A year ago I was reviewing my own websites statistics and to my surprise my About Page was in the top ten most visited pages of all time. Prior to that I hadn’t really given my About Page much attention – I viewed it as an obligatory page and had not really spent any time on it. But when I realised how often it had been visited I very quickly realised the value in getting it into shape. I needed to focus on About Page Opportunity!
When you think about it, it makes sense for your About Page to be visited. If your website attracts any traffic then it is not unusual for your visitors to want to check you or your company out.
Consequently I focused on improving my About Page and results started happening quickly. Now 12 months later I have statistics to show you what has happened to its appeal.
- Average time on page has increased 25.8% – I am now planning a video for this page to keep visitors on this page even longer.
- Bounce rate has gone from 83.33% to 8.33% meaning 90% improvement in visitors who stick around on my website.
- Exit rate from my website because of this page is now at 27.78% as opposed to 55%. (I still need to work on this.)
- Sign ups from this page have increased by 335% resulting in more prospects and business.
So there you have it compelling reasons to get your About Page doing its job and focusing on about page opportunity.
Here are 10 Key Ways to Harness your About Page Opportunity
- Write in the first person. Be personal; make your About Page personal. You should not write in the third person, as though someone else were writing about you.
- Write in a conversational style. People should get a sense of your “voice.” If my statistics are representative, this page will be one of the first they visit. They will assume that the style of this page is how you typically do business.
- Start with the reader’s priorities. Most About pages I have reviewed are written “upside down.” By this, I mean that the owner starts with his or her bio, personal interests, and then (sometimes) gets to what may interest the reader. I suggest you reverse this. Start with the reader’s interests.
- Tell them about yourself. This is the first thing I want to know as a reader. But you should resist the temptation to provide your entire bio—at least at the beginning. One or two sentences are sufficient.
- Tell them about your business or service. What is your site about? Try to narrow it down to a theme. For example, my theme is sales and marketing strategy. Next, explain what kinds of things you have developed authority about. I think it is best to limit yourself to a handful of categories. The more focused your content, the more visitors you will attract.
- Set their expectations. Tell them what you do and who you can help.
- Invite them to subscribe. In my opinion, this is the most important “call to action.” I don’t want to depend on my visitors remembering to return to my website. Instead, I want them to subscribe or register so that they receive my content or special offers.
- Point them to your top ideas. This is an opportunity to invite them to “sample the brew.” Draw them further into your expertise. Give them a taste of your best ideas. Google Analytics or even your websites stats package can provide you with a list of your most popular pages of all time. Remember visitors come to your About Page to check you out – so muscle up to the challenge and show them how you are the one to help them.
- Provide a full biography. Some of your visitors will be more interested in your full bio. This is the place to provide it. You should share your education, work history, any books you have written, current interests or hobbies, your family, client testimonials etc. The more you can be a real person, the more people will connect with you.
- Tell them how to contact you. Why hide this? I try to make it easy. Though it is sometimes a burden, I enjoy hearing from my prospects and clients. I also want them to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and other social media, so I provide links to those pages.
Finally, you might want to create a separate About page for your Twitter profile. This is a way to make your page more specific to Twitter followers. This is the page I then link to in my Twitter profile.
If this article is of interest to you and you’d like to take things further – I am offering a FREE synopsis of your websites About Page. Simply email me [email protected] the URL link to your About Page and I’ll critique it and reply in 2 working days as to how to enhance your About Page Opportunity.
