Proof, Not a Potted History: Rethinking Your About Page for UK Customers

Most small business About pages start in the same place: a paragraph about how the owner got into the trade, a mention of a childhood hobby, and a promise to be passionate about customer service. Fair enough. It is nice to know there is a real person behind the website. But when a customer clicks that page, they are usually not settling in for a biography. They are quietly asking a much more practical question: can I trust this lot with my money, my time, my home or my project?

That is the job your About page has to do. Not in a corporate way. Not with a load of jargon about bespoke solutions and end-to-end synergies. Just with enough proof, process and plain-English reassurance that a sensible person feels comfortable getting in touch.

The question behind the click

Imagine someone has found you through Google, a recommendation or a local Facebook group. They have seen your homepage. They are interested. Now they are doing the normal bit of homework: who are these people, and what happens if I ring them?

They might be wondering whether you will turn up when you say you will. Whether you have done this kind of job before. Whether they will be dealing with you or a rotating cast of subcontractors. Whether your quote is going to be clear. Whether you are insured. Whether you will disappear halfway through.

An About page that answers those questions is worth ten paragraphs about how much you love what you do. The good news is that you do not need to be a brilliant writer to make it work. You just need to stop thinking of it as an autobiography and start treating it as a trust page.

Swap the life story for a working history

Personal detail is not banned. A line about why you started the business can be genuinely useful, especially if it explains how you work now. It also helps people remember you. But keep it short and make it earn its place.

Instead of a full career timeline, try a working history. What have you actually done? How long have you been doing it? What kinds of customers or projects do you know well? Do you have relevant qualifications, trade body memberships, public liability insurance, or a DBS check if you work in people's homes? Those details are not boring. To a customer, they are proof that you are a real business and not a bloke with a van and a hopeful attitude.

This is especially important for sole traders and very small firms. You do not need to sound bigger than you are. You just need to make the useful facts easy to find. A short section headed something like 'What you can expect from us' or 'How we work' will do more for you than a paragraph headed 'Our story' that never quite gets to the point.

Show the process, not just the promise

Customers are often less nervous about the work itself than about the unknown. What happens after they send an enquiry? Will they get a reply? Will someone visit? How long does a quote take? When do they need to pay a deposit? Who do they contact if something changes?

A simple process section is one of the most underused bits of a small business website. It does not need to be fancy. Three or four steps are plenty:

• You get in touch by phone, email or the contact form.
• We have a quick chat and, if needed, arrange a visit.
• You get a clear written quote with what is included and what is not.
• We agree a date and keep you posted as the work goes on.

That is already more reassuring than a paragraph saying you pride yourself on communication. It shows it. For service businesses, you can add how long a typical job takes, what areas you cover, and whether you work evenings or weekends. For creative firms, you can explain how many rounds of changes are included and what you need from the client at each stage.

Put proof in the room

Proof does not have to mean a wall of logos or a page full of five-star reviews. It means giving the customer something concrete to hold on to. Photos of finished work, a short case study, a testimonial with the client's permission, a before-and-after shot, or a simple line like 'we have fitted more than 40 kitchens across south Manchester' can all do the job.

Just make sure it is real, current and relevant. A testimonial from 2018 is not useless, but a recent one is better. A photo of a beautiful project is great, but a photo that shows the messy middle of a job can be even more convincing because it shows you actually do the work. If you are a one-person business, say so. Some customers specifically want the person they spoke to on the phone to be the person who turns up. That is a selling point, not a weakness.

Write like a human, not a brochure

The quickest way to make an About page feel false is to fill it with phrases that could belong to any business in the UK. 'We are passionate about delivering bespoke solutions.' 'Customer satisfaction is at the heart of everything we do.' 'We pride ourselves on our attention to detail.' None of that tells the customer anything they can use.

Try answering the questions a customer would actually ask. What do you do? Who do you do it for? What makes you different in a way they would notice? What happens if they get in touch? What do you need from them? Write the answers in short sentences, in the first person, and read them aloud. If they sound like a human being talking to another human being, you are on the right track.

A quick checklist for your About page

Before you publish, run through this list:

• The first screen says what you do and who you do it for.
• There is at least one piece of proof: experience, qualifications, insurance, photos or reviews.
• The page explains who will actually do the work or handle the enquiry.
• There is a short, clear process for what happens next.
• The writing sounds like you, not a template.
• Contact details are easy to find without scrolling to the bottom.
• Any personal details are there because they help the customer, not because you felt obliged to include them.
• The page has been checked by someone who is not you, ideally someone who knows nothing about the business.

The one-line test

Here is a simple test. Read the first two paragraphs of your About page and ask whether they could belong to any similar business in the country. If the answer is yes, rewrite them with specifics. Name the type of customer you help. Mention the area you cover. Add a detail that only your business could say.

The About page is not really about you. It is about giving a customer enough confidence to choose you. Keep it honest, keep it useful, and keep it short enough that they actually read it. That is a much better use of the page than a potted history nobody asked for.