Have you ever read a marketing piece and thought, “Oh no he didn’t…” ? Or perhaps glanced at an About Us page only to quickly avert your eyes? Sometimes I get so uncomfortably embarrassed for people. Like, when the guy totally bombs on a game show and you just have to cover your face, even though you aren’t really there with them.
Recently, I saw an About Us page that was truly cringeworthy and wanted to share it with you. Well, actually, it was so bad that I won’t include the link. No need to cause undue embarrassment for the poor guy or to give a backlink that isn’t deserved.
We hired a bug guy. We saw a bunch of carpenter ants after a big snowstorm and called someone who was recommended to us. So far so good, right?! Bug guys probably love referrals as much as window cleaners.
After I scheduled an appointment, I scoped out his website. I can’t help it! When you work online, you have a tendency to check out everyone’s website; it’s second nature. But, I don’t need to tell a bunch of window cleaners that. A window cleaner can’t walk past a glass atrium without looking for streaks and drip marks, right?!
Anyway, the website itself was pretty stock, run of the mill. The About Us page was probably copied from the franchisor and tweaked with a few personal details. It was dry, but perfunctory. Then, towards the bottom, the font suddenly changed to red and it said, “Poet’s Corner”.
Much to my chagrin, I clicked. I was taken to a page that basically said he didn’t want to be a bug guy and that his one true love was writing poems. Well, there are three problems with this, as I see it.
1) No customer wants to know that you rather be doing something else. We want to be your sole focus.
2) Think of an About Us page as a resume, not an online dating profile. Qualifications – in. Poetry – out.
3) He was bad. I mean, really B-A-D!!!