Why Your About Us Page Content Is Critical to Your Business

Transcript

Do you get frustrated when prospective customers don’t understand why your business is better than your competitors?

Do you wish you knew how to make your business stand out in your industry?

Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi.

I recently got an email from a viewer who is struggling with that exact issue in her business.

Keep watching to find out what advice I have for her.

By the way, for more useful tips on running a bricks-and-mortar local business, be sure to check out my blog at CarmenSognonvi.com.

I cover everything from how to get more customers to how to close more sales.

Today’s question comes from a viewer named Cressada who lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Cressada writes:

Hi Carmen,

Here’s what keeps me up at night.

How do I get my business to stand out from the others in my industry?

I run a children’s learning and development center that was opened by my parents in 1981.

We do such a good job preparing kids academically for grade school that many of our students get accepted into honors programs or even skip a grade.

We’ve also had students grow up to become high school valedictorians and attend some of the best colleges in the country.

But people who don’t know us tend to lump us in with all the other daycares and preschools in the neighborhood.

How can I make sure that we stand out from our competition?

Thanks,

Cressada

Cressada, first let me congratulate you and your parents.

It sounds like you’ve built something really special.

The good news is that you’re very clear on what sets your business apart from the others.

You just need to find a way to communicate that with the outside world, and a great place to start doing that is on your website.

If you look at your web analytics, you’ll probably find that other than your homepage, the most clicked on page is About Us.

Your About Us page gives you a valuable opportunity to explain what makes you different, demonstrate your results, and humanize your business.

Derek Halpern writes a great blog called Social Triggers, and he recommends dividing your About Us page into three different sections.

The first section is all about your customer.

Start with a benefit-driven headline that speaks to what parents want, something like:

“Why Our Learning Center Will Help Your Child Reach New Academic Heights”

Follow that up with a few short paragraphs about what you do and how it will help their child.

The next section is all about results.

Start with a headline like “What Others Say About Us.”

And follow that up with three or four of your best testimonials, the ones in which parents describe their children getting into honors programs and skipping grades and becoming valedictorians.

The third and final section is where you tell your personal story.

And when I say personal, I mean PERSONAL.

Don’t be afraid to get into the emotional, human side of what you do because your personal story is what truly sets your business apart.

Here are some questions to get you started in writing your personal story.

Why did your parents start the learning center?

What need did they see that went unfilled in their community?

Where did they get the passion to get up and do this everyday?

How do you feel as their daughter stepping in to carry on their legacy?

What are your hopes and dreams for the center’s next 30 years?

Remember: your competitors can copy your curriculum, your marketing methods, they can even poach your employees.

But what they can’t copy is your personal story. That’s unique to you, and you alone.

Now, what’s the first step a parent should take if they want enroll their child?

Is it to call and schedule a tour of the school? Or fill out a form to request a brochure?

Figure out what that first step is, and at the end of each section on the About Us page, call on them to take that particular action.

Once you have your About Us page set up, you should promote it by featuring the link prominently in flyers, signage, email newsletters, social media updates.

This way, you’re driving your prospective customers straight to the place where they can find out what makes you different, and that should help set you apart from the competition.

Now before I get to our question of the week, I want to let you know that if you found this video useful, I would encourage you to sign up to get email updates from me!

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Ok, now it’s time for our question of the week!

What’s the best way you’ve found to stand out from our competitors?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below!

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