Small businesses can become lost online. Technology and the internet are becoming more and more prominent in our culture, and it is important for a business to keep up with this ever changing online environment.
Websites are a go-to resource for consumers to research a business or product these days. It is vital to be online, and for your website to be mobile friendly. While websites are great to showcase your range of products or services, it is important for your potential clients to learn about you too.
Why you need an About or Meet the Team webpage
An ‘About’ or a ‘Meet the Team’ webpage is all about providing your potential clients with a little bit of insight into who it is that makes up your business. Often when I visit a website I look for this page – as I love to see who makes the business thrive.
Your business is more than its face value. If your clients can see and relate to who you are as people, it personifies your business. You are seen by your potential clients as someone else who has family, who has bills, who has quirks, and hates peak hour traffic as much as they do.
Any business can make broad statements these days. How many ‘World’s Best Parma’ signs do you see up outside pubs? Or ‘Award Winning ___’. If you are researching a multiple competitor businesses, they are all going to say similar things about their service. They will all discuss their high quality products. They will all convince you that they’re the best in what they do/provide.
As a business, you should use your About & Team pages to step up and stand out from your competition. If you struggle to find your point of difference, here is at least one: your business has you. So your About/Team page is your chance to sell yourself and your team. Introduce your quirks and relatability, show off your qualifications and skills, validate your experience in the field.
What to include on your About or Meet The Team webpage? Photographs!
These pages are also the perfect opportunity to communicate and reinforce your personal brand! Using high quality headshots or portraits of you and all your team members furthers this personification of the business. Not only this, but communicating your personalities and brand reinforces your professionalism, and strengthens your point of difference.
People make quick first impressions, and the photographs you choose to use on these pages are important to consider. Consistency is key. Your images should all be of high quality, they should link back to your brand, and they should all use a similar style. If this be matching headshots, or just using the same crop-length for each person. As long as your images link together and look as a series, your approach will portray professionalism, competence, and look more trustworthy and genuine.
So when is it appropriate to use an image of yourself?
Definitely for service-based businesses, there is a real benefit to showing the people behind your business off on your website. When clients have the potential to meet you face-to-face, an image helps form that first connection. It’s important for this to stay updated and relevant. If your image looks nothing like you, it can do the opposite of forming trust. It can break it. A high quality, recent, and on-brand image is the key.
Even if you’re not running a service-based business, there is nothing to stop you from including a photograph on your about page. People will love finding out who it is that runs the successful online swimwear company. Or perhaps your product helps young parents, and your story might just inspire them. People connect with people – and your about page is all about making those important connections.
So what considerations do you need to make when adding your photographs onto your About and Team pages?
Make sure they maintain a professional standard: well exposed, appropriately cropped, and well lit. They should be consistent across multiple staff members – in style, crop length, and professionalism. I can assure you, that one staff member who has an inappropriate selfie will detract from the rest of them.
Make sure they comply well with your personal brand, and show a bit of who you are: your professionalism, your quirks, and your personalities. You can get a great headshot that is more than a photo of you smiling at a camera. Your business headshot definitely does not need to be a mugshot. A bit of character and personality to show your professionalism and approachability goes a long way.
Think about colours, what you wear, and how you want to portray yourself to your clients. If you use a professional photographer they should be able to help with the planning and execution of the shoot. They’ll be able to help pose and direct you, and make sure everyone is on-track.
Your About page Copy: what to say?
The words are your time to shine. Remember to keep your voice consistent with the rest of the copy on your website, and make sure it is in line with your personal branding too.
Decide between first person and third person, and think about how this reflects on your business. For businesses run by only one individual, first person can work really well to connect and relate. For larger businesses it tends to make more sense in third person.
If you’re a fun, quirky, enthusiastic business coach, reflect this in what you say about yourself. If you’re more serious and formal, then keep this approach. It needs to flow and make sense. It should link back to your persona in real life. It should link back to how you communicate to your clients too: your emails, your phone calls, and your social media.
Keep in mind that it doesn’t need to be long! Huge chunks of text on these pages can be too intimidating to read. People will skim through it, or not read it at all if they see just one BIG chunk of text.
Keep the information relevant, relatable, and informative. You can talk about yourself, and your ‘why’. You can discuss what lead you on this path. A brief history of the business, the values, the goals.
I have seen many successful blurbs that are completely quirky and full of personality. You can use this as an opportunity to think outside the box. Just make sure what you say reflects you, your brand, and fits in with the rest of your website.
Make sure you keep it updated
Make sure your About and Team pages stay relevant and up to date. You don’t want old photographs or information. If you mention any particular years/dates, or reference to when it was written, keep this in mind. You’ll want the information to seem fresh, and not dated. If you have a new team member, get their photograph and blurb up there with the rest of them as quickly as you can.
Remember, these pages are to showcase you. They are a sales pitch to your potential clients that inform and connect. It is such an easy and effective part of your website – you can’t go wrong!
About the Author
Julia Nance is a headshot and portrait photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. Her vibrant creativity is inspired by her experiences: from photographing whales and seals underwater, to travelling across Europe and the UK. With a vast background in a range of photographic areas, it is Julia’s natural ability to connect with her subjects that ultimately drew her to the art of portraiture.
Author Website:
https://portraits.julianance.com.au
