk about them.** I’ve talked about owning and articulating your point of view on issues related to your [project/product/industry](https://www.emilyomier.com/blog/whats-your-point-of-view) before. Points of view should be ‘should’ statements, they should be things people can disagree with, and they should be, to a certain extent at least, differentiating. Your about page is the best place to explicitly say things like “we think any open source project directed at data engineers should be written in Python,” or “developers should be able to understand and control how their work impacts user privacy.” These opinions belong in your about page, and they should replace what I usually see, which is: **Completely uninteresting, bland, BS value statements.** Here’s what this looks like: “At XYZ company, we have the following values: * Be kind * User-obsessed * We ❤️open source” Whenever I see a company say that ‘be kind’ is their most important value, I stifle a laugh. First, because no one would ever say ‘we value being jerks.’ Second, because if you have to talk about how much you value kindness, it actually makes me think you are protesting too much — truly kind people don’t have to talk about how kind they are, just like truly funny people don’t have to tell people they’re funny. And the open source stuff? I know your whole team sleeps with Linux penguin stuffies, but it’s the same as the kindness stuff: your feelings about open source should be immediately obvious from your product structure, your GitHub page and your interactions with the open source ecosystem. If you have to talk about it so directly, it makes me suspect you’re hiding something. Here’s how I feel about about pages: They should be human, and focused on the humans behind your project and your company. They should tell a story about you and why are started the company that is going to make me, as a visitor, more inclined to trust you and your expertise (and I mean you, as an individual human). They’re a place to explain your point of view(s), and you *should expect your point of view to turn some people off.* Your about page is a sales page. It’s human-centered, but it should still be focused on differentiating you from your competitors and telling the story behind your project. Don’t treat it as fluff, and don’t fill it with fluff., Let's Talk About About Pages, Emily Omier, 01h6xnashbmf80bwpdcc1zjhj7.