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Every About Us page I open starts the same way. “Founded on a passion for excellence.” Then a paragraph about values, a mission statement that could belong to a bank or a bakery, and a photo of a handshake that has never actually happened.
Here’s the thing: people do read your About page. They just aren’t reading it for the reason you wrote it.
The short version
Yes, and usually right before they decide whether to contact you. The About page is where a shopper goes when they like what they’ve seen but aren’t sure you’re a real business run by real people.
Nielsen Norman Group has studied this for years. Their research on About Us information watched more than 70 people use company websites, and the pattern was simple: users want authenticity, plain language, real photos and a clear statement of what the company does. In their latest round, the word “reviews” came up over 40 times across 20 sessions. People want to hear from somebody other than you.
So the About page isn’t a formality. It’s the background check.
It should say who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and why someone should trust you. In that order, in normal words.
I see this all the time: an About page that’s four paragraphs long and never once says what the business actually sells. You read the whole thing and you know they “believe in community” and “go the extra mile.” Great. Do you fix air conditioners or do you sell insurance? (I’ve genuinely had to check the menu to find out.)
A better opening sounds like something you’d say at a cookout. “I’m a licensed plumber in Palm Coast. I’ve been fixing leaks, water heaters and the stuff other guys left half-assed since 2011.” One sentence, and the reader knows what you do, where you do it, and that you’ve got a little personality.
After that, the useful stuff:
Because nobody has ever hired a company because of its mission statement. Not once. Not in the history of commerce.
Mission statements are written for internal meetings and investor decks. On a small business site they mostly read like a hostage note from the marketing department. “We strive to deliver innovative solutions that exceed expectations.” Every competitor in town has the same sentence, which means it says nothing about you.
If you’ve got values that matter, show them with a specific. Don’t say “we care about our customers.” Say “I answer my own phone, and if I’m on a roof I call you back the same day.” That’s a value. It’s also a promise, which is why it works.
They matter more here than anywhere else on the site. The whole point of the page is “is this a real person,” and a stock photo answers that question with a confident no.
I wrote a whole post about stock photos on small business websites, so I’ll keep this short. The smiling team in matching blue shirts around a laptop? Everybody knows. Your customers have seen that exact family on a dentist’s site, a roofer’s site and a crypto app.
A slightly imperfect phone photo of you in front of your truck, your shop or your kitchen does more work than a $40 stock license ever will. It doesn’t have to be pretty. It has to be you. Clean the lens and stand somewhere with daylight. That’s honestly most of the battle.
Here’s the part that makes me a little crazy. Someone reads your About page. They like you. They’re ready. And then the page just… ends. No button, no phone number, no next step. Just a footer and a copyright year from the Obama administration.
That visitor was as warm as a lead gets, and you made them go hunting for the contact page. Some will. A lot won’t. It’s a pain in the ass to make people work for the thing they already decided to do.
Put a clear next step at the bottom: a tap-to-call number, a short form, or a link to book. Same goes for every page, honestly, but the About page is where it hurts the most to leave it off.
And keep the details consistent. The same research points out that people cross-check you elsewhere, so the name, phone number and hours on your About page should match your Google Business Profile and everything else. If they don’t, the background check fails on a technicality.
Long enough to answer who, what, where and why trust you, and not a word more. For most small businesses that’s 200 to 500 words plus photos. If your origin story needs an intermission, cut it in half.
Say “I.” Pretending to be a big team when it’s just you sets up a weird moment the first time a customer calls and you’re the whole company. Being solo is a selling point: they get you, every time, no handoffs.
It can. A clear About page tells search engines and AI assistants who the business is, where it operates and what it does, which helps them match you to the right searches. It works best when the same facts show up consistently across your site and your listings.
Your About page isn’t a place to sound important. It’s a place to sound real, prove you’re good at the thing, and make it dead easy to take the next step. If yours reads like a corporate brochure or quietly ends in a footer, that’s an easy fix with a damn good payoff.
If you want to see how I handle it, here’s how I work, and when you’re ready to get your own About page doing its job, start a project and tell me what you’ve got.
