How to write an About page for a small business

A small business About page answers one quiet question your customers have: who am I actually dealing with? It does not need a mission statement or a long history. It needs your name and face, a few honest lines on how you got here, what you care about in the work, and a way to get in touch. Written plainly, it is often the page that turns a maybe into a phone call.

Why people read your About page

People rarely land on the About page first. They go there after looking at your services, when they are close to deciding and want to check you are real, local and the kind of person they would trust in their home, with their car, their books or their kids. They want to know:

Is this a real person or a faceless company?
How long have they done this, and where did they learn it?
Are they local?
What are they like to deal with?

Write for that person. You are not trying to impress a bank; you are introducing yourself to a neighbor.

Start with who you are

Open with the plain facts in the first two sentences: your name, what you do and where. A made-up tailor, for example, might write:

"I'm Linda Ortiz, and I've run Ortiz Alterations on Main Street in Bristol since 2009. I do alterations, repairs and custom fittings for weddings, proms and everyday clothes."

That is already better than most About pages, which begin with "We are a dedicated team committed to excellence." Nobody believes that line, and it tells them nothing.

Write in the first person ("I" or "we") as you would talk at the counter. If it is just you, say "I"; customers of a one-person business want to know it is you who will turn up.

Tell your story, briefly

A few short paragraphs are enough. Pick the parts a customer would find useful or reassuring:

How you started. Apprenticed with your father, worked for a big company before going on your own, turned a hobby into a business. One or two sentences.
Why you do it this way. The thing you care about that customers will notice: you always call back the same day, you explain repairs before doing them, you use only local flour.
What you have learned. Years of experience mean something when you say what they taught you: "After twenty years of roofs, I know which problems a patch will fix and which ones will come back."
Where you fit in the community. If you sponsor the Little League, volunteer, or have served the same neighborhood for decades, a sentence is enough.

Leave out what does not help the customer decide: every job you have held, awards from long ago with no context, or business plans for the future.

Introduce the people they will meet

If you have staff, a short section on the team helps, especially for businesses where customers deal with someone other than the owner.

A photo and first name for each person customers will meet.
What they do, in one line: "Mark runs our install crew" or "Jen answers the phone and books appointments."
One human detail if they are happy to share it.

Ask each person before putting them on the site. For a larger team, see the team page.

Photos that do the work

An About page without a photo of a real person is a missed chance. Good options:

You at work, in your shop, on a job, behind the counter.
You and the team together.
Your storefront or your truck, if people will see them.
An old photo, if your business has history: the first shop, your grandfather at the bench. Label it with a year.

Use a recent photo. Customers who meet you should recognize you. A friendly phone photo in good light beats a stiff studio portrait, and both beat no photo.

Facts that build trust

Near the end, list the facts that answer a cautious customer's questions. Only include what is true and current:

Licenses and certifications, with numbers where your state issues them.
Insurance.
Professional associations.
Years in business.
Where you trained.

Our guide on showing years in business and experience honestly covers how to present these without overstating.

What to avoid

Corporate language. "Synergy", "solutions", "world-class", "passionate about customer satisfaction." Say what you actually do.
Writing about yourself in the third person when you are a one-person business. "Dave has twenty years' experience" sounds like Dave hired a press agent.
Overstating size. If you are a two-person shop, do not imply a team of fifty. Customers who chose a small business often chose it because it is small.
Making it too long. Three hundred to six hundred words covers most About pages. A visitor should be able to read it in a couple of minutes.
Leaving it as a dead end. The page should end with a way to contact you.

End with a next step

Finish with a short, friendly line and your contact details: "If you'd like to talk through a project, call me at 555-0148 or send a message, and I'll get back to you the same day." Add the call button and a link to the contact page.

If you would rather not talk about yourself

Some owners find this page the hardest to write. Two ways around it:

Answer five questions out loud into your phone's voice recorder: how you started, what you like about the work, what customers say about you, what you never do, and what you want a new customer to know. Then type it up and trim it.
Ask a long-time customer what they would tell a friend about you. Their words often say more than yours.

Our guide on writing for your website when you're not a writer has more approaches. If the About page is going to be short, a meet-the-owner section on the home page can carry some of the same weight.

What to do this week

Write your first two sentences: your name, what you do and where.
Record your answers to the five questions above and type the best parts.
Take a recent photo of yourself at work.
List your licenses, insurance and years in business.
End the page with your phone number and one friendly line.

If your current site has an About page that says little, you can see your site rebuilt first, with your own story kept and tidied, and correct it in your own words.