What should I put on my About page?

You open a blank page called About and type the first line that comes to mind: "Founded in 2012, we started with a simple idea." Three paragraphs later you've reached the second van.

Meanwhile, the person most likely to read it has your services page open in another tab and is deciding whether to call. They aren't curious about 2012. They want to know who'll turn up, whether you're any good and what happens if they get in touch. Write the page for them.

Who reads your About page, and when?

The About page is usually read late, by someone close to a decision.

An About page is a trust check. Buyers open it to see who's behind the business, if you can do their job and how to reach a real person, so put those answers first and keep the history short.

The Nielsen Norman Group studied how people look for this information across 100 websites (About Us information on websites, 2019). Participants wanted to know what a company does, who is behind it and if it can be trusted. In a hurry, and with those answers found elsewhere, they didn't open it at all.

So the page has to answer fast: the study suggests one or two short paragraphs at the top. And the answers can't live only there, because plenty of visitors never click it. Your service pages need to stand on their own too, as our guide to what goes on a service page explains.

What should an About page include?

Six parts cover what most buyers check: what you do, the people, why you, how it works, proof and a next step. Keep them roughly in that order.

1) Say what you do, in one sentence

Open with what you do, for whom and where. "Garden design and planting for family homes in North Leeds" tells a visitor they're in the right place.

If that sentence is hard to write, your homepage probably has the same problem. Our homepage clarity test helps you find the words your buyers use.

2) Show the people behind it

Name the people a customer will deal with, each with a role and one line about what they do. "Sam plans every garden and visits each site before quoting" beats a paragraph about Sam's hobbies.

Use real photos. NN/g's participants liked seeing real employees and disliked stock photography. A clear phone photo in daylight does more than a polished image of strangers in a meeting room. Our guide to choosing images for a business website covers crops and descriptions.

3) Give specific reasons to choose you

Write two or three reasons someone would pick you over a similar business. "We only take on gardens under 200 square metres" is a reason. "Quality and great customer service" is what every competitor says.

A quick test: if a competitor could paste your sentence onto their site unchanged, it isn't a reason yet.

4) Explain how working with you goes

List the first three or four steps. Say what happens after someone gets in touch, if the first visit or call costs anything and how soon they'll hear back. Only promise reply times you can keep.

5) Add proof a stranger can check

Proof is anything the buyer doesn't have to take on faith: a link to your Google reviews, a licence number, a membership they can look up, photos of finished work with the place and year. NN/g found that visitors weigh reviews from people they trust and compare your testimonials with outside review sites, so link to the source instead of only quoting it. Our guides to showing Google reviews on your website and presenting past projects cover both in more detail.

No reviews yet? Our guide to building trust without testimonials covers honest alternatives.

6) End with one next step

Finish with one action, such as "Book a garden visit", with your phone, email and service area underneath. Our post on what your main button should say helps with the wording.

What should you leave out?

Most of what makes an About page long answers a question nobody asked. Here's what to cut, and what to write in its place.

What to cut	Why it doesn't help	Put this instead
A year-by-year history	The buyer is checking you today	One line: "Designing gardens in Leeds since 2012"
"We're passionate about quality"	Everyone says it, so it proves nothing	A specific reason from part 3
A mission statement or list of values	Sounds like a brochure, says little	One example of how you work
Stock photos of a "team"	People spot them, and the page feels less real	Real photos, even phone ones
Your full CV	Hard to scan, mostly beside the point	The two or three credentials buyers ask about

Your story can stay as a short paragraph lower down, if it explains something useful, such as why you only take on small gardens.

A fill-in outline for your About page

Here's the outline we'd start from: six short blocks, one per part. Fill in the brackets.

[What you do] for [who it's for] in [where].

We're [names]. [Name] [what they do for customers].

Why people choose us: [specific reason]. [Second specific reason].

How it works: [what happens after someone gets in touch]. You'll hear back within [a time you can keep].

See for yourself: [your reviews], [licence or membership], [examples of your work].

[One next step: a button, or a phone number with a name.]

Filled in for a hypothetical two-person garden design company, it reads like this:

Garden design and planting for family homes in North Leeds.

We're Sam and Priya. Sam designs every garden and visits each site before quoting. Priya leads the planting and is there every day of the work.

Why people choose us: we only take on gardens under 200 square metres. The person who designs your garden is the one who plants it.

How it works: Sam walks the garden with you, then sends a written plan and quote within five working days.

See for yourself: our Google reviews and photos of the last ten gardens we finished.

Book a garden visit.

Stuck? Answer the brackets out loud to a friend and write down what you say. Most people explain their business better in conversation than on a blank page.

If the About page keeps sliding to the bottom of your list, we can write it with you as part of a new website. In an Aruno website project, the words come with the design and the build, so the About page is planned with the rest of the site, not filled in the week before launch. If your site is already live and custom-coded, we can help rework the page: we'll quote once we've seen it, as a project from $1,150 or through our monthly partnership. We can work on Framer sites too, though we'd suggest moving to custom code. Start with a free intro call that commits you to nothing, or reach us at hi@aruno.studio, on WhatsApp or on Telegram at @mihaipostelnicu.

How do you know the page does its job?

Test it on someone who could be a customer, not on yourself.

Send the page to someone who matches your buyers but doesn't know you well, then ask: who would you deal with, why would you pick us over someone else, and what happens if you get in touch? If they can't answer one, that part of the outline is missing or buried.

Then run a few checks yourself:

• The menu says "About" or "About us", not a clever label like "Our story", and the footer links to it too.
• On your phone, the one-line description and the people appear without much scrolling.
• Your business name, phone number and address match your Google Business Profile.
• Every proof link and the final button go where they say.

Frequently asked questions

Should I write my About page in first or third person? For a small business, first person ("we", or "I" if you work alone) usually reads more naturally: it's you talking to a customer. Third person suits short staff bios on a larger team page. Pick one and keep it consistent.

How long should an About page be? There's no set length. Put what a buyer needs in the first two short paragraphs and let a longer story or bios sit below for the few who want them.

Do I need a photo of myself on my About page? If you're the person customers will deal with, yes: it shows them who to expect. A clear, recent photo is enough. If you'd rather not show your face, show your work and say plainly who you are, but never use a stock photo in your place.

I work alone. Should I write "we" to look bigger? Be clear about who does the work. People who hire a one-person business often choose it because they want you. A "we" that turns out to be one person can come out on the first call, which is a bad moment to lose someone's trust.

How much does it cost to have someone write my About page? At Aruno the words come with the website: a company website, designed and built with the copy included, is $2,250 to $4,500. Our website cost guide explains what moves the price. Changes to an existing page are quoted once we've seen it.

Before you write a word about 2012, write the sentence that tells a stranger what you do and who'll turn up. The rest of the page builds from there.