Most of you have heard my rant about the importance of the About Us page - way, way, way too many sites have a lousy About Us page. (Like those diseases advertised as 'silent killers,' a bad About Us page costs you money & customers that you never even know you lost).
Anyway, Marketing Sherpa has provided some back up data about why it is important to have a good About Us page. (Company information becomes crucial to people who want to buy from you or do business with you -- not at first, but at the crucial negotiation phase).
The story is only open to non-subscribers until early July, so I'd suggest you visit it now, and glean the good information which includes WHY it is so important, as well as some ideas on WHAT should be included: 1. Up-to-date material 2. Customers - (Who else do you work with?) 3. History 4. Location(s) - 5. Boards of directors/advisors 6. Media coverage 7. Blogs/thought leadership
7 comments:
Great article, Amy. What I find missing so many times is location. I think companies get so caught up in online contacts that they forget to let people know where their physical location is. Sure, in theory it doesn't matter, but I'm always hesitant about doing business with a company that wants to hide. Somewhere I want to see physical location and phone number. I may not ever call or visit, but I know that I know where they are, just in case...
Eat your own dogfood, dear. Nowhere in either your blog or your about page does there appear a valid email address for you. If someone wanted to have the supreme marketing diva of the Internet at their beck and call, HOW WOULD THEY REACH HER?
Oh HO! Melinda is right - and though I don't really have the blog as a way to support a local business, it SHOULD be easier to reach me - I've added my email on the sidebar About Me section.
I don't have my address or phone on my blog either, Amy and Melinda, but I'm not selling anything - and neither are you. And I think that's the really big difference. If you have an e-commerce-enabled site, if you are trying to convince someone to "buy your wares" so to speak, you must give them the comfort of knowing you're reachable. But the very nature of a blog, IMHO, is to create the relationships, to share ideas and thoughts and really to "give away" ideas and expertise. The blog itself is creating the trust. Far different than a commercial retail site. And, quite frankly, most people come to my site because they know me.
oh, and I have to add that though Amy just might be the supreme marketing diva of the Internet, I'm sure she has never purported to be. No one should have to resort to nasty to make a point, Melinda. I applaud you Amy for the reserve in your response.
But Amy does consult. That's the difference. The web is about discovery as well as communication. So, if I were to eat my own dog food, what I would tell Sharon is "You have a blog?" ;-)
MelindaG
www.newzmaven.com
(a little stale, but I'll use this as an incentive to update...)
And that wasn't meant to be nasty, Sharon; apologies if you took it that way. She knows I mean it. (For observers, we worked with Amy MANY times at the NAA, and much of her great work is powering the worlds' newspapers most persuasive marketing, possibly unbenknownst to them...)
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