It's unavoidable: freelance copywriting involves looking at an awful lot of websites. Seeing as one of the main parts of my day-to-day job involves assessing copy and telling business owners how I think I could improve it, About Us/Me pages are one thing I tend to do a lot of.
One thing you start to notice, after a while, is that most About Us/Me pages fall into a distinct category. Here are 5 of the most common.
1: The generic page with no SEO value and hardly any character
Being generic isn't always damaging. If your customers have come to your website to find out about metal tubing, for example, they probably won't be offended if you talk in a generic way about how you got into business and what you can offer your customers. But there is a line here – your About page is your big chance to communicate not just your personality, but all the fine details which make your business unique in a sea of standard faces. Benefits, features, how you got to where you are now. Having good SEO and web optimisation is great, but you also need to captivate people at the same time. If you notice that visitors aren't staying on this page long enough to read it, it could probably do with a re-write to inject some personality.
2: The overly enthusiastic page
Enthusiasm is a gift. It's fantastic. Enthusiastic writing makes an enormous difference. People pick-up on this in an instant, so it's never a bad thing to be passionate about what you do and show it on the page.
But there are some guidelines you should perhaps think about following: for example, don't use so many exclamation marks (and multiple exclamation marks in succession) that the enthusiasm wears your reader down. Keep the font simple, too, and make sure it's readable in both style, and on the background colour. It's fine to choose a coloured font, depending on the context, but, in the main, try to keep the page to one font only (exceptions include a different colour font for the heading, or to make small pieces of text stand-out).
Struggling to keep those exclamation marks under control? Send me an email and we'll work on toning things down and creating a more equal balance of professionalism and fun.
3: The About Us/Me page which is riddled with inconsistency, typos and grammar problems
Everyone has a different tolerance for this. Some people couldn't give a damn. Others will be incensed and in a bad mood for the rest of the afternoon just from reading a single misplaced typo. Bottom line is this: there's no need for it. There are some exceptions in grammar, of course, depending on the style of writing, but there are never any excuses for typos! (Let's hope I haven't made too many here, then...) Consistency can also throw people off. If you can't help but jump from one topic to the next, give me a shout and we'll see if we can change things around so that it all makes perfect sense.
4: The page that says nothing at all
Saying nothing may just be the worst of all these scenarios. After all, even generic pages say something. Some business owners aren't natural writers, have very little time or simply don't feel they can speak objectively enough about what they do to write web content properly. Get in touch and we'll work out a way to keep things short and sweet, while at the same time giving the reader something to smile about.
It never hurts to include your name, either. We all like to know who we are doing business with.
5: The page with plenty of SEO value, but way too much information
Some people think that there can never be too much information on a page. Wrong. There can. Too much info bamboozles people (finally, a chance to use that word!) and leaves them not knowing where to go next. Struggling with slashing your word-count after spending weeks putting something together? I'll do it for you, saving you the emotional heartbreak, and we'll divide the writing into sections so that there's lots of nice white space to give those eyes a break.
One thing you start to notice, after a while, is that most About Us/Me pages fall into a distinct category. Here are 5 of the most common.
1: The generic page with no SEO value and hardly any character
Being generic isn't always damaging. If your customers have come to your website to find out about metal tubing, for example, they probably won't be offended if you talk in a generic way about how you got into business and what you can offer your customers. But there is a line here – your About page is your big chance to communicate not just your personality, but all the fine details which make your business unique in a sea of standard faces. Benefits, features, how you got to where you are now. Having good SEO and web optimisation is great, but you also need to captivate people at the same time. If you notice that visitors aren't staying on this page long enough to read it, it could probably do with a re-write to inject some personality.
2: The overly enthusiastic page
Enthusiasm is a gift. It's fantastic. Enthusiastic writing makes an enormous difference. People pick-up on this in an instant, so it's never a bad thing to be passionate about what you do and show it on the page.
But there are some guidelines you should perhaps think about following: for example, don't use so many exclamation marks (and multiple exclamation marks in succession) that the enthusiasm wears your reader down. Keep the font simple, too, and make sure it's readable in both style, and on the background colour. It's fine to choose a coloured font, depending on the context, but, in the main, try to keep the page to one font only (exceptions include a different colour font for the heading, or to make small pieces of text stand-out).
Struggling to keep those exclamation marks under control? Send me an email and we'll work on toning things down and creating a more equal balance of professionalism and fun.
3: The About Us/Me page which is riddled with inconsistency, typos and grammar problems
Everyone has a different tolerance for this. Some people couldn't give a damn. Others will be incensed and in a bad mood for the rest of the afternoon just from reading a single misplaced typo. Bottom line is this: there's no need for it. There are some exceptions in grammar, of course, depending on the style of writing, but there are never any excuses for typos! (Let's hope I haven't made too many here, then...) Consistency can also throw people off. If you can't help but jump from one topic to the next, give me a shout and we'll see if we can change things around so that it all makes perfect sense.
4: The page that says nothing at all
Saying nothing may just be the worst of all these scenarios. After all, even generic pages say something. Some business owners aren't natural writers, have very little time or simply don't feel they can speak objectively enough about what they do to write web content properly. Get in touch and we'll work out a way to keep things short and sweet, while at the same time giving the reader something to smile about.
It never hurts to include your name, either. We all like to know who we are doing business with.
5: The page with plenty of SEO value, but way too much information
Some people think that there can never be too much information on a page. Wrong. There can. Too much info bamboozles people (finally, a chance to use that word!) and leaves them not knowing where to go next. Struggling with slashing your word-count after spending weeks putting something together? I'll do it for you, saving you the emotional heartbreak, and we'll divide the writing into sections so that there's lots of nice white space to give those eyes a break.