Most business owners underestimate the About page.
They treat it like a formality. A place to include a few lines about when the company started, what services it offers, and maybe a vague statement about quality, integrity and customer service.
That is a missed opportunity.
For construction, trades and industrial businesses, the About page can be one of the most important trust-building pages on the website. It is where potential clients go when they want to know who is behind the business. They may have already looked at your services, viewed your projects or read a few reviews, but at some point they want to understand the people, values and experience behind the work.
They are not just looking for a company history.
They are looking for confidence.
They want to know whether your business feels credible, stable and easy to deal with. They want to know whether you understand their world. They want to know whether there are real people behind the brand who care about the outcome.
That is why your About page should do more than tell your story. It should help people trust you.
Most About pages are too generic
A lot of About pages sound almost identical.
They say the business is committed to quality. They talk about customer satisfaction. They mention years of experience. They might say the team is passionate, reliable and professional.
None of that is necessarily wrong. The problem is that it is too broad. It does not tell the reader much that is specific, memorable or useful.
If someone could take your About page, swap your business name with a competitor’s name and the page still works, the content is probably not strong enough.
A good About page should feel like it belongs to your business and no one else.
It should explain why the business exists, what it values, what kind of work it is best suited for, what clients can expect and why the team can be trusted. It should not be full of empty statements. It should make your standards visible.
This is especially important in industries where clients are making high-trust decisions. When someone is choosing a builder, subcontractor, supplier, consultant or industrial service provider, they are not only assessing capability. They are also assessing risk.
Will this business be professional?
Will they communicate properly?
Will they take responsibility?
Will they understand the pressures of the job?
Will they be around when needed?
An About page can help answer those questions.
People want to know who they are dealing with
There is a temptation in business to hide behind corporate language.
This often happens when a company wants to appear bigger, more established or more polished. The website becomes formal and safe. The wording becomes vague. The people behind the business almost disappear.
But in an AI age, and in a market full of generic content, this can actually work against you.
People want to know who they are dealing with. That does not mean your website needs to become overly personal or casual. It simply means your business should feel real.
If the company was started by someone with deep industry experience, say that. If the team has a particular way of working, explain it. If the business has grown because of repeat work and referrals, that is worth mentioning. If there are values that genuinely shape decisions, make them concrete.
For example, instead of saying “we value quality”, explain what quality means in your business. Does it mean better planning before site works begin? Does it mean tighter communication with builders and project managers? Does it mean investing in skilled people? Does it mean refusing to cut corners when timelines are tight?
The more specific you are, the more believable your message becomes.
Trust is built through detail.
Your story should serve the client
A strong About page is not just a biography.
It should connect your story to the client’s needs.
This is where many businesses get the balance wrong. Some say almost nothing about themselves. Others go too far the other way and make the page entirely inward-looking. They write a long company history but forget to explain why any of it matters to the client.
The best About pages do both.
They tell the reader where the business has come from, but they also explain what that means for the people the business serves.
If you have been operating for decades, that history should point to reliability, experience and long-term relationships. If you are a newer business with a highly experienced team, the focus might be on energy, responsiveness and specialist capability. If you are family-owned, the story might highlight accountability, pride and personal involvement. If you have grown through referrals, that can show trust and consistency.
The key is to avoid telling your story as if it exists in isolation.
Your reader is always asking, “What does this mean for me?”
Your About page should answer that.
Show the people behind the work
Team profiles can make a major difference to how a business is perceived.
In construction and industrial sectors, relationships matter. Clients often want to know who they will be speaking with, who is managing the work and who is responsible for the outcome. A faceless business can feel harder to trust, even if the work itself is strong.
This does not mean every team member needs a long biography. But showing key people can make the business feel more credible and approachable.
A useful team profile might include the person’s role, experience, area of expertise and what they help clients with. It can also include a small human detail if it feels natural. The goal is not to be quirky for the sake of it. The goal is to help the reader understand the capability and character of the team.
Photos matter too.
Real team photos are usually stronger than stock images. They show that there are actual people behind the business. They give the website more authenticity. They help potential clients feel more familiar with the company before making contact.
This can be particularly powerful for founder-led businesses. When the owner or leadership team is visible, it can create confidence. It shows accountability. It shows pride. It shows that someone is willing to stand behind the work.
