About Us Pages

Moz’s “about us” page does a nice job of telling stories about the company’s purpose, history, team, and more

Typical audiences for About Us pages

Your About Us page’s audience can vary based on your industry and how established your organization is.

New or expanding organizations

If your organization is new or entering a new market, your About Us page can be rather important for establishing credibility with all types of visitors.

A visitor who navigates to your About Us page is asking the questions, “Who is behind this site? Should I trust them?”

Because your organization is likely to be unknown by the visitor, a navigation link to your About Us page should be prominent. Consider adding it to the global navigation or to a spot in your site’s footer.

Established organizations

If your organization is large and established in its industry (i.e., a “household name” amongst consumers or within your industry), your About Us page may be less critical overall and may optimally serve a smaller set of visitors:

• Press
• Those interested in or curious about your organization’s history
• Prospective employees
• Investors
• Students researching your company for school projects

These types of users are motivated to find your About Us page, so you need not link to it as prominently in your site’s navigation menus. Make it available but not prominent.

Recommended information to include

Jakob Nielsen and the Nielsen Norman Group recommend placing the following information prominently on your site’s About Us page:

1. Summary: 1-2 paragraphs at the top of the main About Us page that offer a bit more detail about the organization’s goal and main accomplishments.
2. Fact sheet: A section following the summary that elaborates on its key points and other essential facts about the organization.
3. Detailed information: Subsidiary pages with more depth for people who want to learn more about the organization.

Following is information that you should consider including in the fact sheet or detailed information:

Photos of your people
Showing photos of the people behind the organization helps build the user’s trust. Individual photos of your leadership and/or staff and short bios are OK to include if you split them into a separate “our team” section or page.

History of the organization
Consider at least including the year that the organization was founded. If there is an interesting story about how your company was founded or a key product was conceived, this is a great place to include it.

Community and social programs that your organization contributes to
Does your organization stand for something in the community? Tell your story here.

Core values and culture
What does your organization value, and how does its culture work?

List or link to contact information
Some visitors will visit this section to find out how to call or email you. Consider at least listing your main headquarters’s address and phone number on the About Us page.

Financial reports
This is relevant if you are a publicly-traded company or non-profit.

Testimonials
Let your customers and partners do the talking.

Personality
Let your organization’s voice shine here. If you want to be humorous, inject humor. If you want to be serious, do that.

Examples of effective About Us pages

Our Father’s Project

Our Father’s Project’s About Us page shares a few photos of the people behind the organization, lists a quick fact sheet, and provides a comprehensive narrative of its history.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp’s About Us page tells a story with well-written narrative, pull-quotes from reputable tech journals like Fast Company and Wired, introduces its leadership with nice photos, and even includes an annual report.

Google

Google’s About Us page lists their mission statement front-and-center, includes a “quick facts” block, displays a summary of its history in an interactive accordion-style control, and links off to more detailed information about its culture, locations, management, and history.

Related resources

• “About Us” Information on Websites, Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group
• About Moz, Moz
• About Us, Our Father’s Project
• About Mailchimp, Mailchimp
• Company Overview, Google
• Effective “About us” page tips, best practices, and guidelines, Chris Peters