How to Write an About Page for a Small Business

Most people think the About page is where you talk about yourself. That is exactly why so many of them fail. If you want to know how to write an about page for a small business that actually wins work, the first shift is simple: it is not really about you. It is about proving to a nervous stranger that hiring you is a safe decision.

Think about who lands there. Someone found your roofing company on Google, saw a few reviews, and now they are checking whether you are real before they call. The About page is the credibility gate between "maybe" and "let me get a quote." Get it right and it does quiet sales work every hour of the day.

This guide walks through what to include, gives you a fill-in-the-blank structure you can finish in an afternoon, and shows the mistakes that make otherwise good businesses look amateur. Most of it applies whether you run an HVAC crew, a cleaning company, a dental office, or a one-person bookkeeping shop.

What an about page is actually for

Before you write a word, get clear on the job this page does. An About page has three quiet responsibilities:

Reassure. The visitor is deciding if you are trustworthy, competent, and unlikely to disappear with their deposit. Everything on the page should reduce that fear.
Differentiate. Why you and not the other three companies they have open in tabs? "Family owned since 1998" and "same-day emergency calls" mean more than "quality service."
Point somewhere. The page should end by telling the reader exactly what to do next, whether that is calling, booking, or requesting an estimate.

The copywriter Gill Andrews makes a sharp point about this in her guide to About pages for small business websites: if you say "we" and "our" far more than "you" and "your," you lose people, because prospects do not care about you until they believe you can solve their problem. Keep that ratio in mind as you write. Your story matters, but only the parts that answer a customer's unspoken question.

The information every small business about page needs

You do not need all of these, but you should consciously choose from them rather than defaulting to a wall of history. Here is the raw material:

A one-line plain summary of what you do and who you do it for. No jargon.
A short origin story that explains why the business exists.
The people. Real names, real faces, a sentence of background each.
Proof you are legitimate. Years in business, license and insurance details, certifications, service area, number of jobs done.
Social proof. A testimonial or two, a review count, recognizable client names or partner brands.
Values, but specific ones. Not "integrity." Something like "we clean up the job site every evening" or "we call you back the same day."
A clear next step. One primary call to action.

The website builder guides from Website Builder Expert and WordStream both land on a similar shortlist: tone, values, visuals, team, social proof, and contact details. The order and emphasis are what separate a forgettable page from one that converts.

A step-by-step structure you can copy

Here is a structure that works for a local or service business. Follow it top to bottom.

1. Open with the customer, not your founding date

Your first two sentences should show the reader you understand their situation. Skip "Founded in 2005, Acme Plumbing has been..." Instead, open with something the customer feels.

When your water heater fails on a Sunday night, you do not want a call center. You want someone local who picks up and shows up. That is why Riverside Plumbing exists.

This does two things at once: it names the customer's pain and immediately positions you as the answer. Shopify's breakdown of strong About Us pages calls this "setting the scene," and it is the highest-leverage sentence on the whole page.

2. Tell the origin story in three sentences

People remember stories, not credentials. But keep it tight. Answer: why did you start, what did you want to do differently, and what has changed since. A useful template:

"[Founder] started [Business] in [year] after [the frustration or moment that sparked it]. The goal was simple: [the thing you wanted to do better than the competition]. Today, [where you are now, in real numbers]."

A real example:

"Maria started Bright Home Cleaning in 2016 after years of watching big franchises rush through houses and cut corners. She wanted a company that treated a customer's home like its own. Today her team of eight cleans more than 300 homes a month across the north metro."

Notice how much that does in three sentences. It gives a reason to trust, a clear differentiator, and a concrete proof point.

3. Introduce the people

This is the section owners skip most, and it is one of the most persuasive. A visitor deciding whether to let a crew into their home wants to see who those people are. Include a photo of the owner or team, real first names, and one human sentence each. Website Builder Expert notes that people recall about 65 percent of visual information days later, so a real photo of your actual team beats a stock image of models in hard hats every time.

If you are a solo operator, that is a strength, not a weakness. "You will work directly with me, not a rotating cast of subcontractors" is a genuine selling point for a lot of buyers.

