Take just a minute to consider your buying methods. You probably buy from companies or people you know, right? What if it’s your first time to a website, looking for a product or service? What helps you decide to buy? This seems automatic, doesn’t it?
The Product Delivery, Solutions, Price
Let’s start by thinking through the process. Consider your own website and a potential new customer. What does your customer need to know?
First of all he needs to know all about your product, your service and how it will help him. You must do this first. He’s not going to go any farther without liking the product itself.
OK, the visitor likes your product. The price is about right. He’s considering. What other information does he need to clinch the deal?
The Decision Maker or Breaker
What he is looking for is a reason to trust you. What can you give him?
The first place the visitor checks out when starting to consider your company seriously is your “About Us” page. If you don’t have one, that customer is going to take a long time to buy your product, if he ever does. If your “About Us” page tells all about your products in a factual way, you still aren’t going to help the sale. Product facts do not develop trust.
What should your “About Us” page say? “Hi, We’re the Jones brothers – Jones Group – Bill and Fred, of Mud City, Texas, where we’ve been since 1902.” Put a human side on your business and connect with your potential customer. Tell him who you are, who is in your company, what you stand for, your company attitudes, your promise to this customer. If you can, keep the story friendly. Show that you care about this customer and the problems that your products or services can solve.
Here are the basic points to cover in your About Us page.
- Human Side: You, your partners, location, how you started, any stories that introduce or display your company values.
- Stability and Excellence: How long in business, steps you’ve taken, clients & customers, awards, associations.
- Photos: The easiest way to give your company credibility is to include photos of you, your office, you and your products, your first office, etc. Photos of yourself are the most important.
- Testimonials: Not mandatory, but really helpful are the stories your customers tell. (You can place these all over the website, not just here.)
Michael Margolis of GetStoried.com says your story should address the following questions: Who am I? How did I get here? How can I help you? Why should you trust me? What do we have in common? These questions are a more slanted toward a personal brand rather than a company brand, but are still valid points you could cover here.
Still Considering?
When all these points are covered, give them one more way to connect with you: social media. Add all your sharing links at the bottom of the page. According to Lisa Barone, voiceinteruppted.com, these links will show your visitor how to get to know you better and are one of her “5 Must Haves for your About Page.”
Another option is to have an email opt-in form or a contact form here. It depends on what you are selling and how your potential customers need to connect with you. You may have enough in the points above. (You could always test the different options.)
Let’s see it in Action!
These tips will help you get going in the right direction, but I wanted to give you a little more. Here are some examples I found to show you just how we all do this. There are many ways to tell a good story and connect with potential customers. See if one of these hits the spot for you.
Not all of these examples includes all of my points. You be the judge and decide if you learn enough to convince you to buy.
You probably have some more ideas about what you want to know about the company you buy from. Let’s hear it!
About Sally EricksonErickson Creative's Sally Erickson is a WordPress website builder, specializing in evaluating and improving business websites for more leads and better profits. Making better websites everyday…. connect with me on Twitter and FaceBook.
