In continuation of our series on Top 10 Ways to Ruin Your Website, we'll deal with your About page next. Its a fitting next step from the Home Page post since its the second most common page on a website.

1. Huge pictures of you, in classic Realtor style

I'm not sure what it is about Realtors, but they really, really seem to like big pictures of themselves in business suits. Somehow they always manage to make their website look tacky and self-promoting (like Peter Klaven or something) . I know, their business requires a certain amount of self-branding, but at least try to make your photos look interesting. Random headshots of you smiling fakely won't win you extra points. (For laughs, here are the 10 Worst Realtor headshots, just in case you have never seen a Realtor's About page before.)

2. Writing for yourself not your audience

An About page can become an exercise in polishing your ego. Whether the page exists for business or personal reasons it needs to convey important information, not just look-at-me-and-how-awesome-I-am-ness. If you won some great awards, post it. If your company history differentiates you from the competition, share it. But don't spend two paragraphs on the how much your mommy loves you. There's a big difference between being ego-centric and informative.

3. Removing distinction between you and your company

I once went to a fantastic branding seminar by Kathy Garland (seriously, see her speak if you can). She talked about branding for your business and your personal branding. Sometimes your company comes with a lot of "you" in it. If so, express that. Giovanni's site is a great example of this. However, if your company has employees of any kind, you probably want to ease back on the Look-at-Me approach unless you include everyone. Stick to company facts.

4. Text over load

Include your year established, your specialties and maybe some highlights of your time in business on your About page. Realize than anything beyond that is fluff. If you write more than two paragraphs you run the risk of scaring your potential clients away. No one wants to read a history book when they just need a few details. If you worry a client might need more information than what you provide, just add a link to contact you directly.

5. Being Boring

Unfortunately most About pages sound the same as everyone else's. Even across industries, companies repeat the same drab cliques on their About page. La, la, la, la, this company has you in mind, la, la, la, la, we serve our customers first, la, la, la, we're awesome. If you write an About page, write something worth reading.

6. Not optimized

Optimize your About page with your text. Google pays attention to "searchable content" on your site. So if your about page doesn't use any of the words you want to be found for, you missed the boat. Think about words you want people to associate with your company. Words they might put into a search. For example, instead of mechanic, they put reliable mechanic or cheap mechanic or mechanic in Dallas. Then make sure to mention those words in your About page.

7. Repetition from Home Page

Don't make your About page just a repeat of your Welcome speech on the homepage. Nor should it be just an extension. Keep your elevator speech and your branding on the front page and use your About to tell your history and highlights as a company. This page does not exist to snag clients, this is the "read more" section.

8. No formatting

Basic as it sounds, many About pages have no format. A ton of effort gets put on the homepage, arranging stuff, then the About page has an image and a block of text. Set things up nicely. Draw the eye. Design still counts on every page and yeah, use paragraph breaks.

9. Failure to highlight the important part

Look, when a possible clients gets to your about page, they want to know more. They are looking for something deeper. A lot of times they read About pages to compare to other companies. Don't just give them a page all about you and not anything about why you started the company. They are specifically looking for background or what separates you from the competition. So give it to them.

10. No Purpose

Don't create an About page, just because you think you need one. Have a specific purpose for that page. Decide ahead of time what you are using that page for (awards? history? why the company was started? listing projects or people who you've worked with? what makes you different? your specialties?) then make it happen. Don't just put a list of random things you thought up while waiting in line at Starbucks. Write each word with purpose in mind.

Note: Its completely okay to skip the About page. More and more companies do it. They let their other pages say what an about page usually does. Or they label their About page with the purpose (aka, having a Services page to discuss that in-depth and a History page to give more background, or better yet a page just saying: why choose us?). Or they skip it all together and blog. Its really worth considering breaking the mold. Do you NEED an About page, or will those words look better under a different title?

Got an example of a terrible About page or photo. Share the link for all to giggle at!

Image by Lampeduza.

Last week I had the opportunity to speak on a panel for Microsoft BizSpark's first event: SparkStart. I sat on the Marketing Panel with two fantastic names you may know: Giovanni and Sean Jackson. I had a great time and every person I talked to said that they got even more out of the day than they expected.

However, though social media was spotlighted by the marketing panel we did discuss other ways to market. I want to share some quick thoughts that I thought should be repeated:

• Consider your sales funnel: There is a gap between the intent to purchase and actual purchase, do everything you can to help people get through it.
• Don't scatter shot: Focus your social media efforts, but make sure you grab your real estate with something like NameCheck
• Social Media Tip: Have the heart of a servant
• Twitter: To quote Giovanni "its the shiniest thing out there right now" but know your target market, they might not use Twitter; go where your clients are.
• Branding, branding, branding: Do this FIRST! Don't get on Facebook til your brand is completely ironed out.
• Email: has not gone out of style and is still a cornerstone of any online campaign.

If you missed SparkStart, I heard that due to the overwhelming positive feedback, there will be more of them! Feel free to contact them at their website or their twitter profile: @Sparkstart

Did you attend? What did you take away with you?