The About page is consistently one of the most visited pages on a business website, often second only to the homepage, which makes it strange how often it gets treated as an afterthought, a rushed paragraph of vague mission-statement language written last, right before launch.
Why the About Page Matters More Than It Gets Credit For
A visitor who clicks through to an About page is doing something meaningful, they're past the initial "what does this do" question and are now specifically evaluating whether to actually trust this business. That's a visitor closer to a real decision than most other pages on the site typically reach, which makes this page genuinely high-leverage, not a formality to fill with generic copy.
What Actually Belongs Here
A real answer to "who is actually behind this." Names, real photos, actual background, not a vague "our team of dedicated professionals." A visitor evaluating trust wants to know there are real, identifiable people behind the business, not an anonymous entity.
Why this business actually exists, specifically. Not generic mission language every competitor could equally claim, but the actual, specific reason this business started, a real problem someone noticed, a real gap they set out to fill. Specificity here does the same trust-building work specificity does everywhere else on a site.
What genuinely makes this business different, stated directly rather than implied. Experience in a specific niche, an unusual approach, a particular value the business holds that actually shapes how it operates, something concrete a visitor can actually evaluate, not just claim to have.
Real credibility markers relevant to trust, years in business, notable past work, relevant credentials, without turning the page into an exhaustive résumé nobody asked for.
A genuine, human tone, written the way you'd actually describe your business to someone at a real conversation, not the artificially formal, slightly stiff language a lot of About pages default to for reasons nobody can quite explain.
What Commonly Goes Wrong
Generic mission statements that could describe any business. "We are committed to excellence and innovation in everything we do" says literally nothing specific, and visitors recognize filler language even when they can't articulate exactly why it feels hollow.
Writing exclusively about the company, never about the visitor. An About page entirely focused on internal history and achievements, with zero connection back to what that means for the person reading it, misses the actual reason someone's here, they're trying to decide if this business can help them specifically.
Corporate, impersonal language for what's actually a personal decision. Even a larger business benefits from a genuinely human voice here, since trust is built between people, even when one side is technically a company rather than an individual.
No actual photos, or only generic stock imagery. This directly undermines the "real people" signal the page is supposed to establish in the first place, a stock photo of a stranger in a blazer does the opposite of the trust-building work a real photo would do.
Burying the one thing visitors actually came here to learn. If someone has to read four paragraphs of history before finding out who's actually behind the business or what makes it worth trusting, the structure itself is working against the page's actual purpose.
A Practical Structure That Works
Open with a direct, honest statement of who you are and what you do, in plain language, not a dramatic hook. Follow with the real story of why this business exists, specific enough to feel genuine rather than generic. Include real information about the actual people involved, names, photos, genuine background. Close with what makes this business specifically worth trusting or choosing, stated directly, and a clear next step for a visitor who's now convinced.
Why Authenticity Beats Polish Here Specifically
Unlike a lot of website copy, where more polish is usually straightforwardly better, the About page specifically rewards genuine, slightly imperfect authenticity over an overly polished, corporate voice. A visitor reading this page is looking for real signals of trustworthiness, and language that sounds too rehearsed or too perfectly marketed can actually work against that goal, reading as manufactured rather than genuine.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should an About page actually be? Long enough to genuinely answer who you are, why you exist, and what makes you trustworthy, and no longer than that. A page padded with filler to seem more substantial usually undermines itself, since the padding is exactly the kind of generic language that erodes the authenticity this page depends on.
Should a solo freelancer's About page look different from a company's? The core principles are the same, real specificity, genuine voice, clear differentiation, but a solo freelancer can lean even further into personal authenticity, since there's no need to represent a broader team or corporate structure. A slightly more personal, first-person voice often works better here than it would for a larger company.
Is it worth updating an old About page, or should it just be rewritten from scratch? If the existing page suffers from the common mistakes above, generic language, no real photos, no specific differentiation, a rewrite focused on genuine specificity usually produces a meaningfully better result than trying to patch individual sentences within an already generic structure.
If you want an honest read on whether your own About page is actually building the trust it should, I'm happy to take a look.
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Anas, full-stack Next.js developer building SaaS products and premium templates. X: @ASheikh69751