Want to write a compelling about page for my business website? Here's the teardown plus a 6-step framework. Get a free quote from Sage Writers.
The about page problem nobody fixes
Nine out of ten about pages we audit open with the same sentence: “Founded in 2012, we are a passionate team of dedicated professionals committed to delivering excellence…”. It’s the homepage placeholder problem all over again, just with more nostalgia. The page reads like a wedding speech written by a board of directors.
Here’s the real failure: it talks about the founder’s journey when the reader came looking for a reason to trust you. The about page is the second-most-visited page on most small business sites, yet it’s almost always the laziest writing on the whole domain. Below, a teardown — plus the six-question brief we use before writing a single line.
What an about page is actually for
Forget biography. An about page is a trust page. It has three jobs:
- Prove you’re the right fit for the reader’s specific problem.
- Show the actual humans behind the work.
- Make the next step impossible to miss.
That’s it. Mission statements, founding dates, and team-of-experts language don’t make the list. According to Nielsen Norman Group research on about-us pages, visitors scan the page for credibility signals in seconds — not paragraphs about your values.
The 8-second test
Cover everything below your opening line. Would your one customer — the specific person you wrote this for — keep reading? If not, the opener is wrong. Eight seconds. That’s the entire window.
Voice matters here too. If your about page reads like a different brand from your homepage, trust collapses. We’ve written more about that split in our brand voice document guide — worth a read before you start.
The 6-question brief we use before writing a word
When a client books us for an about page, we don’t ask “tell us about your story”. That gets the placeholder. We ask six questions instead:
- Who’s the one customer reading this? Not a segment. One person, with a name and a job.
- What do they need to believe before they buy? Specific belief, not “that we’re good”.
- What’s the one objection they walk in with? Price? Trust? Whether you’ve done it before for someone like them?
- What proof can you show? Names, numbers, screenshots, quotes. Something a sceptic could verify.
- What’s the founder-story angle that matters to them? Not what matters to you. The bit that earns their trust.
- What’s the single next action? One. Not three.
“We care about quality” isn’t an answer to any of these. “We rewrite until you’re happy, no extra invoice” is. The answers go on one index card. The page gets written only from what’s on it. Anything that doesn’t connect gets deleted.
Three real about-page rewrites
Three rewrites from the last year, anonymised but structurally identical to what we shipped.
Example 1 — A family-run accountancy firm
Before: Founded in 1998, we are a team of trusted advisors providing comprehensive accountancy services to discerning clients across the Midlands.
After: We do the tax return your last accountant kept getting wrong. Three generations of the same family, still answering the phone ourselves.
The before could be any firm in the country. The after names a frustration the reader recognises and a proof point nobody else can claim.
Example 2 — A boutique e-commerce brand
Before: We are passionate about craftsmanship and creating beautiful products with a story behind every piece.
After: In 2019, our founder counted forty-three candle brands at one trade show. Forty-two smelled identical. So she made the forty-fourth — using only what she could buy within ten miles of her studio.
Specifics turn “passionate” into a moment a reader can picture.
Example 3 — A B2B consultancy
Before: Our team brings decades of experience across a broad range of industries to deliver tailored solutions for our clients.
After: Sarah Patel ran procurement at John Lewis. Marcus Wright was head of ops at Deliveroo. Now they help mid-market retailers cut warehouse costs by 12–18% in under six months.
Named humans, specific wins, real numbers. Sceptics stop being sceptical.
Specificity beats polish every single time. The polished about page reassures the writer. The specific one reassures the reader.
Structure that actually holds attention
Here’s the order we use, in roughly this sequence:
- A hook line that names the reader’s situation.
- The problem you solve, in one paragraph.
- Who you help — and who you don’t.
- The actual humans behind the work.
- Proof: testimonials, numbers, named clients.
- One next step.
| Lazy about page | About page that earns its scroll |
|---|---|
| Opens with “Founded in…” | Opens with the reader’s problem |
| Stock photos of people pointing at laptops | Real team photos, taken on a phone |
| “Trusted by leading brands” with no names | Three named clients with a one-line result |
| “Get in touch” link in the footer | A single CTA placed in the body |
Quick tip — real team photos beat stock photography every single time. A slightly awkward shot of your actual team in the actual office out-converts a polished agency photoshoot. People can smell stock.
The same logic applies across your site, by the way. We covered the same principle for landing page copy — the structural moves are nearly identical.
How long should an about page be?
For most UK SMEs, 300–600 words is the sweet spot. Long enough to cover the six questions, short enough that visitors actually finish. Go longer only if you’ve got genuine reason — a complex service, a regulated industry, or a founder story that genuinely earns the word count. Anything past 800 words usually means you’re padding. Edit first. Then publish.
How Sage Writers writes about pages differently
A senior UK writer reads every brief at Sage Writers — no AI mills, no junior outsourced writers, no agency hand-off chain. The same person who scopes your project writes your draft. First draft lands in five working days, with two revision rounds included, and the price is fixed before we start. No scope creep on a one-page job, which is what most about-page projects are.
The small studio model matters. Because the founder reads every brief, the voice stays consistent across your about page, homepage and blog — they won’t sound like three different writers had a go. If you’d rather see the bench before you commit, our UK copywriters for hire page lays out who you’d actually be working with. And yes — meta-irony noted — our own about page follows the same six-question framework.
Can I write my own about page?
Yes — if you answer the six questions honestly and resist the urge to write a corporate biography. The harder bit is editing yourself. Founders are too close to their own story to spot which sentences sound like everyone else’s about page. Outside eyes catch it in minutes. Even just sending the draft to three customers and asking “does this sound like the company you hired?” gets you 80% of the way.
Common mistakes to delete today
Cut these on sight:
- “We are passionate about…” — passion isn’t a differentiator, it’s the baseline.
- “Mission, vision and values” as a separate section nobody reads.
- Founder selfies in front of laptops. Replace with the team, actually working.
- “A team of experts with decades of combined experience.”
- “Bespoke solutions tailored to your needs.”
- Any sentence beginning “At [Company Name], we believe…”.
The blockquote treatment of what NOT to write:
At Acme Consulting, we are a forward-thinking team passionate about empowering our clients through innovative, tailored solutions that drive sustainable growth across diverse industries.
Twenty-five words. Says nothing. Could be any consultancy on the planet.
The delete-and-clarify rule: read every sentence and ask whether your busiest customer would actually finish it. If not, cut it. Most about pages get 50% shorter and 200% better after one editing pass.
What to ship today
You don’t need a full rewrite to fix this by lunchtime:
- Answer the six questions on an index card.
- Draft three opening lines, each under 12 words.
- Send the three versions to three customers. Ask which sounds most like the company they hired.
- Use the winner. Bin the other two.
An about page that explains is forgettable. An about page that earns trust — by being specific, human, and uncomfortably honest — is the difference between a visitor who bounces and one who books. Pick which you’d rather have on the second-most-visited page on your site.
If you’d like a senior writer to handle it for you — first draft in five days, fixed price, no surprises — Get a free quote and we’ll come back within one working day.