Values need evidence
Many About pages include a list of values.
Integrity.
Quality.
Innovation.
Reliability.
Safety.
Service.
There is nothing wrong with these ideas, but they become weak when they are presented as generic words without explanation.
If values matter to your business, show how they appear in practice.
If safety is a core value, explain how it shapes planning, training or site behaviour. If communication is important, explain how you keep clients informed. If quality matters, explain what checks, processes or standards support it. If reliability is part of your reputation, explain how your team manages deadlines, suppliers or project expectations.
Values should not feel like decoration.
They should help a potential client understand how your business behaves.
This is where an About page can become genuinely persuasive. Not because it claims the business has values, but because it shows how those values affect the client experience.
A serious client is not impressed by the word “integrity” on its own. They are impressed when they can see that the business is structured to act with integrity.
Positioning belongs on your About page too
Your About page should also reinforce your positioning.
If your business wants to be known for high-end residential work, commercial construction, industrial supply, civil capability, specialist subcontracting or technical expertise, the About page should support that message.
This does not mean repeating your homepage. It means giving more depth to the story behind the positioning.
Why is this the type of work you focus on?
What experience led you there?
What kinds of clients do you work best with?
What standards do you bring to that work?
What makes your team suited to those projects?
If your positioning is clear across the site but the About page is vague, the trust-building opportunity is weakened. The About page should help people understand not only what you do, but why you are well suited to do it.
This also helps filter enquiries.
When the About page clearly communicates who the business is, what it values and where it does its best work, potential clients can more easily decide whether the fit is right.
That saves time for everyone.
A good About page supports the sales conversation
Your About page should help make the sales process easier.
Before someone enquires, they may already be forming an opinion about your business. They might be comparing you with competitors. They might be checking whether you seem experienced enough. They might be looking for signs that you understand their type of project.
A strong About page gives them reasons to feel more comfortable.
It can help explain your background, your team, your approach and your standards before the first conversation happens. It can also give the sales team useful language to build on. Instead of starting from scratch, the conversation begins with a level of familiarity.
This is especially helpful when the decision involves multiple stakeholders. One person might find your business, then send the website to someone else for review. In that situation, your About page needs to build trust even when you are not in the room.
It should help tell the story clearly enough that others can understand why your business deserves consideration.
That is the commercial value of good content.
What a strong About page should include
A strong About page does not need to be complicated, but it does need to be intentional.
It should usually include a clear introduction to the business, a short explanation of who you serve, your relevant experience, your approach to the work, your values in practice, key team members, proof points and a clear next step.
The page should also sound like your business. Not like a template. Not like a committee wrote it. Not like generic AI content.
It should be professional, but still human.
For some businesses, the story may be about decades of experience and long-standing relationships. For others, it may be about specialist knowledge, a more modern approach or a founder who saw a better way to serve the market.
There is no single formula that works for everyone. The point is to make the page specific enough that it could only belong to your business.
That is what makes it trustworthy.
AI can help shape the page, but it needs your real story
AI can be useful when writing an About page, but only if it is given the right material.
If you ask AI to write an About page from a vague prompt, it will usually produce vague content. It may sound professional, but it will not carry much weight. It will talk about commitment, excellence, customer satisfaction and tailored solutions because that is the kind of language it has seen everywhere.
To get a better result, you need to feed it real information.
Why was the business started?
What work are you best known for?
What do clients appreciate about your team?
What problems do you solve better than most?
What do you believe about doing the work properly?
What has shaped your standards?
What type of client do you want more of?
What proof do you have?
Those answers give AI something useful to work with. It can help organise the story, improve the flow and make the message clearer. But the substance still needs to come from you.
Your About page should not be an invented brand story.
It should be a clearer expression of what is already true.
Your About page is a trust page
It might be called an About page, but its real job is trust.
It should help people understand the business behind the services. It should make your team more visible. It should explain your standards. It should support your positioning. It should give potential clients more confidence before they enquire.
In a market full of generic claims and AI-generated content, this matters more than ever.
People do not only want to know what you do. They want to know who they are dealing with, how you think and whether they can trust you with the outcome.
Your About page is one of the best places to show that.
So do not treat it as a throwaway company history.
Use it to make your business more human, more credible and easier to choose.