Visitors rarely read an about page in order. They arrive from a product page, a job ad, or a search for the company name, and they scan for one thing: a reason to believe a real business with real people stands behind the site. The page either confirms that or quietly undermines it.

Trust rarely comes from the story of a founding moment. It comes from specifics that are easy to check and hard to fake.

Assume the reader is checking you

Some readers are customers deciding whether to spend money. Some are journalists, suppliers, or candidates deciding whether to reply. All of them are asking the same questions. Who runs this? How long have they been doing it? Where are they? What happens if something goes wrong?

Write the page as answers to those questions, in that order. Skip the timeline of milestones unless the dates tell a story the reader needs.

Say what you do in one plain sentence

The opening line should be understandable to someone who has never heard of your category. We repair commercial refrigeration in the West Midlands, usually within four hours. That sentence tells a reader what you do, where, and how fast.

Resist the urge to open with a belief. A short position statement works better after the plain sentence, when the reader knows what is being defended.

Replace adjectives with evidence

Words like passionate, dedicated, and customer-focused appear on every about page and are believed on none. Each one can be replaced with something observable.

  • Instead of experienced team, give the number of years the longest-serving engineer has worked on this equipment.
  • Instead of customer-focused, give the response time you commit to and where it is written down.
  • Instead of family-run, name the family members and their roles.
  • Instead of nationwide, list the regions you actually cover.

One specific fact does more than three adjectives, because the reader can picture it.

Put faces and names on the work

A portrait, a name, a role, and one line about what that person handles. Four people are better than a grid of thirty headshots with no context, because a reader can tell who will answer the phone.

Include the person who handles complaints or support if that role exists. Naming them signals that the process is not a black box.

An about page is a credibility page, and credibility is made of details a reader could verify on a Tuesday afternoon.

Tell the origin story briefly

Three or four sentences is enough: what the founders were doing before, what problem kept appearing, what they decided to do about it. Keep the chronology simple and leave out the moment of revelation unless it genuinely explains a choice the reader can see today.

If the business is twenty years old and the founder has retired, say so plainly and explain who runs it now. Readers notice when a story stops in 2011.

Admit a limit

One honest limitation makes everything else more believable. We do not take on one-off domestic jobs. We are not the cheapest option for a single unit. We do not cover the north of Scotland.

This is not self-sabotage. It saves time on both sides and signals that the business knows what it is. It also gives the reader a way to judge fit before making contact, which is what they came for.

Give them a way to verify you

Add the trading address, the company registration number, professional memberships, and links to independent reviews. If you have insurance or certifications that matter in your trade, name them and say what they cover. Put the phone number in text, not only in an image.

Then close with one next step. A question, a quote request, or a direction to the work you are proudest of. The page does not need to sell after it has reassured.

Keep it current. Out-of-date about pages are common and quietly damaging. A team page showing people who left two years ago suggests nobody maintains the site. Put a review date in the content calendar and check the photographs, the roles, and the numbers at the same time.

  • One plain sentence on what you do and where
  • Named people with roles and one line each
  • At least four verifiable numbers
  • Founding story under 100 words
  • One honest limitation
  • Address, registration, memberships
  • Reviews linked from a third party
  • One clear next step

Read the page aloud when it is finished. If it sounds like a brochure rather than a person explaining their work, cut the adjectives and start again from the facts.