« Inbound Basics: Increase Website Traffic with Well-Crafted 'About' Page »
Trish Fischer
There is a highly visited page on most websites that is rarely optimized for best results. You can fix it today with a few simple inbound marketing tactics.
Consider the Effectiveness of Your 'About' Page
The page that is the focus of this post is the "About" page. It can be "about" one individual or a group of people. It can be about your management team or your blog contributors. This type of page is very often the second most visited standard page on a website (the second place many new website visitors go after hitting the home page). Yet, the "About" page rarely gets the attention from content writers and site developers that it deserves.
Why So Many People Click on Your 'About' Page
Most people are curious to find out more about the people behind the company. When they click on an "About" page they are often looking for two things:
- PERSONALITY. What kind of person am I reading about? Is it someone I can relate to and work with?
- CREDIBILITY. Does this person have the kind of practical business experience that can help me? Should I stick around and read more of this website? Is it worth me bookmarking or subscribing to this site and coming back again?
How To Capture a Good Mix of Information for a Profile
To make sure you capture a well-rounded picture of a person to be featured within an “About” page profile, it’s a good idea to work with a template designed to help you capture a mix of information. Here is one we use at TFW Co.:
STANDARD ONLINE BIOGRAPHY TEMPLATE
Below are the template categories as we present them to TFW Co. clients. All categories are optional. We ask our clients to include only information they feel comfortable sharing with their own clients and prospects online.
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Full name
- Title
- Professional designations
WORK PROFILE
- How long at this firm
- Duties you fulfill within the company
- One aspect of your job you enjoy most and/or find most fulfilling
- Professional organizations in which you are active (including any positions you hold within these groups)
COMMUNITY PROFILE
- Where you grew up/where you went to school (especially relevant if you grew up and went to school within the service area for your business)
- Where you reside now
- Personal interests (including any hobbyist or recreational organizations to which you belong)
- Family information (husband/wife/partner, children, pets, etc.)
- Any other information you feel might be interesting to include
Add More Detailed Information When It's Needed
The information captured with the above template categories should be enough to enable you to write a nice, engaging profile. The profile can be combined with other information (usually provided as links). This additional and more detailed information will vary depending on the business focus of the individual. For example, a college professor may want to include a curriculum vitae... an attorney may want to include a listing of notable court cases... an inbound marketing professional may want to list the URLS to key projects... a real estate professional may want to list notable properties sold.
Don't Forget To Optimize with These Simple Inbound Tactics
It's a good idea to approach each "About" page profile for a website as if it were an author profile that appears on the inside back cover of a book. That author profile is part of what sells the book. Your "About" page profiles help sell your company. BUT, they can also help people find your company online. Use these simple inbound marketing tactics within each profile to make it easier for people to find your company online:
Individual Pages. Each profile should be a created as a separate page. That way, each profile will be indexed by Google as a separate page with its own SEO potential.
Keywords. Your company should have a list of keywords that get worked into the text and blog posts for your website. Make sure some of those keywords get worked into each online "About" profile you write. Also, make sure keywords and your company name get included within the meta keywords and meta description for each profile page.
Photos. Each profile page should feature a photo (or avatar) of the individual. Each photo should be optimized by providing "alt text" within the HTML code for the image. This alt text should include the company name as well as the name of the individual.
Social Media Links. Each profile should also include social media links (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) so that visitors can have the opportunity to connect with the individual through those channels.
What Do You Think?
Are there more or better ways to enhance online "About" page profiles to increase website traffic? Please share your thoughts in the comments section. And, as always, thanks for reading.
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