About us page website: who is behind it

About pages are usually written by someone who already knows the business is real. A stranger arrives from a search or a map with one question: is this a real place, run by people I can reach, that does what I need in my area. A page that opens with a founding story, a list of values and the word passionate answers a different question. The stranger scrolls past it looking for a name, a town and a way to call. Without them they go back to the results, and you never learn the About page was the reason.

• The first screen names the business, the town or area it serves, and what it does.
• A named person runs the business and appears with a role, not only a team called we.
• A street address, a phone number and an email sit on the page, not only behind a contact form.
• The hours and the usual reply time are written where a caller or a writer will see them.
• Every year, count or award on the page can be checked, or it is left off.

Read the top of the About page as a stranger would, with the story hidden. Within one screen, a reader should know who runs the business, what it sells, and where it works. Wrong: We started with a simple belief that everyone deserves good service, followed by a long history. Right: Mara Oduya runs the shop on Elm Street, and she answers the phone herself. The history can follow, because a visitor reads it once they know the business is real.

The tell is the visitor's sentence after the page. A visitor who can say the business name, the town and what it does, in one line, has what they came for. A visitor who says it sounds nice but still does not know who they would pay, or what for, is reading the story instead of the facts. Check that one line with a visitor who arrived from a local search, since that is the reader the page has to serve.

A stranger who wants to hire or buy checks whether they can reach a person, and they check it before they read anything else. A contact form with no phone number and no street address makes a business look like a lead collector rather than a shop. Wrong: a Contact us button that opens a long form and offers no other route. Right: a phone number, an email address and the street address sit on the About page and in the footer, with the hours beside them.

The run shows the step where each visitor stopped, and whether they found the number at all. The test does not call your number, so check it yourself at the hours you wrote down. Make sure a person answers, or that the voicemail says when a call will be returned, because a stranger who reaches an unanswered line may not call again.

Landing page testing

A team photo that is a stock image, or a row of people with no names, reads as decoration. A visitor cannot check a photo, but they can check a name: they can search for it, match it to a listing, and ask the business for a reference. Wrong: Our experienced team of professionals, with a photo of four people in suits. Right: the owner's name and photo, the role, a line about the area served, and any years in the trade you can back with a record.

A new partner joins, the owner moves to another address, or a service changes, and the About page still names the old person. Rerun the path after each change to the people, the address, the hours or the services. With paid credits, visitors can open a site behind a password while the page is still in draft.