About us copy - digital guide

How to craft 'about us' copy for your digital presence.

What to include

A description of your purpose

The first paragraph should state the purpose of the department, entity or campaign. Think about what your users need to know about your department or agency.

A description of what you do

In the second paragraph, briefly summarise the type of work your organisation or department does to achieve their mission. In the case of a campaign, explain the actions users need to take to get involved.

A moderation policy

If you have social media profiles or user comments on your website you should include guidelines about what is and isn’t acceptable. This gives moderators a leg to stand on if they need to delete comments or ban users.

Make sure your moderation policy is sent to your legal area for checking prior to publishing.

Contact details

An email, phone number and website should always be provided if they exist for the entity in question.

Things to remember

Keep it simple

The aim of an ‘About us’ section is to describe what you do in the simplest possible way. Avoid using jargon or abbreviations, as your audience may not be familiar with them.

Keep it short

Generally, it’s possible to give a good summary in 100–150 words. Any more than that and the reader can begin to lose focus.

Keep it up to date

Generally it’s best to avoid including time-sensitive content in the description as it will need regular updating.

In cases when the content needs to be event specific (such as on a campaign page) the moderator should make sure the details are current.

Updated

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