Your About page is one of the most visited pages on your entire website.
Think about your own behaviour when you’re researching a business online. You land on their homepage, it looks the part, and then you click About. You want to know who they are, whether they know what they’re doing, and whether they seem like people you’d actually want to work with.
Your visitors do exactly the same thing.
The problem? Most About pages fail that test completely. And every time a visitor lands on yours and leaves unconvinced, that’s a potential enquiry you’ve lost without even knowing about it.
What Most About Pages Look Like
The typical About page goes something like this: a paragraph about being “passionate about delivering exceptional results,” a founding year, a mission statement that could apply to any business in any industry, and a stock photo of a handshake or a skyline.
It says nothing. It sounds like everyone else. And it gives the visitor no good reason to trust you over the next business they’re looking at.
The issue isn’t that business owners don’t care. It’s that nobody has ever told them what a good About page actually needs to do.
What Your About Page Should Actually Do
Your About page has one job: to make a potential customer feel good about choosing you.
To do that, it needs to answer the questions visitors are genuinely asking when they land on it:
- Who started this business, and why?
- Do these people know what they’re doing?
- Do they seem like people I’d want to work with?
- Can I trust them with my money?
A great About page answers all of those clearly, honestly and with a bit of personality. Here’s how to do it.
Tell the Real Story
Every business has an origin story, and most of them are genuinely compelling. Why did you start the business? What problem were you trying to solve? What were you doing before, and what made you take the leap?
People connect with stories far more than they connect with corporate statements. If you started your business because you worked for someone who cut corners and you wanted to do things properly, say that. If you launched because you experienced the problem yourself and knew there was a better way, that’s worth telling.
The more specific and honest you are, the more believable you become. Vague statements about passion and commitment make visitors’ eyes glaze over. A real story, told plainly, makes them think: “I like the sound of these people.”
Share Your Values
What do you actually stand for? Not in a corporate-jargon sense, but genuinely: what matters to you about the way you run your business?
Maybe you never take on more work than you can handle properly. Maybe you always respond to enquiries the same day. Maybe you’ve never once missed a deadline. These things matter to customers, and they’re worth saying out loud.
Your values give potential customers a real sense of what it will be like to work with you. And if those values resonate, you’ve already started building the relationship before they’ve even picked up the phone.
Introduce Your Team
People buy from people. It’s one of the most consistent truths in business. When someone hires you, they’re usually hiring a person or a small group of people, and they want to know who that is before they commit.
Put real photos of your team on your About page. Not stiff corporate headshots where everyone looks uncomfortable. Natural, approachable photos that show a bit of personality. Add names, roles and a line or two about each person.
If you’re a sole trader, this applies to you even more. You are the business. Your face, your story and your personality on that page are doing real work to make visitors feel comfortable reaching out.
Back It Up With Proof
The story and personality on your About page gets people interested. The proof closes the gap between interested and convinced.
Your About page is a great place to include a few trust-building numbers: years in business, customers served, projects completed. Mention any qualifications, accreditations or awards. Not in a boastful way, just as straightforward evidence that you’re an established, credible business that’s delivered real results for real people.
End With a Clear Next Step
This is the mistake even well-written About pages make. They tell a great story, introduce the team, share the values, and then the page just… ends.
Every page on your website needs a clear call to action, and your About page is no different. After reading about your business and feeling good about what they found, visitors need to be told what to do next.
It doesn’t need to be complicated. Something as simple as “Like the sound of us? Let’s have a chat.” with a link to your contact page is enough. Don’t leave them to figure it out themselves. Most won’t bother.
About Page Checklist
Here’s a quick way to score your current About page. Tick off how many of these yours includes:
- A genuine origin story, not just a founding date
- Your values and what you stand for, in plain language
- Real photos of the people behind the business
- Names and short bios for key team members
- Trust-building numbers or credentials
- A clear call to action at the bottom
Ticking five or six? You’re in good shape. Ticking two or three? Your About page is almost certainly costing you enquiries.
The Bottom Line
Your About page sits right in the middle of the trust-building journey every visitor goes through. They land on your homepage, they get a sense of what you do, and they click About to decide whether you’re worth contacting.
Get it right, and it quietly nudges people towards that first conversation. Leave it as an afterthought, and it actively works against you.
The good news is that rewriting an About page takes a few hours, not weeks. And the difference a well-crafted one makes is usually immediate.
If you’d like a hand with yours, or just want to know what else your website might be missing, we’re always happy to take a look. Free consultation, no obligation, no hard sell.