To write an about us page that earns trust, stop writing about yourselves and start answering the doubts your reader arrives with. A stranger opens the page to judge whether you are safe to hire. Everything you say should help them decide, and everything that does not can go.
This guide is written for any small business owner, consultant or founder who has a page that says little and wants one that does its job. It gives you seven steps, the essential elements to include, a fill-in template and a short check to run today.
The page is where your brand story meets a stranger, so start with our guide to what brand storytelling is if the idea is new to you.
Why an about us page helps you build trust with website visitors
Most companies treat the about page as a place to keep the history. Visitors treat it as the place to check whether you are real.
A prospect who likes your service page often clicks across to the about page next, looking for a reason to say yes or a reason to leave. These website visitors are potential customers or potential clients, and they are checking you out before they spend.
That is an observation, not a number. You can test it on your own site by watching where people go after reading your main service page.
The about page is therefore a trust page. It sits close to the decision, and it is read by people who are already half convinced. Weak copy here costs you the warm visitors you worked hardest to get.
It also helps search engines confirm who runs the business, and it is the page most likely to be written last, in a hurry, by the person closest to the business. That is how a page full of pride ends up with nothing a stranger can use.
How to write an about us page, step by step
These seven steps work for a sole trader, a law firm or a ten-person company. Do them in order, because each step feeds the next.
1. Decide who is reading and what they doubt
Your target audience for this page is not everyone. It is the person who has just read about what you sell and turned to your about us page to find out whether you are the right choice. Describe your target audience in one sentence, then write down the two or three doubts they carry.
Doubts are usually plain. Are these people experienced? Will they understand my situation? Will they still be here in a year? What happens if something goes wrong?
Put those doubts in a list before you write a word of the page. They become your section headings later, and they stop you drifting into history nobody asked for.
2. Open with the reader’s problem and your answer to it
The first lines should name what your potential customers struggle with and say, in one sentence, how you help. Most about pages open with a founding year. That answers a question nobody asked.
Compare two openings for an invented joinery business. “Founded in 2009, we are a family company with a passion for wood” tells the visitor nothing. “If your kitchen has been quoted three times and built once badly, we build it once and build it right” tells them they are in the right place.
Keep this opening short. It is the promise the rest of the page has to keep.
3. Tell your origin story in the shortest honest version
An origin story earns trust when it explains why you do this work, not when it recites company history. It is the center of your company’s story and the start of an emotional connection.
Give the moment or problem that started the business, the belief it left you with, and what you do differently because of it. Three or four sentences is enough.
A founder story works best when it contains one specific detail only you could write: a failed job, a frustrated customer, a thing you saw done badly. Specifics read as true. Slogans do not.
If your business has no dramatic beginning, say so plainly and move on. A calm, accurate account beats an invented epiphany. For a fuller method, see how to write a brand narrative and the StoryBrand framework, which puts the customer in the lead role. Our brand story examples show the same idea at work.
4. Write your mission statement and core values as behavior
A mission statement and your company values are where most about pages turn to fog. “Integrity, excellence and innovation” could sit on any company’s wall. Visitors skim past it because it tells them nothing they can hold you to.
Turn each of your core values and brand values into something you do. Not “We value transparency” but “We send a written quote with every line priced, and we tell you before the price changes.” A value a customer could catch you breaking is a value they can believe.
On a personal site, treat your personal values the same way.
Choose three at most. If you cannot give an example of how a value shows up on a normal Tuesday, cut it. This is the heart of what the Brand Heart describes: purpose and beliefs stated so they guide behavior, not decorate a wall.
5. Put real people on the page
People trust people. A team section with real team photos, real names and one line each about what that team member does for customers does more than any adjective. This is the human side of the business, and it is hard to fake.
Include the leadership team, and add a short video from the founder if you can; it should still make sense with the sound off.
Keep visual elements simple: real people, photographed properly, with useful captions. “Naledi, who answers your first call and knows where your order is” is better than “Naledi, Director of Customer Delight.”
If the page has no people yet, add team photos first. If you work alone, say that confidently. A solo expert with a clear face and a clear promise is a strength. Our piece on what to put on a consulting website shows how a small firm can make its people the proof.
6. Build trust with social proof that is specific
Social proof is evidence from other people that you do what you say. Quotes from loyal customers carry more weight than your own praise. Client testimonials, client names, media mentions, key achievements, a membership or a certificate all count. Our social proof term defines it in full.
The test is whether a stranger could check or at least picture it.
Choose two or three pieces and place them where a doubt is raised, not in a block at the bottom. A quote about reliable delivery belongs beside the line promising reliable delivery.
Never invent proof and never round it up. If you have no testimonials yet, show your process and your standards, and add proof as it arrives. Community involvement, such as sponsoring a local team or training apprentices, also counts when it is real and you can describe it in a sentence.
7. End with one clear next step
A visitor who has been persuaded needs somewhere to go. End the page with one action: book a call, request a quote, read a case study. One is stronger than four.
Match the step to how ready the reader is. Someone reading an about page is rarely ready to buy; they are ready to start a low-pressure conversation. “Tell us about your project and we will reply within one working day” fits. “Buy now” does not.
Write the button in plain words, and link it to a page that works on a phone. Then read the whole page once from the top, as a stranger, before you publish.
An about us page template you can fill in
An about us page template saves you the blank page, not the thinking. These are the essential elements of an about us page. Fill each row from the steps above, using your own facts. Keep every cell short enough that it could be one or two sentences on the page.
| Section | What to write | Your answer |
|---|---|---|
| Opening line | The problem your reader has and how you help, in one sentence | |
| Who it is for | The type of customer and the situation they are in | |
| Origin story | The moment or problem that started the business, and what it taught you | |
| What you believe | Up to three values, each written as something you do | |
| Your people | A photo, a name and one useful line for each team member | |
| Proof | Two or three testimonials, client names or results you can verify | |
| How you work | Two or three plain sentences on what happens after someone gets in touch | |
| Next step | One action, with the button text written out |
Read the finished table aloud. If any row could be copied onto a competitor’s page without changing a word, rewrite it with a detail only you could supply.
