3 Common “About Us” Page Mistakes

As a copywriter, one of the more common assignments I get from clients is helping them rewrite the About Us page for their company’s website. Over the years, I’ve noticed that companies make a few common mistakes when it comes to this all-important page,

Why is this page important?

After the home page, the About Us page is often the reason why someone will consider doing business with you. It must be written in a way that persuades your prospect to call.

Here are 3 three common mistakes people make on the About Us page, and what you can do to correct them:

1. Too much info – The About Us page should not read like “War and Peace.” Keep the content clear and consise. 300-400 words should be plenty to convey who you are, who your target audience is and why someone should do business with YOU!  If you attend networking events, use your 30-60 second elevator speech as a guide.

2. It’s all about YOU – While your About Us page does need to talk about you, don’t mistake that to mean that’s all you talk about! This is not your resume. We don’t need to know the awards you won in high school or college, unless they are relevant to your profession today!

3. No Value Proposition – Remember, people want to know “what’s in it for me.” Your About Us page needs to explain WHY someone should buy from you. What are the benefits your product or service offers? If you don’t offer people something of value, they’re not going to do business with you.

About Us Template

Here are 6 elements that your About Us page should contain to be an effective marketing element of your website:

1.  Answers question, “What do you do?” – The first sentence should be clear and to the point. Example: “I am an expert in…”

2. Answers question, “Who do you serve?” – State who your ideal client is. If you specialize in a certain niche, say so.

3. Professional accomplishments – Don’t go overboard here, but do mention the most important element that backs up what you do.

4. Credibility boosters – Mention any awards, certifications or memberships.

5. Past Projects – Briefly detail any past projects and work that set you apart from your peers.

6. Innovations – List anything novel or innovative that you’re doing in your niche that makes you more attractive to your target audience.

 

SEO in a Minute: Meta Description Tag

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This week’s SEO in a minute video talks about the importance of using the meta description tag in your website to help with search engine ranking.

If you need help optimizing your website, contact me today for a free consultation.

Why Your Website Needs a Headline – Not a Welcome Sign

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How many times have you searched for a company on Google and when you visited their website, the home page headline simply said, “Welcome”?

I see this time and time again online. And while “Welcome” is a nice sentiment, that precious real estate would serve your prospects better if it featured a headline, similar to what you would use in a direct mail advertisement for your product or service.

Why is this important?

Headlines Help Convince Website Visitors to Buy

According to author, copywriter, public speaker and direct marketing expert Ted Nicholas, 73% of all buying decisions are made at the point of the headline. That makes the headline the most important element in any promotion, online or off. Nicholson spoke yesterday at AWAI’s Fast Track to Copywriting Success Bootcamp, which I’m attending this week. He told the audience of copywriters that a headline has 5 major responsibilities:

1. Attracts attention
2. Communicates the strongest benefit
3. Appeals to a prospect’s self-interest
4. Sets the tone for the offer
5. Selects the right audience

Now that first point – attracts attention – is especially important online, since you only have about 5 seconds to grab someone’s attention. If your prospect doesn’t see right away why they should do business with you, they’re going to hit the back button and find someone else.

But there’s another reason why your website needs a proper headline, and not a “Welcome” sign.

Headlines Help Your Website’s Search Engine Ranking

When a search engine “spider” crawls through your website, it is looking for certain elements such as keywords and header tags. If you put keywords into your headline and include those words in a header tag or H1 tag, the “spider” will see that information, and reward you with a higher ranking on the search engine results page or SERP.

A keyword-rich headline, therefore, can help your website be found by a prospect AND help convince that prospect to do business with you. And isn’t that why you have a website in the first place?

If you’d like to replace the “welcome” sign on your website’s home page, email gloria@gloriarand.com today for a free SEO copywriting estimate.

 

SEO Best Practices – Title Tags, Keywords & Inbound Links

Earlier this week, I gave a presentation on search engine optimization at a luncheon mastermind workshop of the National Association of Entrepreneurs in Winter Park, Florida. In the following video clip, I share some basic best practices you should keep in mind when optimizing a website for Google and other search engines.

Keyword Rich Titles Get You Noticed

Shhh… Don’t tell Yellow Pages this, but Google has taken over its territory!

When I need to look up a phone number, I don’t drag out that heavy telephone directory (that still gets sent to my house for some reason).  I just hop online to Google!

No more flipping page after page, squinting because the print is too small.  If the company I’m looking for has optimized their site correctly, I’ll find the phone number I’m seeking right away.

But wait a minute…. What if a site ISN’T optimized right?

For example, what if someone told me about a gourmet coffee shop, but I can’t remember the name of it.  To find it online, I’d probably search “gourmet coffee” + Orlando (if that’s where the shop is located).

If that business has a website, and wants to be found by local customers, the easiest way to get noticed is to make sure the meta tag titles of its site include keywords such as “gourmet coffee” and the name of the city where the store is located.

What’s a meta tag title?

It’s essentially a headline that describes the contents of a web page.  It’s found in the web site’s source code and gets displayed on a search engine results page.

