Sam Ross of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Business Center suggests that a better way to write an About Us page is to make it an About the Customer page. For instance, consider this typical About Us sentence:

Smith Wireless has been in business since 1995 and we are very experienced in the wireless market.

The same information can be presented from the customer’s point of view, like this:

Because Smith Wireless has been in business since 1995, we’ve acquired the knowledge and expertise that will allow us to be your one-stop expert resource for all your wireless routing, bridging, and component needs.

About Us – About the Customer
Frank Ross
Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Recently, I had the chance to help a friend write an “About Us” page for her site. “About Us” – sometimes called “Company Information” or “About [Name of Company]” – is a page on a website that gives the site visitor some information about the company behind the website. These pages are commonplace and no e-commerce website should ever be without one. Most home-based businesses don’t have Amazon.Com-style name recognition, so you’ll need ways that you can let your site visitors know that you are indeed a legitimate business and not some fly-by-night outfit.

Questions that typically are answered in an “About Us” page are

• How long has the company been in business?
• What products and/or services does this company offer?
• What level of expertise does this company offer?
• What added-value product/services/resources does this company offer?
• What are the Terms of Sale?
• What is the Contact information?

While doing this, I was reminded that this is one of those things that is more difficult than it appears. Too often I have seen “About Us” pages that ramble on endlessly about how great their company is, in an self-enamored fashion.

Paradoxically, in addition to “About Us” this should also be an “About the Customer” page. For example, instead of saying…

Smith Wireless has been in business since 1995 and we are very experienced in the wireless market.

Try something like….

Because Smith Wireless has been in business since 1995, we’ve acquired the knowledge and expertise that will allow us to be your one-stop expert resource for all your wireless routing, bridging, and component needs.

The more you focus on the benefits that your business can provide to the customer, the more customers you will end up having. About Us should also be About the Customer.