How to write an About page for your small business that people actually trust

They may already understand what you sell. What they are often trying to work out now is who they would actually be dealing with and whether handing you their money feels like a sensible decision.

For a founder-led small business, especially one where the owner is the person doing the work, that page can carry a surprising amount of weight.

Show people who is behind the business. Give them enough of the story to understand how you got here, what matters to you and what dealing with you will actually be like.

A lengthy company history rarely builds confidence. Useful detail does.

Opening with the year your company was founded rarely gives somebody much reason to keep reading.

Start with something connected to why they may need you.

A garden service could talk about homeowners who are tired of spending Saturday mornings wondering whether the gardening team is going to arrive.

A bookkeeper could speak to the small business owner who knows the numbers matter but would rather spend Friday afternoon doing almost anything else.

A website designer could start here:

I had a business I believed in, and absolutely no idea what to do next.

That line explains something important about why The Website Alchemist exists. It begins with an experience many small business owners recognise rather than a biography.

Keep the parts of your story that explain why you do the work the way you do.

Once you have given them a reason to keep reading, tell them who you are.

Small businesses sometimes hide behind “we” because it sounds bigger. That can work against a founder-led business when the customer will deal directly with the owner anyway.

Be clear about it.

You deal with me from the first quote to the final handover.

That tells the customer far more than:

We are a dedicated team committed to providing personalised service.

If there is a team, introduce the people the customer is likely to deal with. A name, a useful description of their role and a real photograph make the business easier to understand than another paragraph about a “dedicated team of professionals”.

A founder story earns space when it gives the customer useful context.

Think about what made you start the business. Perhaps you were frustrated by the way something was usually done, spotted a problem nobody seemed interested in fixing, or found yourself needing the very service you later decided to offer.

The useful part is whatever still influences the way you work today.

There is rarely much value in documenting your life from matric onwards. Keep what helps somebody understand the business they are considering hiring.

The rest can stay at the braai.

This is where a lot of About pages lose their way.

“Personal service”, “attention to detail”, “high quality” and “reliable” all sound positive. They also tell the customer very little until you explain what they mean in your business.

We pride ourselves on personal service could become:

You WhatsApp me directly. There is no call centre or account manager in the middle.

A website designer could replace we pay close attention to every detail with:

I check every page on desktop and mobile before the site goes live.

A gardening business describing itself as reliable could say:

You know which day the team is coming. If that changes, you hear from us first.

Experience can work the same way. If you have been doing the work for 12 years, completed 180 installations or personally inspect every finished job, those details give the customer something concrete to judge.

We are committed to quality workmanship and excellent customer service could belong to almost any contractor in South Africa.

Every job is inspected by Theo before the team leaves site tells you how one particular business works.

That is the difference you are looking for.

If you run the business, show your face.

It does not have to be a formal corporate headshot. A clear photograph taken in your shop, studio, office, workshop or normal working environment will often tell somebody more than a stock image ever could.

The same goes for a team.

A potential customer may be deciding who they are about to WhatsApp, invite into their home or trust with a deposit. Seeing the actual person involved removes some of that uncertainty.

And please do not introduce yourself next to a stock photograph of four strangers shaking hands in a glass office.

Nobody believes that is you.

Relevant credentials and experience belong on the page when they give the customer useful evidence.

A qualification required to perform the work matters. Industry accreditation may matter too, as can years of hands-on experience or specialist training.

An unrelated diploma completed in 2004 probably contributes very little.

Choose the information that helps answer the customer's real question: can this person do the work I am considering paying them for?

Local businesses should make their service area obvious.

“Cape Town” gives the reader a general location.

“Based in Durbanville and working across Cape Town’s Northern Suburbs” tells a local customer whether you are likely to cover their area.

That is useful before they spend time filling in a form or sending a message.

If local search matters to your business, keep that location information consistent with the details on your Google Business Profile and elsewhere online.

An About page should not finish with the end of your life story and drop the reader into the footer.

By this point, they should know enough about the business to decide whether they want to continue.

Send them towards the next action that makes sense. They might ask for a quote, look through previous work, check a service page or send a WhatsApp.

Make the wording describe what happens after the click.

“Ask for a quote” tells the visitor more than “Learn more”.

“See my work” is clearer than “Discover”.

The button needs a clear job, not clever wording.

Read the page once more and ask yourself an uncomfortable question:

Could you replace your business name with a competitor’s and leave most of the copy unchanged?

If you could, there are probably still too many claims that anybody in your industry could make.

Replace them with the details that belong to your business. The way you work. The choices you make. The things a customer would only know after speaking to you.

A strong About page gives somebody enough information to understand who they would be dealing with and whether they want to take the next step.

That is the job.

And if this has made you realise the words are the hardest part, that is exactly why copywriting is included in every Website Alchemist build.