It’s important to keep two things in mind when crafting a title for your web page:  keyword placement and character length.

Let’s go back to our gourmet coffee shop.  In this example, we’ll pretend the name of the shop is Java Jean’s, and the domain name is javajeans.com.  If you know nothing about search engine optimization, you might be tempted to use Java Jean’s as your home page title.  But that would be a big mistake.

Remember – you need some keywords.  After doing some keyword research on sites like wordtracker.com or Google’s keyword tool, you decide to use “gourmet coffee” in your title.  Which of the following titles do you think will rank higher?

Java Jean’s – Gourmet Coffee

Gourmet Coffee – Java Jean’s

It seems logical to put the company name first, but from an SEO standpoint, the keyword “gourmet coffee” will rank higher on Google & the other search engines since it’s more relevant to what the web site is about.

What about character length? The titles listed above are fairly short.  You can add more information to a title, such as including a location for example.  But don’t go crazy.  Titles should be no longer than 65-75 characters, including spaces.  Anything longer will just get cut off by Google, when it’s displayed on their page.

Don’t forget about the rest of your web pages.  Each one should have its own unique title featuring keywords that are relevant to the content on the page.  While it’s common for sites to feature the same basic pages, such as “About Us” or “FAQ’s,” these titles are opportunities to provide keyword rich content for the search engine spiders to find.

Your home page title also doesn’t even need to feature your company’s name, especially if that name doesn’t describe what your business does.  That’s what the description is for.  But I’ll save that discussion for another day. 🙂

Why “Home” has no place as a website title

How many times have you searched on Google and found a listing where the title only said “Home Page” or “Home”? You have to look below the title to the description to discover the company’s name and/or its business.

Why does this happen?

Most likely, it’s a lack of knowledge, time and/or money.

Companies that use “Home” or “Home Page” as the only title for their main landing page may not realize they are limiting their ability to attract new customers.

These firms may not have the budget to hire a web designer and/or a copywriter proficient in search engine optimization who would explain why it’s vital to have keywords in a title.

An SEO copywriter knows that web page titles and descriptions must contain keywords that people use to search for a particular product or service in order to attract the search engines and potential customers.

Some companies try to save money by creating their own sites, using a simple template provided by a website hosting company. But that decision may wind up costing them money, because the failure to include keywords means potential customers may not be able to find their site on Google.

A company that relies on “home page” for its title doesn’t provide any clues about its business. Someone searching online must rely on the description that is displayed on the search engine results page (SERP). But if there are no keywords in the description either, the chances of a site appearing among the first ten or even 20 listings are slim to none.

A few hosting companies won’t let you eliminate the word “Home” from the website’s title. But don’t let that stop you from adding keywords in a short description following the word “home.” If you can’t figure out how do it yourself, ask your hosting company’s technical support group to make the changes for you. And if they won’t do it, find someone else who will.

“Home” may be where the heart is, but your potential customers won’t go there, unless you give them a keyword to show the way.

It Pays to be Persistent and…. Patient!

For anyone starting a business, landing that first client can be challenging, frustrating, and ultimately, rewarding.

It takes guts, persistence and, as I learned, patience.  Instant gratification is overrated.  It’s much better to wait for something.  Think back to your childhood. Waiting for Christmas morning to arrive.  The presents always seemed sweeter, if you had to wait for them.

So it is in business.  You may be impatient to get that first sale. I was… at first. But I also knew that all good things come to those who wait.  I decided to be patient, especially since my potential clients were a pair of awesome life coaches, who took a chance on a fledgling SEO copywriter.

I had finished the copywriting course and was half-way through the SEO copywriting course when Jennifer Lee and Leah Turner of Creating Your Masterpiece came into my life.  They came to speak at a meeting of Mothers and More, a non-profit support group I belong to.  They talked about the importance of setting goals and taking action. The message came through loud and clear to me.

The next morning, I decided to put into practice what I had learned so far about SEO and checked their website to see if it was optimized.  It wasn’t.  They needed help. I swallowed my nerves and sent an email thanking them for the great presentation.  I explained that I was starting my own freelance business as an SEO copywriter and could help get their website to move higher up the search engine ranks.

Leah and Jen knew SEO was important; they just hadn’t had a chance to do anything about it yet.  I submitted a proposal to them, but they rejected it – saying it was too expensive.  I could have given up right then, but I knew they needed the help and I knew I could do the work. So, heeding the advice of other copywriters I’ve studied, including Heather Lloyd-Martin, Ed Gandia, etc., I offered to scale back the project for less money.

They agreed, but couldn’t commit right then because taxes were due, etc. The coaches encouraged me to stay in touch, because they wanted to get their site optimized.  I emailed them periodically and sent them a sample of my work to show what I could do for their site.  That did the trick, because two months later, they agreed to my original proposal for the full amount!

FYI – I’m currently putting the final touches on a new revision of Creating Your Masterpiece’s home page since they have changed the focus of their business and are updating their site. It should be uploaded soon. Watch for it! www.creatingyourmasterpiece.com

July 26 update – I uploaded the new home page  today. It was a long time coming, but I think the results are well worth it.