The About page is usually the second or third most visited page on a website, right after the homepage and the service you offer. People land there when they are close to getting in touch and want to know one thing: can I trust these people with my money and my time.
Most About pages fail at exactly that moment. They open with a wall of history nobody asked for, or a mission statement so vague it could belong to any business on earth. We have rewritten a lot of these pages, and the pattern is always the same. The page talks about the company. It should be building confidence in the reader.
Here is how we approach it.
Lead with the reader, not your founding year
The worst opening line in web copy is some version of "Founded in 2014, we are a passionate team of...". Nobody reads past it. The visitor does not care when you started. They care whether you can solve their problem.
Open instead with a sentence that names who you help and what changes for them. Something like "We build websites for trades and clinics across South Wales that actually bring in enquiries." That one line does more trust work than three paragraphs of corporate history, because it tells the reader they are in the right place.
Keep the history. Just move it down the page where it belongs, as context rather than as the headline.
Show real faces and real names
Stock photos of people in a glass meeting room fool nobody. They quietly tell the reader you have something to hide, or that you could not be bothered.
Use actual photographs of your team. Real names, real roles, a sentence of personality each. If you are a one person business, say so plainly and make it a strength: the person they email is the person doing the work.
This matters more than most owners think. When someone is deciding whether to part with a few thousand pounds, seeing the human on the other end lowers the risk in their mind. A face and a name is proof you exist.
Be specific about what you actually do
Vague copy reads as evasive. "We offer a range of bespoke digital solutions" tells the reader nothing and makes them suspicious. Specific copy reads as confident.
Name your services. Name the kinds of clients you work with. If you only build for independent retailers, say that. Niching down feels risky, but it is one of the fastest ways to build trust, because it signals you have done this exact thing before.
If you want the deeper version of this, the same principle runs through all good web writing. Our post on website copywriting tips that actually convert goes into how specificity beats polish every time.
Prove it, do not just claim it
Trust is built with evidence, not adjectives. Calling yourself "trusted" and "leading" does the opposite of what you want, because anyone can type those words.
Use proof the reader can verify:
- Client logos, if you have permission to show them
- One or two short testimonials with a full name and business, not just initials
- A named case study with a concrete before and after
- Accreditations, memberships or qualifications that are genuinely relevant
- A link to your Google reviews
Real reviews carry serious weight here, and they do double duty for your local search presence too. We covered why in our piece on why Google reviews matter.
Avoid inventing round numbers to look bigger. "Over 500 happy clients" with nothing to back it up reads as made up, because it usually is. One verifiable testimonial beats ten unsupported claims.
Address the objection they are too polite to ask
Every buyer has a worry sitting just under the surface. Are you too small to handle this. Are you too big to care. Will you disappear after launch. Are you expensive.
The strongest About pages name that worry and answer it. If you are a small studio, own it: "We are deliberately small, so you work directly with the people building your project, not an account manager passing messages along." You turn a perceived weakness into a reason to choose you.
This is the difference between a page that lists facts and a page that persuades. It shows you understand the reader well enough to anticipate their doubts.
Show how you work, not just what you believe
Values sections are usually filler. "Integrity, innovation, excellence" means nothing because every competitor claims the identical three.
Replace vague values with how you actually operate. A short, honest process is far more reassuring:
- We start with a call to understand the business, not the brief
- We quote a fixed price so there are no surprises
- We build, you review, we refine
- We stay on after launch
That tells the reader exactly what working with you feels like. It removes uncertainty, and uncertainty is the main reason people hesitate.
Keep it human, keep it tight
An About page does not need to be long. It needs to be honest and easy to scan. Break it into clear sections with headings, use short paragraphs, and cut any sentence that exists only to sound professional.
Read it aloud. If a line sounds like something a person would never actually say, rewrite it. The best About pages read like a confident, friendly conversation, not a press release.
End with a clear next step
Someone reaching the bottom of your About page is warm. Do not leave them stranded. Finish with one obvious call to action: book a call, request a quote, see your work. One clear button beats three competing ones.
The About page sits inside your wider site, and its job is to pass trust along to the pages that convert. If you are rethinking how the whole thing hangs together, our web design work starts from exactly these questions.
A quick checklist
Before you publish, run through this:
- Does the first line speak to the reader, not your history
- Are there real photos and real names
- Have you named specific services and specific clients
- Is there verifiable proof, not just adjectives
- Have you answered the obvious objection
- Does it describe how you work in plain terms
- Is there one clear next step
If you can tick all seven, you have a page that earns trust instead of asking for it. That is the whole point.
Lewis, Technical Director
