How to write a good About page for your business website.

The About page is the second-most visited page on most service business websites. Visitors who are serious about hiring you — not just browsing — check it after they look at your services. They are not there to read your life story. They are there to answer one question: can I trust this person to do what they say they can do?

Most About pages fail that test. Not because the business is not good, but because the page is written for the wrong moment.

What most About pages get wrong

The most common mistakes are structural, not stylistic:

• Starting with how long you have been in business. Nobody who does not already know you cares. Length of time matters only when it signals something — "twelve years building sites for healthcare providers" is a credential. "Ten years in the industry" is not.
• Writing a resume instead of a pitch. A list of certifications, software tools, and past employers is a resume. Your About page is answering "why should I hire you" — those are different questions.
• Focusing entirely on yourself. A visitor reading your About page is thinking about their own situation: their project, their deadline, their budget, their risk. An About page that never mentions the client is a mirror pointed at the wrong subject.
• No human element. A page with no photo, no voice, and no specifics is harder to trust than one that has all three, even imperfectly.

Five things every good About page includes

1. What problem you solve

Before anything else, be clear about what you actually do. Not your job title — what the client gets. "I build websites for service businesses that need to look credible and get found online" is a problem-solution statement. "I am a full-stack web developer and UX designer" is a job title. One answers the visitor's question; the other makes them work out the answer themselves.

2. Who you serve

Specificity builds trust faster than breadth. "I work with service businesses: contractors, consultants, clinics, agencies" tells the visitor whether they fit. "I work with clients of all sizes across many industries" tells them nothing useful. If a plumbing company reads your About page and feels like you understand their world, they are more likely to reach out than if they feel you could just as easily be talking to a tech startup.

3. A brief, relevant story

The relevant part of your story is the part that explains why you do this work and how it shaped your approach. Not your childhood, not your career timeline — the moment or context that connects to what you deliver now. One paragraph is usually enough. Two is the maximum before it starts reading as autobiography rather than pitch.

4. A human element

A photo of you, your team, or your workspace. A tone that sounds like a person wrote it. One personal detail that is relevant without being confessional. Service businesses run on trust, and trust has a face. A page without any of these three things reads like a faceless corporate site, regardless of the size of the business behind it.

5. One call to action

At the end of the page, tell the reader what to do next. One path, not three. Most service businesses do best with a link to their project brief or contact form: "If what you just read matches what you are looking for, here is how we start." Put it after the story, not before.

What to leave out

Knowing what to cut is as important as knowing what to include:

• Award lists without context. "Award-winning designer" means nothing without knowing what award, from whom, for what, and when. Either explain it or cut it.
• Buzzwords. "Passionate," "results-driven," "innovative," "synergy," "leverage." Every competitor uses the same words. They add no information and reduce trust.
• A mission statement that says nothing. "We believe every business deserves a great website" is not wrong — it just does not help anyone decide whether to hire you. Replace it with something specific about how you work or what you care about in the work itself.
• Org charts for solo operators. Listing yourself under multiple roles ("Founder & CEO, Lead Designer, Head of Client Relations") reads as padding on a one-person operation. One title that describes what you do is cleaner and more credible.
• Full-page copy that buries the CTA. If the visitor has to scroll past five dense paragraphs before they see a way to reach you, many of them will leave before they find it. Keep the page readable and the CTA visible without endless scrolling.

How to write it

A practical five-step process for a service business About page:

1. Start with the client's situation. Write one sentence about the problem your clients typically have when they come to you — before they hired you. "Most of my clients come to me with a website that either does not exist yet, or exists but is not bringing in work."
2. Explain what you do and who for. One sentence each. What you build or deliver, and what kind of business or person you build it for.
3. Add one specific detail about your approach. Something that distinguishes how you work from the default. Not a feature list — a working principle. "I do not start the build until the copy is ready, because a site built around placeholder text always looks like a site built around placeholder text."
4. Add the human element. Your photo, and one personal detail that is relevant to the work — not a hobby list, but something that connects to what you deliver or how you think about client work.
5. Close with one CTA. "If this sounds like what you need, here is how to start" — linked to your contact form or project brief.

Read it back and ask: if someone who had never heard of me read this, would they know what I do, who I do it for, whether I am a real person, and what to do if they want to hire me? If the answer is yes to all four, publish it. If not, the missing answer is your next edit.

FAQ

Who is the About page actually for?

It is for the visitor who already looked at your services and is deciding whether to trust you enough to reach out. Write for that moment of evaluation: can I trust this person, do they understand my situation, is it worth contacting them? Not for people who already know you.

Should I write my About page in first person or third person?

First person almost always works better for solo operators and small service businesses. Third person creates distance and reads like a press release. Use "I build websites for service businesses" rather than "John Smith builds websites for service businesses." The exception is a company large enough that the About page is genuinely about the company, not a person.

How long should an About page be?

200–400 words covers the five essentials for most service businesses. If you need 800 words to explain what you do, the problem is positioning clarity, not length. Write a draft, then cut every sentence that does not help the visitor decide whether to contact you.

Do I need a professional photo on my About page?

A photo helps — it adds the human element that builds trust faster than words. It does not need to be a professional headshot. A clean, well-lit photo where you look like yourself is enough. If you have no good photo, a workspace or project photo is better than leaving the page faceless.

Should my About page have a call to action?

Yes — one, at the end, after you have made the case. Most service businesses do best with a link to a project brief or contact form. Do not put CTAs at the top (they have not read anything yet) or scatter three of them down the page (it dilutes the signal of which one to take).