Chase Boulay · July 26, 2026

What Your About Page Should Actually Say

I walked into a nail salon in Cranston a few weeks ago. Nice place, busy, clearly doing well. I pulled up their website on my phone while I waited to talk to the owner, and I clicked over to the About page.

Here's what it said, word for word: "Welcome to [business name]. We are passionate about providing quality service to each and every one of our clients. Our team of dedicated professionals strives to deliver an exceptional experience."

I have seen that exact paragraph, or something so close it doesn't matter, on probably forty websites across Providence, Pawtucket, Warwick, and Federal Hill. Sometimes it says "solutions" instead of "service." Sometimes it says "committed to excellence" instead of "dedicated professionals." But it's the same thing. It tells me nothing. It could be any business, anywhere, selling anything.

Your About page is not supposed to be a mission statement. Nobody is reading your website looking for your values. They are looking for a reason to trust you with their money. Those are different things, and most About pages miss this entirely.

Start With What You Do and Where, Not Your Story

Here's something most people don't realize. The first sentence of your About page is probably the most important sentence on your entire website after your homepage headline. That's because a lot of people land on About pages from Google, from a referral, or because they skipped straight past your homepage. They don't know who you are yet.

So the first thing your About page should do is answer: what is this place and where is it?

Not "We were founded in 2009 with a vision to transform the beauty industry." Not "Our journey began when founder Maria decided to pursue her passion." That stuff can come later, if at all. Start with something like: "Tony's Auto is a family-run repair shop in Pawtucket. We've been fixing cars on this street for 14 years."

Done. I know what you are, I know where you are, I know you're not some pop-up operation. Now you have my attention.

What to do: Write your first sentence like you're answering a stranger who asked "so what do you do?" Lead with what, where, and how long.

Put Your Name On It

People trust people, not businesses. This is especially true for small local businesses where the owner is the business.

I can't tell you how many About pages I've seen that say "our team" or "our staff" and never tell me who actually owns the place, who I'm handing money to, who I'm calling when something goes wrong. It feels corporate when it should feel personal.

If you're a solo operator or a small shop, put your name front and center. "My name is Lisa. I've been cutting hair in Providence for eleven years." That one sentence builds more trust than three paragraphs of brand language.

This is hard for some people because it feels like bragging or it feels exposed. But think about it from the customer's side. When someone new walks into your shop, you introduce yourself. Your website should do the same thing.

What to do: Put your name in the first or second paragraph. If you have a small team, name the people. Don't hide behind "our professionals."

Photos Do More Work Than Words

A wall of text on an About page is a wall people walk around. Real photos stop people.

Not stock photos. Not those images of a smiling woman in a blazer pointing at a whiteboard that you can find on every generic business website. I mean photos of you, your shop, your work, your actual space. A photo of your storefront on Atwells Avenue tells me more in half a second than two paragraphs of copy.

If you're a barber, I want to see you cutting hair. If you run a restaurant, I want to see the kitchen, the dining room, the food on the plate. If you're a contractor, show me a before and after from a job you're proud of. Real photos make people feel like they've already been there before they walk through the door.

I know not everyone has professional photos. A decent shot from a modern phone in good light beats a stock photo every single time. Don't wait until you can afford a photographer. Take something real and put it on your page today.

What to do: Add at least one photo of yourself and one photo of your space or your work. Real over perfect, every time.

Mention How Long You've Been Around and Whether You're Local

Longevity matters to people. If you've been in Warwick for nine years, that's not a small thing. Say it plainly. It signals that you pay your bills, that customers keep coming back, that you're not going anywhere.

Same with being local. "Born and raised in Providence" or "I live two miles from this shop" carries real weight with people who are specifically trying to support businesses in their community. You don't need to write a paragraph about it. One sentence does the job.

What you don't need to include is a full origin story. "It all started when I was a kid watching my grandfather work in his garage..." Look, that's a fine story to tell someone over coffee. On a website, people are scanning for reasons to trust you or reasons to leave. A three-paragraph origin story is a reason to leave.

What to do: One sentence on how long you've been operating. One sentence on your local connection if it's genuine. Then move on.

Skip the Values Section

This one is hard to hear, but it's true. Nobody reads the values section. Nobody has ever decided to hire a plumber because their About page listed "integrity, quality, and customer satisfaction" as core values.

Every business claims those same values. They mean nothing because they cost nothing to write. If you actually have integrity, it shows up in your reviews, in how you handle a complaint, in whether you call people back when you say you will. You can't write your way to trust. You demonstrate it.

If you feel like you need a values section, ask yourself: am I writing this for customers, or am I writing it because I've seen it on other websites and it seems like the thing to do? Be honest. Nine times out of ten it's the second one.

Cut it. Use that space for something that actually helps people make a decision.

What to do: Delete the values section. If you want to communicate trustworthiness, link to your Google reviews instead. Speaking of which, if you haven't worked on getting more reviews, that's worth your time — read how to get more Google reviews.

Keep It Short

The About page is not your life story. It's a handshake.

Most people who land on your About page are already interested. They want a quick confirmation that you're real, you're local, you know what you're doing, and they can reach you. They don't need four hundred words to get there.

A strong About page can be three short paragraphs and a photo. That's it. Introduce yourself, say what you do and where, say how long you've been at it, and make it easy to contact you. Done.

The longer you make it, the more you're betting that people will stick around and read. Most won't. Say what matters in the first hundred words and trust that the rest of your site will fill in the gaps.

What to do: Write your About page, then cut it by a third. Read what's left. If you can cut it again, do it.

Make Sure There's a Next Step

A lot of About pages just end. The text stops, and the person reading it has nowhere to go.

At the end of your About section, give people somewhere to go. A phone number. A link to your services. A button that says "Book an Appointment" or "Call Us." Whatever the next logical step is for your business, it should be right there when someone finishes reading.

This is especially true on mobile, where most people are reading your site. If someone is on their phone and they like what they read, they should be able to tap a button and call you in two seconds. Click-to-call is the most important feature on a small business website, and your About page needs it as much as your homepage does.

What to do: End your About page with a clear call to action. Phone number, button, contact link — something. Don't let people finish reading and wander off.

The Bottom Line

Your About page has one job: give someone who doesn't know you yet a reason to trust you enough to reach out. A name, a face, a real photo, how long you've been doing this, and where you are does that. A paragraph about your passion for quality does not.

If your About page currently says something like "We are passionate about providing quality service to each and every client," go change it today. It's taking up space that could be doing real work for you.

The good news is this is one of the fastest fixes on any website. Twenty minutes and you'll have something ten times better than what most businesses in Rhode Island are working with right now.