The Essence Of About Us Page With 12 Captivating Showcases
"About Us are important for establishing trust because they let customers know that there are real people and a real organization behind an otherwise virtual world"
The previous post about Establishing a Brand for your site is one of the many methods to build trust and establish a relationship with customers. This post covers another way of building trust, and that through the About Us page.
Have you wanted to find out more about a particular website but there is just not enough information for you? About Us page might just be an ordinary page however its significance should not be overlook.
It is a page that provides information about the company or the people behind the web site, including basic real-world information, such as mailing address, phone number, and fax number, as well as background information on the company and the people in the company. This pattern describes how to organize this information in the About Us pages of your website.
An Example Of Google's About Us Page
Many websites have a great deal of useful background information that is distinct from the main focus of the website, such as contact information and public relations. You need a way of organizing all of this information.
Google’s About Us page targets several customer group, including people interested to learn more about search engines, site owners interested in advertising and improving their ranking in search results and prospective employees.
What Information Should Your About Us Page Contain?
When people encounter you web site for the first time, they have 3 questions in mind:
- Who are you?
- What do you do?
- Why should I trust you?
The About Us pages are one way that a web site can help answer these questions. They are pages that collect assorted background information about a web site, providing information about the people, the organization, and/or the company behind the HTML.
The About Us pages should provide information tailored to customer demographics, interest, and needs. The list that follows identifies some of the things often found on About Us pages, and the discussion following the list elaborates on each of these items.
- Organizational Profile
- Contact Information
- Disclaimers and Legal Information
- Customers and Partners
- Employment Opportunities
- Public Relations
- Investor Relations
- Community Relations
- Site Credits
- Frequently Asked Questions
This list is by no means definitive, and you will have to tailor it for your specific web site genre, but it should give you a flavor of what to include.
1. Organizational Profile
The profile describes who you are and what you do. It might include a description of the team behind the web site, a brief history of the company, an overview of products and services, and a mission statement that communicates your up-front value proposition.
However, the profile should be written from a customer-centered perspective. Although you know what your company does, visitors might not. For example, if you’re a law firm, it makes sense to identify the general types of law that you practice. If you’re a consulting firm, it makes sense to list your strengths and specialties.
2. Contact Information
Contact information is something that every business must have, such as a physical mailing address, phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses. Having a physical address is more important than it may seem on the surface. It is sometimes difficult to tell if the company behind a web site is a real company or a fly-by-night company. Listing a street address and directions to your company can help allay some of your customers’ fears.
Phone and fax numbers are important for the same reason. Maybe a customer is having a problem late at night. Maybe a customer’s order is wrong. Maybe someone needs immediate help or just prefers phone and fax over email. For these reasons, it’s crucial to provide numbers that your customers can use.
On the other hand, some people prefer email. Your customers may want to report a Page Not Found error, or require some tech support, or want to compliment you on how cool and usable your web site is.
Again, whatever the reason, make sure you have email addresses to which your customers can send questions and comments.
3. Disclaimers and Legal Information
Many web sites have a link to their Privacy Policy and to their Terms of Use page form their About Us page. Some web sites also list rues about the right way to link the site and provide images that people can use. In addition, some web sites have disclaimers about the content on the web site, as well as fair use policies.
4. Customers and Partners
Listing some of your customers and partners helps establish your credibility. A list of links to past and present customers and partners is like a list of references that other people can check. It can also illustrate that you have been reliable in the past and are likely to be reliable in the future. Be sure to ask for permission from any customers and partners before listing them.
5. Employment Opportunities
This page simply describes the kinds of job openings and internships that your company or organization has available. Large companies often provide very advanced database searches, describing positions, responsibilities, and geographic locations. Smaller companies do not need to be as sophisticated, and they often just list all of the open positions.
6. Public Relations
The public relations page contains information published by, as well as for, media outlets. Included are such things as
- Press releases about new products, new partners, changes in management…etc
- Links to or excerpts of media coverage about the website or company
- Awards & recognition achieved
- Contact information for interview
7. Investor Relations
The investor relations page contains relevant financial literature about the company. Common items included here are annual reports, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, analyst coverage, and positive media coverage.
8. Community Relations
The community relations page describes how the company gives back to the local community, including past charitable events, as well as what the company can provide for future events, such as software, hardware, services, time, people, or money. It is also useful to explain how people can contact your company to request help.
9. Site Credits
The site credits page gives credit to the web teams that helped develop the web site. Such a page is often useful for web design firms because it gives them a little bit of free advertising.
10. Frequently Asked Questions
Some web sites collect questions that customers often ask and create a Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ, page that answers them.
12 Captivating About Us Showcases
These 12 websites show different features of what an About Us page can have. It varies from site to site.
The first impression of Teehan+Lax's About Us page is upfront warm and welcoming. They have indicated their rates, which not most sites would have done.
Adidas U.S About Us page uses an interactive approach for users to understand about the history of its brand. It also includes their corporate information such as careers and press on the right side of the page.
Crafts Council's About Us page provides comprehensive information about their organization.
Ala Dadan is a clean and simple example of a freelancer's About Us page.
For small creative studios like Rainfall, it's About Us page gives users a sense of trust worthiness because of the testimonials.
Fantesca Winery's has a list of sub-links under the About Us page. It includes their blog, right up to the history of wines.