4. Prove you are the safe choice

This is where you stack the trust signals a local buyer is scanning for. Put them where they are easy to skim:

Years in business or number of jobs completed
Licensed and insured, with the license type or number if it applies
Certifications and manufacturer partnerships (for example, factory-certified installer)
Your service area, named by city or region
Any guarantee or warranty you stand behind
Awards, "best of" local wins, or accreditations

For home services especially, licensing and insurance are not boring details. They are the difference between a real business and a guy with a truck. Say them plainly.

5. Add one or two pieces of social proof

You do not need a testimonial wall on the About page. One strong quote from a named local customer, or a line like "rated 4.9 across 240 Google reviews," does the job. If you have worked with recognizable local institutions (a school, a hospital, a well-known restaurant), naming them borrows their credibility.

6. End with a single clear action

Every guide agrees on this and most small businesses still forget it. Do not let the page dead-end. Tell the reader exactly what to do: "Call us at [number] for a free estimate" or "Book a consultation online." One primary action, stated clearly. WordStream recommends repeating a call to action rather than burying it at the very bottom, so it is fine to put a button mid-page too.

Length, tone, and format

Keep it readable. Most sources land on 300 to 800 words for a small business About page, and WordStream suggests staying under 1,000. You are not writing an autobiography. If your history is genuinely interesting, link to a longer "Our Story" page and keep the main About page tight.

On tone, aim for the way you would actually talk to a customer at their kitchen table. Confident but not stiff. Write in first person ("we" and "I"), use short paragraphs, and cut every buzzword. Phrases like "solutions provider," "customer-centric," and "passionate about excellence" say nothing. Replace them with concrete specifics: what you do, how fast, and what happens if something goes wrong.

Do not forget local SEO

Your About page is a real chance to help the right people find you. Work your business type and location into the copy naturally, the way WordStream recommends: "family-owned HVAC company serving Boulder and Longmont" tells both Google and the reader who you are and where you work. List the towns and neighborhoods you cover. Include your business name, and if you have a physical location, your address and hours. None of this means keyword stuffing. It means writing the way a customer would actually search.

Common mistakes that make you look small

All history, no benefit. Nobody hires you because you were founded in 1994. They hire you because of what that experience does for them.
Stock photos of strangers. A generic smiling call-center image erases trust instead of building it. Use real photos, even imperfect phone ones.
Vague values. "Integrity, quality, teamwork" is wallpaper. Say the specific thing you do that proves it.
No proof. Claims with no license, no reviews, and no numbers read as empty.
No next step. A page that ends with "...and that is our story" wastes the visitor's momentum.
Writing it once and never touching it again. If your team, service area, or review count changed, the page should too.

A quick fill-in-the-blank template

Copy this, fill the brackets, and edit until it sounds like you:

"When [common customer problem happens], you want [what the customer actually wants]. That is what [Business] does. [Founder] started us in [year] after [the spark], because [the thing you do differently]. Today we [real proof point, in numbers], and we are proud to be [licensed, insured, certified, and rated X across Y reviews]. We serve [named towns or region]. [One customer quote or trust line.] Ready to get started? [Clear call to action with phone or booking link]."

That skeleton already beats most About pages online, because it leads with the customer, proves you are real, and ends by asking for the job.

If writing it from scratch feels like a wall

Plenty of owners know exactly what makes their business good but freeze the moment they have to write it down. If that is you, one option worth knowing about is Saynovo, which builds a website for local and home-service businesses by pulling from your Google Business Profile. It drafts your About section from the details already in your profile, and then you shape it by talking to it in plain language, saying things like "make the opening about emergency calls" or "add that we are family owned," and the page rewrites itself. It turns the blank-page problem into an editing problem, which is a much easier one to solve.

The bottom line

A good About page for a small business is not a biography. It is a short, honest argument that you are the safe, capable, local choice, told in the customer's language and ending with a clear next step. Lead with their problem, prove you are real, show the humans behind the work, and tell them what to do next. Do that, and this quiet page will keep earning you calls long after you have moved on to the actual work.