Put your brand story at the center of the about us page
Every line above serves one thing: your brand story. It is the account of why the business exists, told so a stranger can see themselves in it. The best about pages read as one connected company’s story, not a stack of boxes.
Include the challenges you overcame and the milestones you reached, in a few lines. A personal story that shows a setback and what you learned builds an instant connection, because curious visitors are checking whether you are a real business.
Your unique value belongs here too. Say what you do that others in a crowded market do not, then let the story show it rather than claim it.
Design an about us page so website visitors can scan it
A well crafted page is easy to scan. Use headings and subheadings that state the claim of each section, so site visitors can find the part they need and the page guides visitors toward the next step.
A strong call to action matters for converting visitors, so end each section with a clear explanation of what to do next.
Keep a clean layout with white space, and let the brand feel match the rest of your website. Use the same colors and fonts as the rest of the site so the page feels like one brand.
High quality photos and a short video make the page visually appealing, and the page must work on a phone.
Write in your brand voice, in the person your reader expects
Voice decides whether the page sounds like a person or a brochure. Use the same tone that your customers hear when they phone you. If you are warm and direct in conversation and stiff on the page, they will feel the gap.
Your brand voice and brand personality show in word choice before they show in design, and a conversational tone helps the page feel natural.
Choose “we” for a team and “I” for a sole practitioner, and stay with the choice. Do not call yourself “we” while describing one person; it reads as hiding. Our brand voice term sets out how to describe the way a brand sounds so the page, the emails and the proposals all match.
Avoid the phrases every about page repeats: “passionate about”, “industry leading”, “one stop shop”. They fill space and prove nothing. Replace each with the fact behind it.
What to leave off an about us page, from sales pitch to company history
An about us page is not a sales pitch. It is not your biography, your price list or your awards cabinet. Leave off anything the reader cannot use to judge you.
Cut the long company history and keep three dated moments, unless the history is the proof, as it might be for a firm that has served one town for decades. Cut the list of every service, which belongs on your service pages.
Be careful with claims. Do not say you are the best, the leading or the most trusted unless you can show who says so. A modest claim you can back beats a large one you cannot.
Do not copy another company’s page. Borrow the structure, never the sentences.
Building trust on a personal website differs from a company page
A personal website runs on a personal connection. The reader wants to know the person behind the work, so a founder story, a clear photograph and a short account of your journey carry the page. Speak in the first person, as you would to a client.
A company page has to reflect the human side too, but with more people and more proof. Present the company’s story through the team rather than the company name, and show company values as behavior.
Here is an invented example. A one-person law firm that handles tenancy disputes should not write “we offer a holistic approach to legal services.” It should say who it helps, such as small landlords and tenants who cannot afford a long fight, and what it will do first.
That focus on a niche is what makes the page believable. A page for everyone persuades no one.
The biggest mistakes on an about us page
Many businesses fill the page with fun facts and the story of a product launch. One fun fact that shows the company’s personality is fine; ten is clutter.
The biggest mistakes are the ones that make the page about you and not the reader: a mission statement copied from another site, a wall of company history, no faces and no next step.
Check your other marketing materials too, because customers compare them to your website. If your proposals, social media channels and home page tell a different story from the page, a visitor notices.
Link your about us page to the rest of your story
An about page does not work alone. It should connect to the proof and the offer around it. Link the team section to your work pages, the values to a page on how you work, and the close to your contact page.
It also needs to agree with everything else. If your home page promises speed and your about page talks about craftsmanship, visitors sense a business that has not decided what it is.
A short unique value proposition, or value proposition, written once and reused keeps the pages in step, and the copywriting term explains why one clear message beats several clever ones.
If you want the strategy behind the words, the free Brand Strategy Blueprint ebook is the next stop. Our Ground Truth newsletter arrives every Wednesday with one idea about your brand you can try that week.
Check your own about us page in five minutes
Open your about page in a private window and answer these five questions as a stranger would.
- In the first two lines, can you tell who the business helps and how?
- Is there at least one detail in the story that only this business could have written?
- Could a customer catch you breaking each value you list?
- Can you see at least one real person, and one piece of proof that someone could check?
- Is there exactly one next step, and does it work on a phone?
If you answer no to two or more, work through the seven steps again, starting with the reader’s doubts.
Fix the page, then ask someone outside the business to read it cold and tell you what they would do next. When you write an about us page this way, a great example of your own work is already on the screen.
FAQ
What should I write on an about us page?
Write what a hesitant stranger needs to hear: who you help, why you started, what you stand for in practice, who the people are, the proof that you deliver, and one next step. Leave out anything that does not help them decide.
How long should an about us page be?
An about us page should be long enough to answer the doubts of your target audience and no longer. For most small businesses that is a few short sections, readable in a couple of minutes. Use headings so a skimmer can find the part they need.
Should an about us page use the first person or the third person?
Use “we” or “I”, whichever is true. First person sounds like a person talking, which is the point of an about us page. Third person can suit a formal bio for a law firm, but even there it often reads as distant.
Do I need an about us page if I am a solo business owner?
Yes. A solo business needs it more, because the buyer is trusting one person. Say who you are, show your face, and be clear about what you do and do not take on.
Can I use an about us page template?
Yes, as a structure. An about us page template gives you the order of sections, but the facts, the story and the voice must be yours. A page assembled from a template with generic wording will sound like every other company’s.