Your About page is probably the second most-visited page on your website. Most visitors check it right after your homepage — they want to know who you are before they hand over their money.
And most small business About pages are a disaster.
Not because the owner doesn’t care. They do. But the mistakes are almost always the same, and they quietly kill trust before a prospect ever fills out your contact form. Here are 11 of them.
1. Starting With “We Were Founded in…”
Nobody cares when you were founded. Not at first. Visitors land on your About page because they’re asking one question: Can these people solve my problem?
Leading with your founding year or your company history forces them to read a story they didn’t ask for. Research from Nielsen Norman Group consistently shows that users scan for what’s relevant to them, not company timelines.
Flip the script. Open with the problem you solve and who you solve it for. The history can come later, once they’re already invested. Something like: “We help e-commerce brands cut their cart abandonment rate in half” does more in one sentence than three paragraphs of founding-story backstory.
2. Writing in the Third Person
“XYZ Company is a leading provider of…” — if you’re a small business with fewer than 50 employees, this reads as stiff and evasive. Visitors know there are real people behind the company. The third-person tone makes it feel like you’re hiding.
Write in first person. Say “we” and “I.” If you’re a solo operator, own it. Many clients prefer working with the owner directly. Edelman’s Trust Barometer reports that 61% of consumers trust a company more when they hear directly from its leadership.
First person feels human. Third person feels like a press release. Be a person.
3. No Photo of You or Your Team
Text is cheap. A real photo of you and your team signals you’re not hiding anything. Visitors are evaluating risk — “Am I going to get burned by this company?” — and a genuine photo dramatically lowers that anxiety.
Stock photos of smiling office workers do the opposite. They scream “we don’t trust you enough to show you who we actually are.” A straightforward headshot with natural lighting beats a $500 stock photo every time.
Stanford’s Web Credibility Research found that photography is one of the top factors people use to evaluate website trustworthiness. This isn’t optional.
4. Forgetting to Say Who You Actually Help
Your About page should name your audience. Not vaguely — specifically. “We help small businesses” means nothing. “We help independent HVAC contractors book 20+ jobs per month through their website” means something.
When your ideal client reads that and thinks that’s me, you’ve done your job. When you stay vague to avoid excluding anyone, you end up connecting with no one.
Look at how Basecamp’s About page is ruthlessly specific about who they’re for: small teams who want simplicity. That clarity is exactly why they convert.
5. Listing Features Instead of Outcomes
“We use the latest technology and industry best practices.” Great. What does that mean for the client?
Visitors don’t buy your process. They buy what your process gets them. Every line on your About page should connect your work to a real-world result.
Instead of “We design custom websites,” try: “We build websites that actually generate leads — so you can stop chasing referrals.” One is about you. The other is about them. HubSpot’s conversion data consistently shows that outcome-focused copy outperforms feature lists by significant margins.
6. No Social Proof Anywhere on the Page
Your About page is the perfect place to drop a powerful testimonial or credibility signal. It’s where skepticism is highest — visitors are actively deciding whether to trust you.
A well-placed quote from a real client, a logo bar of companies you’ve worked with, or a mention of a publication that’s featured your work all reduce that skepticism.
Shopify, for instance, prominently features merchant success stories throughout their About section. It shifts the narrative from “trust us because we say so” to “trust us because our clients say so.” There’s a big difference.
7. Making It All About You and Nothing About the Client
This is the most common mistake. The About page becomes a trophy case: our awards, our years in business, our process, our values.
Clients don’t care about your values in the abstract. They care about whether you’ll show up, do good work, and make their life easier. Write your About page with the reader’s situation in mind at every step.
A useful exercise: after every sentence, ask “So what?” If you can’t answer that from the client’s perspective, cut it or rewrite it.
8. Burying or Skipping the Call to Action
Visitors who read your entire About page are warm leads. They’ve spent time with you. They’re interested. And most About pages just… end. No next step. No invitation.
Put a clear CTA at the bottom. Something like “Ready to work together? Get started here.” Or link to a case study, a free consult, or your services page.
WordStream’s research on website CTAs shows that personalized CTAs convert 202% better than generic ones. Even a simple, warm invitation beats nothing at all.
9. No Contact Information on the Page
Some visitors skip the contact page entirely. They want to reach you right now, from wherever they are. If there’s no email, phone number, or contact link visible on your About page, that impulse dies.
Add your email or a “Let’s talk” link directly on the page. It costs nothing and catches the person who’s ready to move but doesn’t want to hunt around.
This is especially true for local service businesses. BrightLocal’s consumer survey found that 78% of local searches result in an offline purchase — and those searchers want friction removed, not added.
10. Writing a Wall of Text With No Visual Breaks
Even if every sentence is gold, a solid block of text signals “this will be hard to read” and visitors leave. People skim before they read. You need to earn the deeper read by making skimming easy.
Break up your About page with subheadings, short paragraphs (2-3 sentences max), photos, and maybe a brief bullet list of what you do or who you serve.
Think of it like a conversation, not a report. You wouldn’t hand someone a 400-word monologue at a networking event. Don’t do it on your website either.
11. Never Updating It
You hired new people. You shifted your focus. You tripled your client base. Your About page still says the same thing it said in 2021.
An outdated About page erodes trust in subtle ways. A team photo with people who no longer work there. A “we’re growing fast” line from three years ago when you’ve actually plateaued. Awards from 2019. All of it signals that nobody’s minding the store.
Set a calendar reminder to review your About page every six months. Update the headshots, refresh the copy, swap in new testimonials. Search Engine Journal’s analysis of content freshness confirms that regularly updated pages tend to rank and convert better than stale ones.
Your About Page Is a Sales Page in Disguise
The best About pages don’t feel like About pages. They feel like a conversation with someone who understands your problem and has helped people like you solve it.
That takes real thought. But once you get it right, it quietly converts visitors into leads 24 hours a day without any extra effort from you.
If your current About page is a founding-year intro with a team photo from five years ago, it’s time for a refresh.
Want a website that actually brings in clients? Our team builds and optimizes websites for small businesses every day. Get started here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should an About page be?
Most effective About pages are between 300 and 600 words. Enough to build trust, not so much that you lose the reader. Focus on quality and clarity over length.
Should I use “I” or “we” on my About page?
If you’re the owner and you’re the one doing the work, “I” is more honest and often builds more trust. “We” works well if you have a real team. Mixing them up confuses visitors.
Does the About page really matter for SEO?
It matters less for ranking and more for converting. But Google does use About pages to evaluate E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) signals, so a thin or missing About page can hurt your overall site credibility.
What’s the one thing I should add to my About page today?
A clear statement of who you help and what outcome you deliver — in the first two sentences. Everything else comes second.
Richard Kastl
Founder & Lead EngineerRichard Kastl has spent 14 years engineering websites that generate revenue. He combines expertise in web development, SEO, digital marketing, and conversion optimization to build sites that make the phone ring. His work has helped generate over $30M in pipeline for clients ranging from industrial manufacturers to SaaS companies.
