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Let's Ban the "About Us" Page on Websites

You have an "About Us" page on your website, right? And you always put one on client sites you build, right? I've always done that too. But no more. Let's ban about us pages!

Because if visitors need to go to a special page beyond a site's homepage, the homepage isn't doing its job. You should know from the very first screen, exactly what a site is about.

Jakob Nielsen, the storied web usability guru recently completed a study of 63 sites run by entities ranging from large and small companies to government and non-profit sites to determine the quality of their "About us" information. He determined that "companies and organizations still can't explain what they do in one paragraph."

I say we should be able to define what we do in a single sentence. And that it's even better to be able to explain what we do in a phrase.

Nielsen lists a bunch of reasons why an About Us page should be included on a site. But I think a tagline that explains what the company does, and a well-organized homepage with clear menu options should be able to eliminate the About Us page.

Those who want to drill down to specific details should be able to find them easily in FAQs, Fact Sheets, or executive team bios.

Just don't make us go to a separate page to find out what you do.

*the illustration is the Japanese symbol for "clarity"

Categories: B.L. Ochman, Best Practices, Business Communications, Internet strategy, Marketing Strategy

BL Ochman | Oct 6 08 8:12 | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Well, maybe…

But then, I do a lot of different things. Not anything, not everything, but many things.

I make the obvious stuff happen on the main page (and every page) but the less obvious stuff, or the sometimes and maybe stuff happens on the about page.

Also… the about page is a convention that people are used to looking for. Way too many people would be unable to do the math on most sites I think, even if the function were clear. By not seeing the about page they're used to looking for, some people will just leave confused.

Just a thought. We've trained web viewers on what to expect. Every time we decide to retrain them, there's a period of confusion and some loss.

Posted by: John T Unger at October 6, 2008 11:33 PM

Good idea but I think I agree with John that the "About Us" page is so standard that people may be looking for more information there so when it's replaced by a well crafted paragraph or sentence on the home page they may be confused. Having said that I do agree that companies need to work on communicating what they do in a simple straightforward sentence.

Posted by: Brett Tilford at October 7, 2008 11:22 AM

John - then again, at one time, people were "trained" to send a BRC in response to an offer, as opposed to clicking on it. the web is evolving, has become incredibly crowded compared to when we trained people to use websites to begin with.

Brett - standards change, and in this case, i think people will get used to simplified sites very quickly.

Posted by: BL Ochman at October 7, 2008 1:21 PM

BL - never really thought about this, but I like your take. There has been so much material out there recently on improving your about us page, never considered that it shouldn't even be necessary.

Posted by: Joe Pulizzi at October 9, 2008 11:06 AM

I do not agree, BL. I go to the about page to learn WHO they are, not WHAT they do. I want the about page to tell me something interesting, something personal...to reveal the real person behind the company. On major Fortune 500 sites, maybe we can dispense with the About page. But for small businesses, I need to feel more connected...and a good, personal (not too personal), about page does it.

Posted by: Yvonne DiVita at October 13, 2008 12:26 PM

Yvonne - then the About Us page ought to be called the Who We Are page. About Us should be clear from the home page and you should be able to get deeper info on who's who, services, etc. from pages with those headings.

Posted by: BL Ochman at October 13, 2008 12:43 PM

Here is my take on the About Me page:

http://orgjunkie.com/2008/03/writing-an-about-me-page.html

Posted by: Org Junkie at October 14, 2008 12:15 AM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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