Your About page is usually the second or third most visited page on your website, right after the homepage and your main service or product page. People land there for one reason: they want to know who is behind this business and can I trust them. Yet most About pages answer with three paragraphs of vague corporate language and a stock photo of a handshake.
This guide takes a layout-first approach to how to design an About Us page. Instead of only telling you what to write, we cover what goes above the fold, the order the sections should appear in, how long the page should be, and the structural mistakes that make an About page read like filler.
What an About Us page is actually for
An About page is not a biography. It is a credibility page with a job to do. Visitors arrive with three unspoken questions, and the layout should answer them in this order:
- Are you the right fit for me? (positioning, who you serve)
- Can I trust you? (faces, story, proof, numbers)
- What happens next? (a clear call to action)
Every section you add should serve one of those three questions. If a block does not, cut it. That single rule eliminates about half of the content on a typical About page.
Start with the fold: the first screen decides everything
Before you think about founder stories or team photos, design the first screen. Visitors decide in a few seconds whether to keep scrolling. Your above-the-fold area needs exactly four elements:
- A clear H1 that says who you are and who you help, not just the word “About”
- One or two sentences of plain-language summary (the elevator pitch version of your business)
- A real image: your team, your office, your workshop, your product in use. Never a generic stock photo
- One trust signal: years in business, number of clients, a short client logo row, or a rating
A useful test: if a visitor read only your first screen and left, would they be able to describe your business correctly to a colleague? If not, rewrite it.
Above the fold: do and do not
| Do | Do not |
|---|---|
| “We build booking systems for independent clinics” | “Our mission is to redefine excellence through synergy” |
| Photo of the actual team or workspace | Stock handshake, globe, or abstract gradient |
| One concrete number (clients, years, projects) | Vague claims like “industry leading” |
| A short summary a stranger understands | A wall of text before any visual |
The 8 sections an effective About Us page needs
Here are the eight building blocks, in the order we recommend stacking them. You do not need all eight for every business, but you should consciously decide which ones to skip.
1. Positioning statement (the hero block)
The first block frames everything else. Write it as a single sentence a customer would recognise: what you do, for whom, and the outcome. Keep the headline under 12 words and support it with two lines of context.
Layout tip: use a full-width block with generous white space and a single image. Resist the urge to add navigation cards, counters and testimonials all at once. One idea per screen. salesforce.com has covered this at length.
2. The short version: what we do and who we serve
Right after the hero, give the scannable summary. This is for the 70% of visitors who will not read your founder story. Three to five bullet points work better than a paragraph:
- What you sell or deliver
- Who your typical client is
- Where you operate (city, country, remote)
- What makes your approach different in practical terms
3. The founder or origin story
This is where credibility becomes human. Good origin stories follow a simple arc: the problem you noticed, why the existing options were not good enough, what you decided to build, and where you are now. Keep it to 150 to 250 words.
What makes a story credible is specificity. “We started in 2016 after spending six years fixing the same broken spreadsheet for three different employers” beats “We were founded on a passion for innovation” every time.
Layout tip: place the founder photo next to the text, not above it. A side-by-side layout keeps the block compact and stops the story from feeling like an essay.
4. Team photos and real names
Faces are the single strongest trust element on an About page. Show real people, with real names and real roles. If you are a solo business, one good portrait is enough.
- Use a consistent photo style: same background, same crop, same lighting
- Add role plus one human detail (a specialty, a language spoken, years of experience)
- Link to LinkedIn profiles if you sell B2B services
- For large teams, show 6 to 12 key people and link to a full team page
Common mistake: mixing professional headshots with blurry selfies. Inconsistent photography quietly signals that the business is disorganised.
5. Milestones and numbers
A timeline or a simple stats row converts abstract claims into evidence. Pick numbers you can defend:
- Year founded and key turning points
- Clients or customers served
- Projects delivered, units shipped, tickets resolved
- Team size and locations
- Certifications, partnerships or awards with dates
Layout tip: a horizontal band of three or four large numbers is easier to scan than a vertical timeline. Save the timeline format for businesses with a genuinely interesting history of more than five years. kinsta.com published something useful on the subject.
6. Values and how you actually work
Values sections are the most common source of filler. The fix is to write each value as a behaviour, not an adjective. Compare:
| Filler value | Credible version |
|---|---|
| Transparency | Fixed prices published on the site, no hidden fees on the invoice |
| Customer focus | Every client gets a named contact who answers within one business day |
| Quality | Two-person review on every delivery before it ships |
Three values done well beat six generic ones. If a competitor could copy and paste your values list onto their site without changing a word, it is not doing any work. saaslandingpage.com makes the same point with more data.
7. Social proof: clients, testimonials, press and credentials
Proof belongs on the About page, not only on your landing pages. Use whatever you genuinely have:
- Client logos (with permission) for B2B
- One or two testimonials that mention the people or process, not just the product
- Press mentions, podcast appearances or speaking engagements
- Certifications, memberships, insurance or licences, which matter enormously for trades, health and finance
- Review scores from Google, Trustpilot or your industry platform
Two well-chosen testimonials outperform a carousel of eight. Carousels hide content and most visitors never click through them.
8. The closing call to action
Almost every weak About page ends with nothing. The visitor finished reading, trusts you a little more, and then hits your footer. Give them one obvious next step:
- Book a call or request a quote
- Browse services or shop the collection
- See case studies or portfolio work
- Join the newsletter
- View open positions (if recruiting is a real goal for the page)
Layout tip: use one primary button and at most one secondary link. Add your contact details in text form as well, since some visitors reach the About page looking for a phone number or address.
