How to Write a Killer About Us Page for Your Small Business Website (+ Examples)

Last updated: November 19, 2021

Why most of the About Us pages suck

…aka “5 most common About Us page mistakes”

Most of the About Us pages on business websites can put a prospect to sleep faster than a sleeping pill — a phenomenon that boils down to just a handful avoidable mistakes.

Mistake #1: Self-focused copy

If on your About Us page, you say “we/ours” more often than you say “you/yours”, you lose your prospects’ attention. They don’t care about you. They only care what you can do for them and whether you’ll do a good job.

Mistake #2: The wrong kind of jargon

There are two kinds of jargon:

• The right kind of jargon: Industry terms your prospects understand and use to describe their current situation, problems and desired outcomes. Use it to show your prospects you know and understand their field.
• The wrong kind of jargon: Words and phrases that you think sound “smart” but carry zero value for your prospects (and, if we’re honest, even for you if you come back to read this copy of yours a week after). Kill it with fire 🔥🔥🔥

Want to know if the wrong kind of jargon has infested your About Us page?

Check out the image below. Unlike the usual Bingo, if you find more than 3 phrases that you use on your About Us page, you have a problem.

Mistake #3: No photos of real people

And by “real” I mean “the ones who belong to your company”. Not the one you found on Shutterstock. Not including the images of yourself and/or your team is a lost opportunity to make your prospects like and trust you more.

Mistake #4: No credibility enhancers

Testimonials (better, case studies) belong on the About Us page like on every other sales page. You’re trying to convince your prospects how great you are. But they won’t believe you if all they have is your own words.

Mistake #5: No call to action

Don’t leave your prospects hanging. Offer them a natural option to move further down your sales funnel.

***

Funny story: If this was a real life conversation you had telling someone about your company, none of this would happen. You’d talk using clear and natural language, and you may even brag about your latest success.

So why is it different when you try to explain the same things online?

My guess is because of the misconception you have regarding the purpose of your About Us page.

The purpose of your About Us page is…

NOT to:

• tell them about your mission, values, philosophy or passions
• present them with your CV or tell them your company’s story in every detail
• show them every award and badge you have

The purpose of your About Us page IS:

• reassure your prospects that you’re the right choice
• …by telling them ONLY the things that will make them see you as a likable expert,
• …and do it in a trustworthy way

Meaning, if a piece of info doesn’t make your prospects like and trust you more, or if you make claims you can’t back up, it doesn’t belong on your About Us page (or even your website).

Which brings us to a one million dollar question:

A simple but effective About Us page template

Here’s a super simple but effective About Us page template you can steal:

Page outline:

1. Hero section:
   • Clear page title
   • What/who you are
   • As main selling points as you can weave into a short paragraph
2. Start a conversation:
   • Show your prospects you understand their problems
   • Give them relevant details on who you are and how you work
3. Client logos (only if your prospects know these companies)
4. Testimonials that support your main claims
5. Introduce your team (if applies):
   • Photos
   • Ultra-short bios with relevant details
6. More credibility enhancers:
   • One-two testimonials
   • Or featured case studies + a link to view more case studies
7. Call to action:
   • “View all services”
   • “View my portfolio”
   • “Check out my book”
   • “Download this ebook”
   • “Contact us”, etc.

But every template is only as good as the words you fill it with.

How to uncover the best words to describe your business: 3-step process

Just to clarify: the best words doesn’t mean the fanciest words or the words that sound best. Rather, it’s the words that increase your chances to convince your prospects to hire you (even if these words are “zombie apocalypse” — something you’ll on the About Us page example #3).

Step #1: Find out what eases your prospects’ fears

Think about how your prospects may complete these sentences:

“I didn’t like that the last person/company I worked with was…”

“I’m afraid this person/company will be…”

Now, revert these words to get their positives counterparts. For example:

Step #2: Uncover their expectations

Think about how your prospects may complete this sentence:

“It’s important to me that this person/company is/does…”

For example:

Step #3: Avoid the irrelevant

Unexpected turn of events: Think about how your prospects may complete these sentences:

“It goes without saying that this person/company is…”

For example:

“I don’t believe that this person/company is…”

For example:

“I don’t understand what … means”

For example:

“I don’t care that this person/company…”

For example:

A word of caution: Mind the context

Indeed, very often, your prospects don’t give a rat’s ass don’t care about your philosophy, vision or mission. Or about your or your employees’ hobbies and family situation.

But there are some cases when this info may be important to them.

How to tell?

Just think about whether mentioning it influences the prospects’ buying decision.

For example, the prospects of non-profits or cause-driven companies may care about their philosophy and vision. That’s literally how they select what cause to donate to or what clothes to buy.

And for the prospects of psychiatrists or life coaches, it’s very important to connect with you on a personal level. Which you can help them do by telling them more about your personal life: your past, your family and your interests.

But ok, enough theory. It’s about time to look at some About Us page examples.

About Us page examples for small business websites

Here is a funny thing about selecting “do it like this” examples of web pages.

A page make look and read fine (impressive, even) at the first glance, but actually perform badly. Or look like it was designed in the 90s and written by a 5th grader, but drive leads like crazy.

So, the only way to make sure the About Us page examples I show you also work was to take the pages I wrote myself and for which I have the feedback from the owners.

Example #1: About Us page for an IT company (Crafty Penguins)

Crafty Penguins is a Linux IT consultancy based in Canada. To create their About Us page, I used a very similar outline and the exact same 3-step process to uncover the “best words” described in this article.

If you want to learn more about the strategy behind this page, check out this video.

Try this on your website:

• Add a short text in the banner that describes you/your company filled with adjectives you uncovered during the 3-step process
• To describe your values, create a section “How we work” that consists of 3-4 small subsections around one of your values each
• Add a quote from CEO

Read case study

Example #2: About Us page for a business coach (Rinzen Project)

Tami Irogawa McGonigal is an executive coach, trainer and speaker based in the UK. The challenge of writing her About Us page was to share just the right amount and the right kind of personal information to make sure her prospects can connect with her without boring them / bloating the page with unnecessary details.

Try this on your website:

• Use professional photographs
• Notice how just a couple of custom graphic elements make otherwise super simple design look memorable
• Think about what emotions you’d like your web design theme to evoke. Here, we went with the soothing earth tone on purpose, as Tami’s prospects struggle with a lot of stress and pressure.

Example #3: About Us page for a small software company (Relax Software)

How do you write an About page for something as “exciting” as a piece of financial software?

Turns out, it’s not that difficult. Think about your school times and your favorite teacher who could make the most boring subject exciting. How would he/she write your About Us page?

If you want to learn more about the strategy behind the page I wrote for Relax Software, check out this video.

Try this on your website:

• The more complex your offer, the simpler should your language be
• Use your prospects’ questions as section headings
• Features are as important and can be as exciting as benefits
• Don’t take yourself too seriously

About Us page FAQ

I can’t think of any other questions around About Us page for small business websites at the moment. But maybe you can.

▼