The most common mistake that businesses make in marketing is that they spend way too much time looking at their own reflection in the mirror; focusing on themselves instead of the people who bring home the bacon – their customers.

When it comes to web design, much of the same is true. Sites end up turning into beauty pageants instead of responsive, engaging, customer-focused sales machines. Public Enemy #1 is the About Us page. On your average website, the About Us section is one of the most commonly viewed pages, often read at the most critical part of the online sales cycle when a prospect is considering becoming a customer. Making sure that it’s as effective as possible isn’t just important – it’s essential to your site’s success.

Go to any 10 random websites and read their About Us section. Chances are, you’ll get plenty of jargon about how great their company is, how incredible their services are and how awesome their employees will be to work with. Follow it up with a redundant mission statement and what you get is a wad of words that no one cares about.

The mistake that most people make when writing ABOUT US sections is that, well… they write it about themselves. While that’s all well and good, people care about themselves at the end of the day. They want to know how you can improve THEIR lives, not how great YOU are.

The best ABOUT US sections do just that.  The words on the page not only describes their business – but does so in a way that paints a vivid picture of how they can positively impact their customer’s lives. They not only explain what you do – but how you do it in a way that’s beneficial to the customer. It should explain common problems they have and how you can help solve them.

Re-focusing your efforts on making your website more customer-facing also has residual benefits for you as well. Why? Because it forces you to think about who your ideal client or customer really is. Many business owners – especially those who are starting out – try too hard to be everything to everybody. This results in you chasing bad leads and wasting valuable resources that can suck the life out of your business.

The other residual is that clients who would be a BAD fit disqualify themselves, meaning that you don’t have to spend time filtering them yourself. In business – time is money and money is time. The more of it you can spend avoiding the ones that don’t matter and focusing on the ones that do- means more money in your pocket.

Most importantly, be creative and have fun. Focusing on your customers and prospects helps you appear more aware, more focused, more credible and ultimately – a better choice for your prospects.