The About Page Is Not About You
The most effective about pages answer one question for the visitor: “Can I trust these people to solve my problem?” That means your about page is not really about your company history, your office dog, or the year you were founded. It is about giving a potential buyer enough credible evidence to move forward with confidence. When we audit websites for mid-market B2B companies, the about page is consistently one of the top five most visited pages, yet it is almost always the weakest in terms of trust-building content. Most read like a corporate timeline or a vague mission statement that could belong to any company in any industry. That is a wasted opportunity.
An about page that builds trust does three things well. It positions your company as a credible solution to the reader’s specific problem. It provides proof that you have delivered results before. And it introduces the people behind the work in a way that makes them real and accountable. Get those three elements right and your about page becomes one of the hardest-working pages on your entire site.
Why About Pages Matter More Than Most Teams Realise
In B2B buying journeys, the about page typically sits in the evaluation and validation phase. Someone has already seen your homepage, maybe browsed a service page or read a case study. Now they want to know who is behind the offer. They are checking whether you are a real company with real people and a real track record. This is not idle curiosity. It is due diligence.
Analytics from our client projects consistently show the about page ranking in the top three to five pages by traffic volume, and it frequently appears in conversion paths before a contact form submission or demo request. If your about page fails to build confidence at this stage, the visitor does not come back and try again. They leave and continue evaluating your competitors.
The challenge is that most about pages are written internally, by people who are too close to the company to see it through a buyer’s eyes. The result is content that prioritises what the company wants to say rather than what the prospect needs to hear. Fixing this single misalignment is often enough to transform the page from a liability into a genuine trust asset.
Start With the Reader’s Problem, Not Your Origin Story
The opening of your about page should acknowledge why the reader is here and what they are trying to solve. This is not the place for “Founded in 2007, we are a leading provider of…” That sentence tells the reader nothing useful and sounds identical to every other company in your space.
Instead, open with a statement that demonstrates you understand the reader’s world. For example, a cybersecurity firm might open with: “Most mid-market companies know they need better security, but they are stuck between enterprise solutions they cannot afford and lightweight tools that will not protect them.” That single sentence tells the reader: these people understand my situation. It earns three more seconds of attention, which is enough to keep them scrolling.
Once you have established that you understand the problem, then you can introduce your company as the entity that solves it. The sequence matters. Problem first, company second. This is not a gimmick. It mirrors how trust actually develops in professional relationships. You trust someone more when they demonstrate they understand your situation before they start talking about themselves.
A Simple Opening Framework
We recommend clients structure their about page opening in three short paragraphs:
- Paragraph one: Name the problem or frustration your ideal buyers experience.
- Paragraph two: Explain why that problem persists (what makes it hard to solve).
- Paragraph three: Introduce your company as the team that was built specifically to address this challenge, and state what makes your approach different.
This framework works because it earns the right to talk about your company by first proving you understand what the reader cares about. It typically takes 80 to 120 words and replaces the generic corporate introduction that most companies default to.
Proof Belongs on the About Page, Not Just the Case Studies Section
One of the biggest missed opportunities we see is treating the about page as a proof-free zone. Companies load their case study pages with metrics and testimonials, then write an about page that contains zero evidence of actual results. This is a structural mistake because many visitors will see your about page but never click through to a dedicated case study.
Your about page should contain at least two to three pieces of embedded proof. These do not need to be full case studies. They can be:
- Headline metrics: “We have helped 140+ B2B companies increase qualified pipeline by an average of 35%.”
- Client logos: A small grid of recognisable logos from companies you have worked with, with permission.
- Short testimonial quotes: Two or three sentences from a named individual at a real company, positioned next to relevant claims.
- Years of experience or project volume: Specific numbers that anchor your credibility, such as “Our team has delivered over 300 website projects since 2015.”
The key word is specific. “We have extensive experience” means nothing. “We have completed 47 platform migrations for SaaS companies in the last three years” means everything. Specificity is the language of trust. Vagueness is the language of companies that have something to hide, or nothing to show.
This principle of weaving proof into every important page is something we cover in depth in our content and proof systems guide, and it applies to the about page just as much as it does to service pages or the homepage.
Show the People Behind the Company
B2B buyers do not buy from logos. They buy from people. Yet a surprising number of about pages either hide the team entirely or present them as a wall of identical headshots with job titles and nothing else. Both approaches fail to build trust because they prevent the reader from forming any sense of who they would actually be working with.
An effective team section on the about page includes three elements for each person shown:
A real photo. Not a stock image, not a cartoon avatar. A professional but natural-looking photograph where the person looks approachable. This does not require a studio shoot. A well-lit photo taken on a modern phone in a clean setting works fine. The point is to show a real human face, because humans are hardwired to assess trustworthiness through facial recognition.
A role description that explains what they do for clients. “Director of Client Strategy” is a job title. “Leads the discovery process for new clients, ensuring the project brief captures what actually matters for revenue growth” is a role description. The second version tells the reader something useful about how this person would contribute to their project.
A short credibility marker. This could be a previous company they worked at, a relevant qualification, a notable project they led, or the number of years they have worked in the field. One sentence is enough. The goal is to give the reader a reason to believe this person knows what they are doing.
How Many Team Members to Show
You do not need to feature every employee. For companies with 10 to 50 people, showing the leadership team and the people clients interact with directly is usually the right balance. For smaller teams of under 10, showing everyone can work well and reinforces the sense that this is a tight, senior group. The mistake is showing 40 headshots in a grid with no context. That is a yearbook, not a trust signal.
