About Pages: What Visitors Need to Understand About the People Behind the Business

An About page should help visitors understand who is responsible for the business, who will do the work and what makes their experience relevant. A founder’s story can support those answers, but a visitor should not have to reconstruct the present business from a biography or a wall of values.

The useful starting point is the relationship someone is considering. They may be choosing a freelance designer, comparing specialist workshops or checking the team behind a service company. Before arranging portraits and timelines, decide what that person needs to know to make a better-informed next step.

Introduce the business as it operates today

Open with a short account of what the business does, who it serves and who leads it. This gives context to the people that follow. A statement such as “We believe in possibilities” may express a mood, but it leaves visitors guessing about the actual work.

For a sole practitioner, a direct introduction can be enough: name, discipline, relevant focus and the relationship clients can expect. A larger company may need a short description of the organization before introducing selected people. There is no need to make a small practice sound like an agency with several departments.

Use “I” or “we” in a way that reflects the working arrangement. If a founder works with freelance collaborators on selected projects, describe that arrangement accurately. Do not imply that every specialist is a permanent employee or participates in every engagement.

The About page should agree with the homepage and service descriptions. If it suggests a broad consultancy while the offer is a focused production service, revise the positioning before polishing the personal story.

Explain roles through the client’s experience

A job title identifies a position; a useful role description explains a contribution. Someone reading “Creative Director” may still wonder who attends the first conversation, prepares the work or responds to feedback.

Introduce the roles that matter to the relationship. For example, a practice might explain who leads the project, who contributes specialist input and who coordinates communication. Keep promises proportionate: describing a senior person’s involvement does not mean promising that person will handle every task.

For a small team, concise profiles can combine current responsibility, relevant experience and one useful detail about the person’s approach. Avoid collecting entire CVs if the page only needs to help a prospective client understand the team.

This fictional planning example shows how a workshop could connect internal facts with visitor questions. It is not a description of a SavianoDesign client.

Visitor question	Information that helps	Evidence or next destination
Who will discuss my project?	The person responsible for initial enquiries	A clear contact route and explanation of the first conversation
Who carries out the work?	Current roles and any relevant collaborators	Brief profiles with accurate responsibilities
Have they worked on something similar?	Experience with the relevant type of work	A credited project with useful context
How are decisions made?	Who reviews options and gathers feedback	A concise account of the working process
Is this the right kind of business for me?	The current focus and practical boundaries	The appropriate service page

Use the table as a content inventory. If an answer is unknown internally, settle it before turning the page into a confident public promise.

When individual contributions need more explanation, a Team page with clear roles and responsibilities can distinguish project leadership, delivery and communication. The guide also explains when a combined About page is enough.

Make experience specific enough to assess

“Experienced,” “passionate” and “expert” need context. Describe the kind of work someone has done, the responsibilities they held and why that background matters to the service available now.

Keep individual and company experience distinct. A founder’s previous employment can be relevant, but it should not make projects completed elsewhere appear to be commissions delivered by the current business. Explain the role and credit other contributors where appropriate.

Credentials and memberships should be accurate, current and relevant. Avoid filling the page with badges that a visitor cannot interpret. A short explanation of what a qualification supports is more useful than an unexplained symbol.

The guide to explaining an architecture practice’s expertise explores the same problem in a specialist setting: connect experience with work the visitor can understand, without making professional terminology carry the whole explanation.

Google’s guidance on helpful, reliable content encourages clear information about who creates content and the relevant background behind it. For an About page, use that as a reason to make identity and responsibility accurate, rather than treating a longer biography as a ranking shortcut.

Turn values into observable working choices

A values section becomes useful when it explains what someone can expect. If the business values clarity, show how options are presented or how decisions are recorded. If careful material selection is central, describe the actual selection process within the relevant scope.

Avoid turning an aspiration into a guarantee. “We keep clients informed at agreed review points” is a working practice that can be discussed. “We are always available” creates an open-ended expectation unless the service genuinely includes that availability.

Choose a small number of meaningful commitments and connect each with an example. Personal details can add warmth when they illuminate the approach, but they should not crowd out the facts needed to assess the relationship.

The About page is also a place to explain a working philosophy without repeating every deliverable. Link to the guide on defining the scope of one service when deciding which practical details belong on the offer page instead.

Give the company story a proportionate place

An origin story can explain a useful choice: why the practice specializes in a field, why it serves a particular audience or how its approach developed. Select the parts that clarify the business today.

A long chronology does not have to sit between the introduction and the people a visitor wants to understand. A concise heritage section can lead to a dedicated history page when there is enough material to justify one.

For a business with decades of records, organize the company history before choosing a timeline layout. That process helps separate significant developments from archival material without losing either.

Where a founder has stepped away or the team has changed, distinguish the origin story from current responsibilities. Visitors should not contact the wrong person because an older biography remains the most prominent part of the page.

Use portraits and supporting material honestly

Actual team photographs can help people recognize who they are speaking with. Agree which images and personal details are appropriate to publish, and keep captions aligned with current names and roles.

If photography is unavailable, a clear text introduction is still useful. An abstract illustration can establish a visual mood, as the conceptual image in this article does; it should not be presented as a photograph or likeness of real staff. Avoid stock or generated people that appear to be members of the business.

Choose supporting images for what they explain. A studio photograph may show the working environment; a project image can support a particular capability. Neither should stand in for the written explanation of who did what.

Keep names, roles and essential information as text. W3C’s writing guidance for accessibility recommends meaningful headings and appropriate text alternatives. Use those principles so the page remains understandable without relying on a portrait grid or decorative lettering.

Connect the introduction to a useful next step

After learning about the business, visitors may want to compare the work it offers, inspect a relevant project or ask a question. Give them a small number of clear routes connected to those intentions.

A service overview that explains the range of work helps readers who recognize the business but have not chosen a service. Someone already considering a particular offer should be able to reach its detailed page directly.

Before approving the content, ask an unfamiliar reader who runs the business, who they expect to work with and what supports the claimed expertise. Then ask where they would go to discuss their need. Listen for assumptions as well as correct answers.

Assign an owner to review team changes, biographies and credentials. An About page becomes less useful when its most personal information is also the least maintained.

Common questions about About page content

Does a small business need a separate team page?

Only if it provides useful depth. A sole practitioner or small team can often explain the relationship within one About page. Separate profiles make sense when individual expertise or responsibilities need fuller treatment, not simply to create more URLs.

Should an About page use first-person or third-person writing?

Choose a voice that matches the business and use it consistently. First person can suit a freelance professional; third person can help with individual profiles. Either approach should make identity, responsibility and the working arrangement clear.

What if the business cannot show named client work?

Explain relevant experience within the permissions available. A carefully anonymized account or clearly labelled self-initiated project may help, but it should not imply an endorsement, commission or result that cannot be substantiated.

Make the people and the offer work together with SavianoDesign

SavianoDesign’s Web Design service brings the About page, services and portfolio into a coherent website structure, with responsive design and front-end implementation agreed around your project.

Explore the Web Design portfolio and contact Francesco about your website. Share your current site, who is involved in the business and the questions prospective clients ask before working with you.