Difference between Home and About Us pages

[ikevin12]

I'd like to create a discussion in regards to both the Home page of a website and the About page.

What is the difference between the Home page and the About page? Both should give information on what the site is about and the services provided by the business on both pages right?

If there is a difference between the two, which page should have the information about the business and services on it?

[pziecina]

It all depends.

If you are selling products, then i would expect information about the products, or even the products to be shown on the home page.

The about page i would expect information on the buisness, contact details, addresses and other related information. This may even include but not be limited to information on the person or buisness itself.

None of the above are set in stone, and everything depends on the site.

[osgood_]

The 'home' page can be an overview of the website - it might have information boxes on it that relate to other areas of the website such as male, female or childrens clothing etc (if it were a clothes related company). The 'about' page is where specific information about the company generally goes, might include some brief history, when the company started, expanded into new premises etc.

[Jon Fritz]

I've always thought of the Home Page as the site's summary. A place to find out about everything that's available (or as much as makes sense) and the means to get to the info you want quickly. There may be some "about us" style info there, but only as a means to bring someone interested in more of that info to the About Us page.

The About Us page would have very little info about the website itself or any products/services. It would be more specific to the company's history, employees, executives, location, etc. In my sites, there isn't much about the actual products or services the company offers, in an About page, in any context other than "we used to do this, now we do this" or "we added the ability to make x-widgets in 1986" or similar.

[Rob Hecker2]

Interesting. Everyone has a different view, based on their clients, I guess.

Like Osgood and Jon's take, most of my clients use the About Us page for history and general description. The home page, on the other hand, get's right to the point: This is what we are selling, buy now!