10 Commandments of About Us Pages (continued)

Commandment 9. Worship clarity. Check your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other fine points. Errors here are “broken windows.” They suggest you’re careless with details--that you may be as indifferent to a misplaced decimal point as you are to a misplaced apostrophe.

Ninth in a series; for the series so far, click here. Commandment 10 will be posted in mid-June.

“About Us” Evaluation: Airbnb Gets an A plus

Airbnb crosses old-fashioned bed-and-breakfast lodgings with social networking, putting travelers in direct contact with private individuals willing to rent anything from a single room to a whole castle. In the 3 years since its founding in 2008, Airbnb’s property-rental listings have increased from 40 to 40,000. Airbnb was featured in a story in Entrepreneur magazine in April 2011. Its main About Us page is here.

OVERALL GRADE: A plus

We particularly love the intelligent use of photos on the About Us pages of this site. Airbnb is a service for travelers, and nothing makes one want to go on the road as much as a gorgeous picture of an exotic destination. But the well-thought-out use of photos goes beyond collages of exotic rentals. The Story page, for example, includes a photo of the Airbnb’s staff in their former office, with a huge map of the world on one wall. The image conveys that the company has a worldwide scope even though it’s a small operation.

We also like the graphics on the site, which are reminiscent of social networking sites such as Facebook: again, a perfect fit for the type of service Airbnb offers.

Products/Services: A plus

The About page is not about Airbnb’s founders or staff, but an explanation of the service Airbnb offers. This makes sense, given that Airbnb isn’t an intermediary in booking the rentals: guests contact hosts directly.

The only minor change we’d recommend on this page is putting the headings “Booking Made Easy” and “Host Like a Pro” side by side at the top, and demoting the “Vitals” section to a less prominent position, or even to the Press page. The statistics in “Vitals”--the company’s year of founding, current size, etc.--are not likely to persuade anyone to use the site.

Personality: A plus

The founders of the company only appear on the Team page, which is listed at the bottom of the About menu. We appreciate the fact that the founders’ bios are brief, and that each showcases a connection to Airbnb. For example, we learn that Brian Chesky, CEO and co-founder, gave up his apartment last year and has since been living in rentals offered on Airbnb. (Still, Brian, can’t you find a better photo of yourself--preferably one without red eyes?)

Since many of us would be anxious about allowing complete strangers into our homes, we also appreciate the fact that the Press page offers links to stories about Airbnb that have appeared in mainstream media. Directing visitors to outside sources who can testify to the integrity, credibility, and value of your company is always an excellent move. Having the logos of the media appear makes a good impression even on those who don’t click on the links.

Accessibility: A plus

It’s pleasantly easy to contact the host of any place listed or to list your own space for rental. The contact for Airbnb (which far fewer visitors would need on this sort of site) is in the footer.

TAKEAWAY

Airbnb’s About Us pages offer enticing visuals and emphasize the social networking aspect of the company, rather than the company’s employees: an intelligent choice given the type of service they offer. Appropriate About Us content is always determined by the products and services offered.

Does your Web site’s “About Us” section accurately convey your organization’s history and capabilities? Every two weeks we evaluate one example, grading it in three areas that are key to potential customers: Personality (Who are you?), Products/Services (What can you do for us?), and Accessibility (How can we reach you?). Contact us if you’d like to have your site evaluated—there’s no charge and no obligation.

Today’s example was chosen at random; CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.

10 Commandments of About Us Pages (continued)

Commandment 8. Remember to make yourself and your organization easily accessible. Give visitors a variety of ways to contact you. Make the contact information easy to find from any page. Reminding visitors of why they want to contact you is a great way to end an About Us page.

Eighth in a series; for the series so far, click here. Commandment 9 will be posted in early June.

“About Us” Evaluation: Campbell's Soup Gets an F

Campbell Soup is one of the world’s largest food companies, with a market value of over $10 billion. Founded in 1869 and headquartered in Camden, NJ, it sells products in 120 countries. The main About Us page (“Our Company”) is here.

OVERALL GRADE: F

The Campbell’s site has serious technical problems. Every time we visited over the past six weeks, the navigation menus have either overlapped each other or stretched clear across the page. Finding any page within the site is very difficult.

Accessibility: D

The best we can say about Campbell’s site is that every footer has a contact link and that the contact page offers a toll-free number, a mailing address, and an online form for email. Nowhere, however, are visitors encouraged to offer suggestions, praise, or complaints.

Products/Services: F

As far as we can tell, given the navigation problems, Campbell’s has no About Us page aimed at consumers. There’s no mention of the company’s founding in 1869. No mention that Campbell’s invented condensed soup. No mention of products that have been household names for decades: Cream of Mushroom Soup, V8, Goldfish Crackers. No mention of awards, including the medal from the Paris Exhibition of 1900 that still appears on the classic Campbell’s soup packaging. No explanation of the Campbell’s Kids. No mention of Andy Warhol’s pop-art renditions of Campbell’s soup cans or of Ronald Reagan’s ads for V8.

What is Campbell’s thinking? The “Mmm, Mmm, Good” people aren’t so good at telling us about themselves.

Personality: F

The About Us page seems to be aimed at investors and suppliers: the links are to the Executive Team, Labels for Education, Stamp Out Hunger, Around the World, Directions to World Headquarters, Supplier Requirements, and Supplier Diversity. Not a single one of these links works. Again as far as we can tell, there’s no statement of the company’s goals, no option to read an annual report, no mention of the company’s most successful products or its plans to maintain or increase sales.

TAKEAWAY

Even a $10 billion company that’s been a household name for generations should have an About Us page that reminds people how long it has been around and why it has survived and prospered. It saddens us to say that Campbell’s Soup, an American stalwart and one of New Jersey’s biggest corporate citizens, has the worst set of About Us pages that we’ve seen in this series of evaluations. In addition, technical problems abound. Wake up, folks!

Does your Web site’s “About Us” section accurately convey your organization’s history and capabilities? Every two weeks we evaluate one example, grading it in three areas that are key to potential customers: Personality (Who are you?), Products/Services (What can you do for us?), and Accessibility (How can we reach you?). Contact us if you’d like to have your site evaluated—there’s no charge and no obligation.

Today’s example was chosen at random; CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.

10 Commandments of About Us Pages (continued)

Commandment 7. Remember to keep navigation easy. Once you’ve got great content, attractively presented, make sure it’s easily accessible. Your navigation bars should look like navigation bars, and they should provide access to all pages. The text of the About Us page should include links to relevant subpages or to other pages on your site.

Seventh in a series; for the series so far, click here. Commandment 8 will be posted in mid May.