Recommended section order by business type
The eight sections stay the same, but the order shifts depending on what your audience needs first.
| Position | B2B service company | Ecommerce brand | Solo freelancer or consultant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Positioning + trust signal | Brand promise + product image | Who you help + your portrait |
| 2 | What we do / who we serve | Origin story | Services summary |
| 3 | Team photos | How products are made / sourced | Your story and background |
| 4 | Milestones and numbers | Values in practice | Credentials and experience |
| 5 | Values in practice | Team or founders | Testimonials |
| 6 | Client logos and testimonials | Reviews and press | Selected work |
| 7 | CTA: book a call | CTA: shop now | CTA: get in touch |
Layout rules that make the page feel professional
Content quality matters, but so does structure. These are the layout decisions that separate a credible About page from a cluttered one:
- One idea per section. Each scroll stop should deliver a single message with its own heading.
- Alternate text and visuals. Text-only blocks stacked on top of each other kill scroll depth. Break them with photos, numbers or quotes.
- Keep line length between 60 and 80 characters. Full-width paragraphs on a wide screen are painful to read.
- Use descriptive subheadings. “Our Story” tells the reader nothing. “Why we started building booking software in 2016” tells them whether to read on.
- Design mobile first. More than half of your About page traffic is on a phone. Test that your hero text, founder photo and CTA all work in a narrow column.
- Keep total page weight low. Team photo grids are the usual culprit. Compress images and lazy load everything below the fold.
Should it be one page or an About section?
If you can cover everything in under 1,200 words, use a single page. Create a multi-page About section only when you genuinely have separate audiences to serve, for example:
- About (main story and team)
- Careers (for candidates)
- Press and media kit (for journalists)
- Certifications or compliance (for procurement teams)
In that case, add a small navigation row at the top of the About page linking to the sub-pages, and keep the main page as the hub.
How long should an About Us page be?
There is no universal number, but these ranges work in practice:
| Business type | Target length | Sections to include |
|---|---|---|
| Freelancer or small local business | 300 to 600 words | 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 |
| Growing SME or agency | 600 to 1,000 words | All eight, kept tight |
| Established company with 50+ staff | 800 to 1,200 words plus sub-pages | All eight plus careers and press links |
Length is a symptom, not a goal. Write the sections properly, then cut every sentence that does not answer one of the three visitor questions.
7 mistakes that make About pages read like filler
- Opening with your mission statement. Mission language is abstract. Lead with what you do, then earn the right to talk about why.
- Writing in the third person about yourself. “Sunshined was founded on the belief that…” sounds like a press release. Use “we” and “I”.
- Hiding the faces. No photos of real people is the fastest way to look like a shell company.
- Listing values nobody could disagree with. Honesty, quality and passion are table stakes, not differentiators.
- Stuffing keywords. The About page rarely ranks for commercial terms and does not need to. Write for humans, and keep keyword use to natural mentions in headings and the intro.
- No call to action. A trust page with no next step wastes the trust it just built.
- Letting it go stale. An About page still mentioning a team member who left two years ago, or “celebrating our 5th year” when you are in your ninth, damages credibility more than having no page at all. Review it twice a year.
Technical details worth getting right
- Navigation label: “About” and “About Us” both work. Pick one and use it consistently in the menu, footer and breadcrumbs. Creative labels like “Our DNA” cost you clicks.
- URL: keep it simple, for example /about or /about-us. Do not change an existing URL without a 301 redirect.
- Title tag and meta description: include your brand name and a short descriptor, such as “About Sunshined: web design team based in [city]”.
- Structured data: add Organization schema (name, logo, founding date, address, social profiles) and Person schema for founders. This helps search engines connect your brand entity.
- Image alt text: describe who is in the photo and their role rather than writing “team photo”.
- Internal links: link out to services, case studies, careers and contact. The About page is a great hub for distributing internal link equity.
Pre-publish checklist
- A stranger can describe your business after reading only the first screen
- At least one photo of real people appears above the fold or immediately below it
- Every value is written as a behaviour, with an example
- All numbers and dates are current as of 2026
- Each section has a descriptive heading, not a generic one
- There is exactly one primary CTA, plus contact details in text
- The page loads fast on mobile and all images are compressed
- Names and roles match your LinkedIn and Google Business profiles
FAQ
What should be included on an About Us page?
At minimum: a clear statement of what you do and who you serve, a short origin story, photos and names of the people involved, some form of proof (numbers, testimonials, certifications or client logos), and a call to action. Values, milestones and press mentions strengthen the page when they are specific.
What does a good About page look like?
It looks like a well-structured landing page rather than a document. Short blocks, one idea per section, real photography, scannable subheadings, concrete numbers, and an obvious next step at the bottom. You should be able to understand the business from the headings alone.
How do I design an About Me page as a solo business owner?
Use the same structure, compressed. Lead with who you help and your portrait, add a short professional story that explains how you got here, list your credentials and experience, include one or two client quotes, and finish with a contact CTA. Aim for 300 to 500 words.
Where should the About page sit in my navigation?
In the main menu, usually after your services or products. Also link to it from the footer and from your homepage, ideally from a short “who we are” teaser block.
Should the About page be optimised for keywords?
Lightly. Use your brand name, your category and your location naturally in the H1, intro and title tag. The About page mainly earns brand and navigational searches, so trust and clarity matter far more than keyword density.
How often should I update it?
Review it every six months, and immediately after any team change, funding round, award, new office or rebrand. Outdated information is the most common credibility leak on About pages.
Putting it together
Knowing how to design an About Us page comes down to treating it as a conversion page with a trust job, not a formality. Decide the order of your sections before you write a word, put clarity and a real face above the fold, replace adjectives with evidence, and close with one clear next step.
If you would like a second opinion on your current About page, or you want one designed and built properly, get in touch with our team and we will review your layout section by section.