Write a Values Section That Actually Says Something
Most company values sections are interchangeable. Integrity. Innovation. Excellence. Collaboration. These words appear on thousands of about pages across every industry, and they communicate absolutely nothing because no company would claim the opposite. Nobody puts “We lack integrity and resist innovation” on their website. When every company says the same thing, the words lose all meaning.
If you want to include values on your about page, make them specific, behavioural, and ideally a little bit polarising. A good value statement is one that a reasonable company might disagree with. That is how you know it actually stands for something.
For example, “We do not start design until content is written and approved” is a value that many agencies would disagree with. It tells the reader something real about how you work. “We turn down projects where the client will not give us access to their sales team” is another. It signals confidence and a specific methodology. These kinds of statements build trust precisely because they are not safe corporate platitudes. They reveal how you actually operate, and they help the reader self-select.
If your values are genuinely generic, it is better to skip the values section entirely than to include one that makes you look like every other company in your market.
Tell Your Origin Story in Two Paragraphs, Not Ten
Some readers do want to know how the company started. There is real trust-building power in a founder story, especially if it explains what problem you saw and why you decided to solve it differently. The problem is length. Most company histories are far too long and far too internally focused.
The ideal company origin section is two short paragraphs. The first explains what you observed in the market that prompted you to start or evolve the business. The second explains the core belief or methodology that emerged from that observation. That is it. You are not writing an autobiography. You are giving the reader just enough context to understand why you exist and what drives your approach.
A useful test: read your origin story and ask whether it would change the reader’s perception of your capabilities or approach. If it is just a timeline of events with no insight, cut it. If it reveals a genuine perspective on how your industry should work, keep it and tighten it.
Structure the Page for Scanners and Readers
Your about page will be read in two different ways. Some visitors will read every word from top to bottom. Others will scroll quickly, scanning headings, bold text, photos, and proof elements. The page needs to work for both audiences.
For scanners, make sure the key trust signals are visually prominent. Client logos, team photos, headline metrics, and testimonial quotes should be visible without needing to read any body copy. If a scanner reaches the bottom of your about page and has seen recognisable logos, real faces, and a specific results metric, they have absorbed enough to form a positive impression.
For readers, ensure the copy flows logically from problem to positioning to proof to people. Each section should build on the previous one. Avoid jumping between topics or repeating the same claim in different words. Use clear, descriptive subheadings so that readers who pause and return can quickly find where they left off.
From a layout perspective, break the page into distinct visual sections. A full-width image or colour block between sections helps the eye track progress down the page. Avoid one continuous column of text with no visual markers. The about page often contains 500 to 1,000 words of copy, and without visual structure, that amount of text becomes a wall that discourages engagement.
Common Mistakes That Destroy Trust
Knowing what to include is only half the challenge. You also need to avoid the errors that actively undermine credibility. These are the ones we see most frequently when auditing about pages for clients.
Stock Photography as a Substitute for Real Images
Visitors can spot stock photos instantly, especially the “diverse team laughing in a glass-walled conference room” variety. Using stock imagery on your about page sends the message that you either do not have a real team to show, or you did not care enough to photograph them. If you use stock photos on your about page, you are actively eroding the trust you are trying to build. Take real photos. It takes an afternoon, not a budget.
Unsubstantiated Superlatives
“We are the leading provider of…” is a claim that requires evidence. If you cannot back it up with a specific metric, ranking, or third-party validation, do not say it. Readers are sceptical of any company that calls itself “leading” or “best-in-class” without proof. It reads as insecurity dressed up as confidence. Replace superlatives with specifics. Instead of “industry-leading customer satisfaction,” say “Our average client NPS score over the last 12 months is 72.”
No Clear Indication of Who You Serve
An about page that could apply to any company in any industry fails to build trust with anyone specific. If you serve mid-market SaaS companies, say so. If your sweet spot is professional services firms with 50 to 200 employees, name that. Specificity about your ideal client signals expertise. Generality signals desperation. Buyers trust specialists more than generalists, and your about page is where that specialism should be unmistakable.
Burying or Omitting Contact Information
If someone reads your about page and decides they want to talk to you, they should not have to hunt for a way to reach you. Include a clear path to contact at the bottom of the about page. This is not a call to action in the marketing sense. It is basic usability. A phone number, an email address, or a visible link to your contact page. Making it hard to reach you after building trust is like shaking someone’s hand and then locking the door.
The About Page Is a Living Document
One of the reasons about pages stagnate is that teams treat them as a “set and forget” page. You write it during the website project, approve it, and never touch it again. Two years later, the team has changed, the client list has grown, and the company’s positioning has evolved, but the about page still reflects where you were, not where you are.
We advise clients to review their about page quarterly, with a specific checklist:
- Are the team members shown still current? Has anyone joined or left who should be added or removed?
- Are the proof elements still your best examples? New logos, better metrics, and stronger testimonials should replace older ones.
- Does the opening still accurately describe the problem you solve and the market you serve?
- Are the specific numbers still accurate? Project counts, years of experience, and client figures need updating.
This review takes 30 to 60 minutes and ensures the page remains an accurate and compelling representation of your company. Outdated proof is worse than no proof at all, because it signals that the company has stopped paying attention to its own credibility.
What to Do Next
Pull up your current about page and read it as if you were a prospective buyer who has never heard of your company. Ask yourself: after reading this page, do I know what problem they solve, who they solve it for, whether they have done it before, and who I would be working with? If any of those questions remain unanswered, you have a gap that is costing you trust and, very likely, costing you deals. Start by rewriting your opening paragraph to lead with the reader’s problem, add two or three specific proof points, and replace any stock photography with real images of your team. Those three changes alone will put your about page ahead of 90% of your competitors.
