Why The ‘About’ Page Is Replacing a Business Card

There was a time when business cards were integral to business networking, and the acquisition of new business. It was a potential client’s link to you, and their only means of getting in touch with you when considering buying your products or using your services.

But things are changing – the internet has revolutionised the way that businesses network and get in contact with each other. It is negating the need for business cards altogether. Instead, businesses are relying more and more on their own websites and social media to represent themselves, make themselves memorable, and make themselves seen.

Replacing Business Cards with ‘About Us’ Pages

As the real world turns to the virtual world to conduct its business, a website’s ‘about us’ page is carrying out the same role as the traditional business card – and then some. A company’s website will give potential clients the information that they need to be able to get in touch, see the company’s branding, and find out more about the business.

An ‘about us’ page also gives potential clients the ability to understand more about the business – they can’t be lost, and they don’t need to find somewhere to store a ton of cards!

‘About us’ pages are the modern equivalent of the business card, but they can only be effective for a business if they can be easily found, and this is done through SEO.

Top SEO Tips for your ‘About Us’ Page

Ensuring that your ‘about us’ page is optimised for online search is essential. Here are some tips to ensuring that your page ranks up at the top of the all-important SERPs:

Keyword Research & Discovery

Keywords are the words that people would use to search for you on a search engine. You should use them throughout your ‘about us’ page – but not too much, using them naturally will make it clear what your services are without compromising on your tone of voice. Do your keyword research to discover the best keywords for you, but make sure that you don’t overfill the page with them, or your website ranking could be punished. Your content should be natural-sounding and on-brand before anything else – ultimately you need to write for users, not search engines.

‘Noindex’ and ‘Nofollow’

Ensure that you don’t ‘noindex’ or ‘nofollow’ your ‘about us’ page. The ‘noindex’ function prevents your page from being included in search engine indices, and the ‘nofollow’ function prevents links from being recognised by the search engines. To use your ‘about us’ page as a virtual business card you need it to be found by these search engines, so make sure that you have not ‘noindexed’ or ‘nofollowed’ it.

Structured Data and Schema Markup

Schema markup is a kind of structured data that can be included on your website. It can help the search engines to understand your content better. It can be used to explain the type of item that it is – an event, organisation, product, or a place, which means that search engines can understand your business better and ensure that it is linking the right people to your website.

You can use structured data to markup your address, telephone number, contact details, etc.

Content

The content that you use on your ‘about us’ page can also have a big impact on its search engine ranking due to Google’s quality rater guideline Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness (E-A-T). Ensuring that your potential clients are engaging with your website is vital both for them and for your SEO, so make the content as useful and interesting as possible.

• Make sure that you include all of the contact details and addresses of your business.
• Keep your ‘about us’ page on-brand, explaining clearly who you are and what you do. Make it interesting for them to read and highlight why you are the company that they want to choose to give their business to.
• Avoid jargon and industry buzz-words, and go for emotive, clear text.
• Give a background to your company, a personality, a story, and show that you understand your customers and the problems that you can solve for them.
• Add some information about you and your team and include some pictures if you can.
• Add titles and headings and try to use your keywords in these as much as possible – without it sounding unnatural.
• Try adding in a call to action – get in touch, get a quote, or send us your comments, for example – with a link.
• Include client reviews, awards, and press coverage.
• Don’t forget to use your keywords but use them sparingly and in the right place.

Gone are the days of stashing hoards of business cards only to find that the one that you are looking for is missing. In the world today, websites are always at our fingertips, offering the same – and more – information. Ensuring that your ‘about us’ page is found before your competition is essential and this is why it is essential to maximise your SEO and boost its positioning on the SERPs.