How to write an About page for a small business
On most small business websites the About page is the second most visited, and it is almost always the last one written and the least considered. People go there for one reason: they are close to contacting you and want to know whether you are real and whether you are any good.
It is not actually about you
That is the mistake that produces every bad About page. The reader is not curious about your journey — they are performing a risk check, and every sentence either reduces the risk or wastes their time.
Which does not mean it should be impersonal. Personal detail is exactly what reduces risk for a small business, because a named human with a face is harder to worry about than an anonymous company. The distinction is between detail that reassures the reader and detail that is only interesting to you. "Fifteen years fitting kitchens, most of them in this town" reassures. "Founded in 2011 with a passion for excellence" does not.
The five things it has to answer
- Who actually does the work. Names. Whether it is one person or six. Whether anything is subcontracted.
- How long, and where. Experience and area, in plain numbers.
- What you are good at specifically. Not everything you can do — the thing you would rather be hired for.
- Why you do it this way. One genuine opinion about your trade. This is what makes you sound like a person rather than a category.
- What to do next. Yes, on this page too. People decide here.
Open with the useful sentence
The first line should be the one a reader would repeat to someone else. Not "welcome to our website" and not the founding date.
Something like: "We're a two-person joinery workshop in Sheffield, mostly making fitted furniture for older houses." That is what you do, how big you are, where, and who it suits — in one sentence a stranger could pass on. Everything after it is elaboration.
Use real numbers
Numbers are checkable and adjectives are not. "Nine years", "around 300 bathrooms", "two of us", "within 20 miles", "usually within a fortnight" all do more than "established", "experienced", "trusted".
If a number is unimpressive, it is often still worth saying. "We're new — this is our first year, which is why our prices are what they are" is disarming and honest, and it converts better than pretending otherwise.
Put a face on it
One good photograph of the actual person or team beats a stock image of a boardroom and beats a logo. It does not need to be professional — it needs to be real, well lit and recognisable as the person who will turn up. Photographing your own work applies here too.
One opinion, honestly held
The single thing that most separates a memorable About page from a forgettable one: say something you actually believe about your trade that not everyone agrees with.
"We don't do same-day work — rushing this is how it goes wrong." "We'd rather talk you out of a full replacement if a repair will do." "We only take one job at a time." Any of those tells a reader more about what dealing with you is like than three paragraphs of description, and it filters out the customers who would have been unhappy anyway.
What to cut
- The founding story nobody asked for. Unless it explains why you work the way you do, it is your history rather than their information.
- Mission and values statements. Every business claims integrity and quality. It is a paragraph that could belong to anyone.
- "We pride ourselves on…" and every close relative.
- Long lists of everything you offer. That belongs on a services page.
- Anything you cannot evidence. "Award-winning" needs the award named.
Length
Shorter than you think. Three or four short sections, readable in under a minute on a phone. A long About page is usually a sign that nobody decided what it was for.
If you have a genuinely interesting long story, put the short version on the page and the long one somewhere it can be found by the few who want it.
It matters for search too
An About page is one of the few places you can naturally state your business name, what you do and where you are in full sentences — which is exactly what search engines and AI assistants extract when someone asks about a business like yours. Write it in plain, complete sentences and it does double duty. Keep the name, address and phone number identical to every other place they appear.
How Soclo approaches it
What belongs on an About page is the same material the Brand Kit holds — who you are, what you do, where you work, the things customers always ask. Setting it once means the same facts appear wherever they are needed rather than being rewritten each time.
Read the Brand Kit guide →The bottom line
Open with the sentence a reader could repeat. Name the people, give real numbers, say what you are specifically good at, hold one honest opinion, and tell them what to do next. Cut the mission statement. It is a risk check, not an autobiography, and it takes half an hour. See also what makes people trust a small business online.