By including awards, achievements and interviews in Duoh's About Us page, they will help build trust and increase credibility of their site with their clients and visitors.
Having his skill set rated, explaining his approach towards his job, and elaborating more about his interest has made Thomas Prior's About Us page personal and credible.
Lyndsey Hamilton Events Company About Us page is split into 2 links - 'Who' and 'What'. They have introduced the people in the company, mission and philosophy and most importantly the packages they offer, which caters to the audience they are targeting at.
84 Colors
The About page for 84 Colors has everything you need to know about the person behind the website. Something interesting about 84 Colors, is that Cristiana has added a list of things she can't do for her clients.
Barclays, a well know international bank, has a very comprehensive About Us page. For those who are working on corporate websites, you may want to refer to this About page.
Graze has a list of links under the About page. It ranges from Press and Job vacancies to step-by-step information on how to purchase your graze box.
Conclusion
When working on About Us pages, start by collecting background information. These pages should help people learn more about who you are, what you do, and why they can trust you. Include things like an organizational profile, contact information, disclaimers and legal information, customers and partners, employment opportunities, public relations, investor relations, community relations, site credits, and frequently asked questions.
Although the specific content for the About Us pages will vary from site to site, these pages should always be easily accessible from the homepage portal and form the very essence of your website.
I guess I had better get around to making one of the pages...nice post.
Thanks for mentioning us in your article guys. Keep up the good work and thank you once again.
nice article thanks, keep up the good work..
wow!! cool article! thanks
I'm in the process of writng an about page for a new version of my website and this article has come in handy at the right time!
Many thanks for a great in-depth post! :-)
Surfers graze on about us pages.
Buyers google for attributes and purchase on impulse.
Shoppers look around and may inspect the about us page, but mainly look for the why-not-to-buy-indicators.
The web weary will go to them, but at what point is too much info really too much info?
My recent experiences with some giants, googlee (sic, as pronounced in SA) and staples.com, demonstrate many of the proffered qualities above. But you still are challenged to email a person rather than a computer. So what is the use? If you email me on my site(s), you get me.
Only complainers seem look for and use about us pages (client related experiences). Ergo, product testing and fail safe systems seems more important than too much information.
I for one do not want to be called at home at 2 AM because some chatty user west of me cannot read instructions but can find the about us page with too much identifying info that allows them finding me at home.
If you have had your ID stolen, you will not like everything above. Business and private have bright lines not to be crossed. How many restaurants give out server CVs and resumes before taking your order?
Otherwise, compelling, interesting and definitely food for thought. For me, the jury is out...
Q: Where is the happy medium?
A: Right next to the holy grail.
Great post, and great examples. I love the bullet-point organization (easy to follow). I will have to say that I think the "about" page gets much simpler when you're a one-man shop—easier organization. Or maybe it's actually harder to build trust? I don't know.
How can I submit our about us page? http://www.candelacreativegroup.com/about.html
I'm surprised no one used illustration?
Some of these entries are great!
Most definitely.
I really like the theme used in your site. The illustrations are great!
Even by using a certain style for a site, tells people a lot about what the organization does.
Thanks It is always great to hear the opinion of others in our industry!!
We were mainly having fun while doing it, our clients have really enjoyed it.. Also being a Digital company and working with people remotely we figured illustration was a fun way of letting people into seeing our "personalities and work space" without having to explain a lot.
I think since our company does "creative" goods we can get way with illustration. Not sure if all trades can.
Awesome post!!
Thanks for sharing.
This is really interesting and your points are very good.
I have a very small consulting company and can see how some of the things above should apply to my site. But I'm sure there are special cases, and I'd like to tap the collective wisdom as you do here for larger companies. Unfortunately, all my search terms are too general, even on your site. Any links or suggestions?
thanks,
Avi
Hi Avi,you can try having a look at http://www.e3fs.com/company.html - E3 Solutions is also a young company. In their about us page, they have divided into different links - process, team members, etc. They have further emphasized it when you scroll to the bottom. This is a neater way for you if you have a few links for your users to understand more about you.
However, if you do not have much info and would like things to be light-heartening, http://www.storypixel.com/about/ is also one you could refer to. They have a form right at the bottom.
This is a cool showcase of one of the best collection of "About us" pages. Nice inspiration for most ppl cause this is one page which mostly just overlook but in the long run is quite important to make a brand image of oneself.
A good post. Interesting the showcase! Important collection for every designer!
I had recently redesigned my webpage, but I'm always thinking about ways to make it better. I'm just a beginner when it comes to web design, so articles like this make life easier.
Thanks!
Great showcase with tons of inspiration! Thanks for the post.
thanks .. a really great post i like it much
thanks again
Really good article. I liked the visual examples too. There is also a very good study by Jacob Nielsen here http://www.useit.com/alertbox/about-us-pages.html
I was actually looking around for some 'About Us' inspiration when Google lead me to your post ;) Thanks for showcasing some lovely About Us pages - trying to cobble one up for our little fan site revamp and in desperate need of inspiration at the moment)
The comments for this post have been very helpful as well: included some great suggestions *and* submissions.
Hope you'll do another round up in 2010!^^ /
Thanks Flick ;)
Yes, we will try to do another similar round up.
This is the most awesomest guide to creating an About Us page.