Your About Page Is More Important Than You Think
Most small business owners either skip their About page entirely or stuff it full of phrases like "passionate team of dedicated professionals committed to excellence." Neither approach works.
Here's the thing: your About page is often the second page a visitor clicks after landing on your site. They want to know who they're dealing with before they hand over their phone number or credit card. A good About page builds trust fast. A bad one sends people straight to a competitor.
The good news? You don't need to be a copywriter to get this right. You just need to know what to include — and in roughly what order. This guide walks you through a simple template that works for almost any small business website.
The Four Building Blocks of a Great About Page
Think of your About page as having four distinct sections. You don't need a wall of text — just these four pieces, done simply and honestly.
1. Your Founding Story (One Honest Paragraph)
People connect with people, not logos. A short founding story — even just two or three sentences — gives your business a human face. It doesn't have to be dramatic. It just has to be real.
A good founding story answers three questions:
- Who started this business? (You, a family member, a partner?)
- Why did you start it? (A gap you noticed, a skill you had, a problem you wanted to solve?)
- When or where did it begin? (A year, a city, a garage — any grounding detail helps.)
Here's a simple formula: "[Name] started [Business] in [Year/Place] because [Reason]. Since then, we've [brief growth note]."
That's it. One paragraph. Resist the urge to make it sound like an Oscar speech. The more natural it reads, the more trustworthy it feels.
What to avoid: Vague language like "born out of a passion for quality" with nothing behind it. If you say you're passionate about something, follow it immediately with a specific detail that proves it.
2. Your Values (Three Bullets Is the Sweet Spot)
Values sections get a bad reputation because most of them say the same three things: quality, integrity, customer service. Every business claims these. None of them mean anything without a little context.
The fix is simple: give each value a one-line explanation that makes it specific to your business.
Instead of:
- Quality
- Integrity
- Customer service
Try something like:
- We don't cut corners on materials — even when the cheaper option would be easier to sell.
- We give straight answers — if something isn't in our wheelhouse, we'll tell you and point you somewhere that can help.
- We show up on time — because your schedule matters as much as ours.
See how that feels completely different? It's still short, but it sounds like a real business with real standards — not a corporate mission statement generated by committee.
Three values is the sweet spot for most small business websites. More than five starts to feel like a list for the sake of a list.
3. Your Team (Names and Roles, at Minimum)
If you're a solo operator, this section is easy: it's just you. Say your name, your role, and maybe one sentence about your background or what you love about the work. A photo helps enormously here — even a decent smartphone photo is better than no photo at all.
If you have a small team, list each person with their name and what they do. You don't need full bios. Just enough that a customer can picture who they might be talking to.
For example:
- Maria Chen — Head Baker, 12 years in pastry
- James Okoro — Front of House & Orders
- Priya Nair — Custom Cake Design
Short, specific, human. That's all it takes. Check out a bakery site we built to see how a small food business can present a team in a way that feels warm and approachable without going overboard.
4. Proof (The Numbers That Build Credibility)
This is the section most small business owners forget, and it's one of the most powerful things you can add to your About page.
"Proof" just means a few fast facts that show you've been around, you've done the work, and people trust you. Some examples:
- Years in business: "Serving homeowners in Austin since 2011"
- Customers served: "Over 800 jobs completed"
- A credential or license: "Licensed and insured in the state of Texas"
- A review stat: "4.9 stars across 200+ Google reviews"
You don't need all of these. Even one or two adds real weight. If your business is newer and you don't have big numbers yet, lean on specifics instead — the neighborhoods you serve, the types of jobs you specialize in, a certification you hold.
For a great example of how a service business can present credibility simply, take a look at this handyman site we built. It covers the essentials without trying to oversell anything.
Common Mistakes That Make About Pages Feel "Cringe"
Now that you know what to include, here are the traps that make even well-intentioned About pages fall flat.
Talking About Yourself in the Third Person
Unless you're a celebrity or a corporation, writing "John Smith is a dedicated professional who..." sounds stiff and strange. Write in first person ("I" or "we") unless you have a strong reason not to. It sounds like a real person wrote it, because a real person did.
No Photo
People want to see who they're hiring or buying from. A face — especially on a small business website — builds trust faster than any paragraph of website copywriting ever could. You don't need a professional headshot. A clear, well-lit photo with a neutral background works fine.
Making It All About You Instead of the Customer
This sounds counterintuitive for an About page, but the best ones still connect everything back to the customer. Instead of ending with "and that's our story," try ending with something like: "That's why everything we do is focused on making [outcome] easier for [your customer type]." Keep the reader in the picture.
Leaving It Blank or Using Placeholder Text
Shockingly common. A missing or generic About page signals that the business isn't fully operational — or doesn't care. Either impression is bad. Even a simple, honest paragraph is infinitely better than nothing.
How Long Should Your About Page Be?
For most small businesses, the sweet spot is 200–400 words of actual copy. That's enough to cover your founding story, values, team, and proof without overwhelming anyone. You can supplement the text with photos, a short video, or a simple visual timeline if you want — but don't feel like you need to.
The goal isn't to tell your entire life story. It's to give a potential customer enough to feel comfortable reaching out.
A Simple Template You Can Fill In Right Now
Here's a ready-to-use structure for your About page. Just fill in the brackets:
- Opening line: "[Business name] was started by [name] in [year] because [reason]."
- One sentence on growth: "Since then, we've [what you've done — customers served, areas expanded, etc.]."
- Values (3 bullets): Each one is a specific commitment, not a buzzword.
- Team section: Name + role for each person (or just you).
- Proof stats: 1–3 numbers or credentials that establish credibility.
- Closing line: Connect it back to the customer — why does all of this matter to them?
That's your entire About page. Clean, honest, effective.
You Don't Have to Write It All Yourself
Writing about yourself is genuinely hard — most people either undersell themselves or lock up entirely staring at a blank page. That's completely normal. If the idea of putting your small business story into words feels like too much, you're not alone.
This is one of the reasons Hands Free Sites exists. You describe your business in plain language, and we handle the whole thing — including writing your About page, setting up your contact form, and getting your business website live. No demo calls, no templates to wrestle with, no staring at a blinking cursor. Just a real site that's done for you.
But whether you use a service like that or write it yourself, the most important thing is to just get something up. An imperfect About page that sounds like a real human wrote it will always outperform a polished-but-empty one.
Your story is worth telling. Don't overthink it — just tell it simply, and let the right customers find you.
