Every one of these is on 80% of the small-business About pages we audit. None of them belongs on yours.
1. "Passionate about..."
Every brand is passionate about something. The word has been emptied. Worse, it signals you haven't found a more specific reason yet. Replace it with the specific: "We've worked with 28 UK breweries because no two beers should sound the same on a label." Specific is the new passionate.
2. "Established in 2014"
Years of trading isn't a benefit. It's a fact, and the wrong one to lead with. Lead with what you do differently because of that experience. If 2014 matters, it matters because it predates a market shift you understand and competitors don't.
3. "World-class" / "Bespoke" / "Premium"
Three adjectives doing zero work. The reader needs evidence, not adjectives. "Used by 6,000 UK plumbers" beats "trusted by professionals" every time. Audit your About page and circle every adjective; replace half with numbers, half with examples.
4. "Our mission is to..."
Missions are for posters in offices. About pages are for visitors deciding whether to trust you. Show how you make decisions instead. "We don't take on more than four clients at once" tells me how you'll treat me. "Our mission is excellence" tells me you ran out of things to say.
5. "Founded by friends who..."
This one is hard. We get it — there's a real story there. But "founded by friends" is on hundreds of About pages and instantly reads as filler. If the founder story matters (and sometimes it really does), give it space on its own page, told properly. Don't bury it as a tagline.
What to do instead
Replace every one of these with a number, a name, or a specific decision. That's it. About pages convert when they make the reader feel like real humans wrote them about real work. Adjectives and platitudes do the opposite.
