OVERALL GRADE: D
Products/Services: D
The Overview
page is dauntingly dense, with no headings to break it up those long paragraphs
of tiny type. Our Commandment
6 of About Us pages is “Honor thy visuals.” Famous book covers and
headshots of notable authors are an obvious choice to illustrate Penguin’s
corporate history: in the text, beside the text, as a frame for the text ...
Another flaw (again a common one): the text on the Overview
page is a dead end. It doesn’t have a single link to other pages on the site. If
seeing Nancy Drew’s name makes us want to catch up with our childhood sleuthing
chum, why not make it easy for us to click and buy—or at least see how the
series has been updated?
We do commend the placement of the video. Rather than being
given a huge block of above-the-fold space, it’s tucked into a corner. Those
who want to view the video can choose full-screen viewing once they’ve clicked
on it.
Then again, why would they? The caption (“To watch employee
videos, click here”) is stunningly unenticing. Copywriting 101: captions are
eye-catching; make them count.
Personality: D
The pages for Penguin’s management (starting with John
Makinson) offer standard, canned bios that give no sense of who’s running
the company.
The History
page is yet another wasted opportunity: it’s primarily a list of mergers, acquisitions,
and imprints. Focusing on Penguin Books that have been history-making,
record-breaking, or award-winning (with images, please!) would make for fascinating
reading. And again, adding subheads to break up the long text and including
links to other pages on the site would be enormous improvements.
Accessibility: D
We have the distinct impression that Penguin would rather
not hear from us. The Contact
Us page opens with, “We appreciate the many questions and comments
submitted by our readers and would like to answer them all individually.
Because of the significant volume of e-mail received daily, however, we will
not be able to respond if your question is one of our Frequently Asked Questions, or if the answer is provided in
our General Information section [no link given!]. Therefore, we ask that you
please read through both of these areas before submitting an inquiry.” If we stubbornly
insist on trying to contact them, despite this off-putting introduction, then clicking
the link to the self-service
help center lets us click to another page that lets us send
a message via an online form ... to an unknown person, with no option to have a
copy sent to ourselves.
TAKEAWAY
If your company has a long history, your About Us pages are the
place to brag about it. Don’t just list mergers and acquisitions: make the
pages an honor roll of your best products and a gateway to all that you offer.
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?). To talk about your About Us
page, contact us!
Today’s example was chosen at random;
CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.
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