The Key Ingredients to Making a Memorable About Page

What’s our business really about?

This simple question can be surprisingly difficult to summarize in a succinct answer. How can you pare down your company — and the people within it — into a simple explanation?

The About page on your site is a chance to define your company on your own terms. The good news is there are boundless amounts of creative ways to do so by offering a peek into day-to-day life at your company, the journeys that people took to get there, and why they ultimately stayed. But at the end of the day, you’re reminding visitors to your site that you’re not just selling a product: You’re building a unique culture and philosophy.

So what is your business really about? With these tips and accompanying examples, you can get closer to answering this all-important question.

Let your team take the spotlight

Company identity is defined by the individuals who comprise it. If you’re lucky enough to work with an amazing team, give them a platform to show off what makes them unique! A series of eye-catching photographs or a video showcasing their faces is a great place to start.

Chameleon: Personalizing customer interaction

When you use software, the first thing that comes to your mind probably isn’t the people who created it. But Chameleon wants to change that. The startup, which helps other software companies with user onboarding, uses their About page to focus heavily on their team of 5 people.

In their detailed bios, team members talk about their backgrounds and why they ended up at Chameleon, creating a larger context for the company as a whole. Additionally, each employee provides multiple ways of getting in touch. For instance, if you want to discuss user experience design, it’s easy to reach out to Jessica, Chameleon’s designer.

At a small company, every team member impacts customer relationships. By allowing customers to make direct contact, you’re prioritizing personal interactions that are helping to build deeper connections, and hopefully giving way to more delighted users.

When you focus on the people who make your company so special, you can add depth, humor, and even emotion to a website that might otherwise be dry.

“When you focus on the people who make your company so special, you can add depth, humor, and emotion to a website that might otherwise be dry. ”

Put your product to work

It’s always better to show what your company does rather than spell it out in writing. And unless your product is NASA-levels of complex, it should be pretty easy to demonstrate some of its features on your About page.

Wistia: Rewind time

Your About page might be your first touch with a visitor to your site. With this in mind, we set out to make a video that would let viewers know not only who we are as a company, but also that we value creativity (and even a little bit of craziness).

Songs About Wistia is an all-in-one introduction to our product that gives video hosting for business the ‘80s-themed spotlight it deserves, complete with slow jam instrumentals and mood lighting. Our Creative team took inspiration from infomercial tactics to take viewers through our features (but hopefully in a more convincing, less gimmicky way).

As we like to say, video for business doesn’t have to be boring. Especially in the B2B landscape, an entertaining video hosted on your About page is going to stand out among a sea of dull sites.

Airtable: Demonstrating the platform

Airtable is a complex database product, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the way they present themselves. Their About page starts with a simple explanation of what they do, then gradually expands into more detailed information about their investors, leadership, and more.

Why is their approach to their About page so smart? The more you scroll, the more you realize the page is mimicking the way the Airtable product works, featuring expandable and collapsible cards.

Finally, you get to the Team section, which allows you to expand each employee’s photo card and read more about them. Most have inserted whimsical GIFs into their cards to describe their interests, putting a fun and personal spin on their profiles.

By utilizing their own product within their About page, Airtable was able to bring their tool to life. Users walk away with the impression that with Airtable, you not only can stay organized, but also make your data appear interesting and inviting, just like their About page.

Show off your culture

Even with awesome individuals and a great product, a great company is more than the sum of its parts. Culture provides insight into what really matters to your team. In a way, it’s the heart and soul of your company.

Culture is also one of your best recruiting tools. Potential hires will undoubtedly check out your About page to see what your company prioritizes. When you publicly define and give insights into your culture, you’re more likely to find the right people who will fit in and contribute right off the bat.

Gliffy: Giving back

Gliffy is a flowchart creation tool, so it’s no surprise their About section plays around with different ways of conveying information visually. Within their About page, the Careers section paints a picture of a culture centered around giving, both within and outside the company — community service and quarterly bonuses are even displayed side-by-side.

Notice how almost every photo has 2 or more people interacting over a work project, meal, or service event? Gliffy realizes this spirit of putting others first can only work if every team member lends their support. Their work requires close collaboration, and it’s the reason they’ve succeeded.

By defining their culture so clearly, Gliffy is already doing some of the early work of hiring by filtering out prospective candidates who know that a super collaborative work environment might not be the best fit for them.

Help Scout: Going global

“Help Scout is made by people in 40 cities around the world, all with a passion for excellence in their craft.” Scroll down a bit more from this opening sentence on their About page, and you’ll see this statement in action in the form of a video.

This video shows how culture forms at a remote company, while still capturing a spirit of adventure that’s encouraged at Help Scout.

Remote teams require their employees to be internally motivated and independent, but also open to connecting with people who are different from them. Not coincidentally, that culture pours into their product that’s all about 24/7 comprehensive customer service, something that’s only possible with a global scale and empathetic perspective.

The company’s internationalism makes it an attractive place to work, but their resistance to being physically tied to a location also asks those who consider applying whether they’re willing to embrace the unknown with open arms. For the right person, that answer is an emphatic “yes.”

Keep it real

If you believe in your mission, love what you’re building, and put your team first, then sharing your enthusiasm on your site will be easy. No matter what medium you use, the most important ingredient to your About page is that you express yourself genuinely. From there, your team and product will sell themselves.