What should a small business put on its About page — and what to leave off
Most small-business About pages fail quietly. Nobody complains about them. Visitors just leave.
We've rebuilt enough Australian small-business sites to know the pattern. The owner sits down to write about themselves, and out comes something that reads like a job application crossed with a motivational poster. Years of experience. A passion for excellence. A commitment to quality. None of it is untrue. None of it helps a stranger decide whether to pick up the phone.
Here's what most owners miss: nobody visits your About page to admire you. They visit because they're already half-interested and want reassurance. They're checking whether you're a real business, whether you do the job they need, and whether contacting you will be a hassle or a regret. Your About page has one job — to answer those questions before doubt creeps in.
Start with who you help, not your life story
Open almost any tradie's About page and you'll find a paragraph about how the business started in 2009, how it grew, and how proud the founder is of the team. That's fine as background. It's a poor opening.
A visitor from Brisbane looking for a plumber doesn't care about your origin story yet. They care whether you fix blocked drains in their suburb, whether you turn up on time, and whether the job will be done properly. Lead with that.
One line does more work than a whole history section. "We're a family-run plumbing team serving Brisbane's north side, and most of our week is blocked drains, hot water systems, and bathroom renovations." Now the visitor knows, in seconds, that they're in the right place. Your story can come after that, in a few lines, once you've earned their attention.
Say what makes you safe to call
This is the part most About pages skip entirely, and it's the part that actually wins work. People aren't just comparing services. They're managing risk. They've all heard a story about a tradesperson who never came back, a salon that botched a cut, or a shop that took payment and went quiet.
So tell them, concretely, what dealing with you looks like. Do you reply within a business day? Do you give a written quote before starting? Are you licensed and insured? Do you show up when you say you will? These sound boring. They're exactly what a nervous first-time customer wants to hear.
Photos help here more than adjectives do. A real photo of your team, your shopfront, or your work beats a stock image every time. People trust faces and places they can picture.
Keep the history short, and make it mean something
Your story still belongs on the page. Just keep it tight. Three or four sentences is usually plenty: where you started, why you started, and what you still care about doing well. That's it.
The test is simple. Does this sentence help a stranger trust you, or does it just fill space? "I started cutting hair in my mum's garage at sixteen and opened my own salon in Geelong eight years ago" passes the test. It tells you something real. "We are passionate about delivering exceptional experiences through innovative solutions" fails it, because it could belong to any business on earth.
What to leave off
A few things actively hurt an About page, and we see them constantly.
First, the mission statement. If it sounds like it belongs on a corporate poster, it doesn't belong on your page. Your customers don't need your vision for the industry. They need to know whether you can fix their problem this week.
Second, jargon. "Holistic wellness solutions" means nothing to someone with a sore back looking for a physio. Say "we treat back pain, sports injuries, and post-surgery rehab." Plain language is not dumbing down. It's respecting the reader's time.
Third, anything you can't stand behind. Don't claim twenty years if it's twelve. Don't show a team photo of people who no longer work there. Small businesses live on word of mouth, and one visitor who catches an exaggeration will remember it longer than the page itself.
And finally, a dead end. An About page that finishes without telling the visitor what to do next wastes the trust it just built. They've decided they like you — don't leave them hunting for your phone number. Put a clear next step right there, at the bottom of the page.
A simple structure that works
If you're staring at a blank page, use this order and fill in your own details: who you help and what you do, in one or two sentences. How working with you actually goes — quotes, timing, what to expect. A short version of your story, only the parts that build trust. A real photo of you, your team, or your premises. Then a clear next step.
That's the whole page. It doesn't need to be long. It needs to be true, specific, and easy to skim.
The About pages that bring in enquiries sound like a real person talking to a real customer, not a business talking about itself. Write it that way, read it out loud, and cut anything that sounds like it came from a template.
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