Most About pages often read the same; they have a simple paragraph on the mission, values, and perhaps a photo. Beyond the professional language and expertise mentioned, we must ask an important question: “If I swapped the logo, would it sit just as comfortably on a competitor’s site?”
This would matter less if nobody read the “About us” page, but people do, more than most companies assume. Kevin Bloom, senior director of marketing at Hinge, writes that many B2B firms find their About section is the most-viewed page on the whole site. The reason is rarely curiosity about the mission. It is comparison.
Buyers read the page hunting for a difference
What separates one firm from another is almost never the adjectives. It is a founding year, a client anyone can look up, a certification with a number attached. Saying “we are passionate about delivering excellence” gives a buyer nothing to hold onto, so it’s skimmed past just like that.
This rarely happens because anyone chose vague on purpose. It happens because vague is cheap and specific is not. Being specific means having to go through a process of clearing client names, making sure numbers are backed, and more. Adjectives cost nothing and easily clear every review untouched, which is how a page ends up optimized for internal approval instead of for the person reading it.
Despite that, if you want to leave a lasting impression, you need a page specific enough that picks a reader’s interest.
A founding story rests on its dates
Dates are the cheapest verifiable thing an About page can carry, and most pages leave them out. IBM’s own history pages record that the company was founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, a merger of three firms selling time clocks, commercial scales, and tabulating machines, and that it did not take the name International Business Machines until 1924, once the original name had stopped describing the ambition.
None of that is flattering, yet it still lands, because it shows the company’s history and narrows down its uniqueness.
Naming a client puts something on the line
A buyer can do more with a client’s name than with a generic title such as “leading technology companies.” A name is something to recognize and look up. A category is something to imagine. But a named client can publicly contradict you if you get it wrong, which automatically gives the name weight.
If you are a younger firm with a short client list and most of it under wraps, the proof has to come from somewhere else. Name the industries and the scale of the work instead of the logos. Publish a project count and the year you started counting. Put the people on the page, with titles and profiles a buyer can open.
What could a stranger check on your About page?
- Your founding story: How you became what you are, the year, and a reason.
- The clients you can name: two or three specific companies do more than a paragraph describing who you typically serve.
- Certifications that lead somewhere: link the registry or certifying body, so a buyer can click through and confirm it.
Every one of those can be fact-checked by anybody, and give your company a weight of identity to stand out and become more recognizable.Wondering what your own About page gives a buyer to check? Contact us at Laguna Media Group to turn the claims on your site into storytelling that will make your company stand out.