Your About page should answer one question for a wary visitor: can I trust these people? Include a short, human story of why you started, the real faces behind the business, proof you’re good at what you do, your local roots, and a clear next step. Skip the corporate mission-statement fluff.
A customer found your business, liked what they saw, and they’re almost ready to call. But first they do what everyone does — they click “About” to size you up. Are these real people? Are they local? Do they seem like the kind of business that’ll show up and do the job right? In about twenty seconds, that page either closes the deal or quietly loses it.
Most About pages blow it. They open with “Founded on a passion for excellence…” and say nothing a customer actually cares about. This guide lays out exactly what to put on your About page as a Vernon small business — the pieces that build trust, the ones to cut, and how to turn a curious visitor into a customer who picks up the phone.
What Your About Page Is Actually For
Your About page has one job, and it isn’t to list your history. It’s to make a stranger trust you enough to do business. Everything on the page should serve that single goal.
This matters more than most owners think, because trust is now the deciding factor in whether someone buys at all. People landing on your About page are already interested — they’re looking for a reason to say yes, or a red flag that tells them to keep looking. Your page decides which one they find.
We see it constantly in client analytics: for a Vernon service business, the About page is one of the first pages a visitor clicks after the homepage. That makes it prime real estate, and it’s a core piece of small business website design in Vernon — not an afterthought you write last and forget.
Reframe the page’s purpose before you write a word:
- Write to build trust, not to recite history — every line should answer “why trust us.”
- Assume the reader is interested but cautious, looking for a reason to commit.
- Put the most reassuring, human content near the top where it’s seen first.
- Judge every sentence: does this make a stranger more comfortable hiring us?
Lead With Your Story — But Make It About the Customer
People do connect with an origin story. The mistake is making it a self-indulgent autobiography instead of a reason to trust you. Keep it short, human, and pointed at what the customer cares about.
Tell them why you started, in plain words. “After 15 years framing houses around the Okanagan, I started my own crew because I was tired of seeing customers get rushed jobs.” That single line does more than three paragraphs of “passion for excellence.” It tells a Vernon homeowner you know the work and you care about doing it right.
The trick is to connect your story to their problem. Why you started should hint at why they should pick you. We’ve rewritten dozens of Okanagan About pages, and the version that converts is almost always shorter, plainer, and more honest than the one the owner started with.
Write a story that earns trust, not yawns:
- Open with why you started — the real reason, in one or two human sentences.
- Tie your origin to the customer’s problem and how you solve it differently.
- Keep the whole page around 200–500 words — enough to connect, not to bore.
- Read it aloud. If it sounds like a brochure, rewrite it the way you’d actually talk.
Show the Real Faces Behind the Business
Nothing builds trust faster than a real face. When a customer can see the actual people they’ll be dealing with, the business stops being a faceless website and becomes someone they can picture showing up at their door.
So put real photos of you and your team on the page — not stock images of models in headsets. Customers can spot the difference instantly, and the fake stuff actively erodes trust. A genuine photo of the owner in their Vernon shop beats a polished stock photo every time, because it’s real, and real is what people are looking for.
You don’t need a glossy corporate shoot. A clean, well-lit photo of the actual humans, ideally in your real space, is plenty. The businesses we work with are always surprised how much a few authentic faces lift the page — it’s the cheapest trust you can buy.
Make it unmistakably human:
- Add real photos of you and your team — faces, names, and roles.
- Shoot in your actual space (shop, studio, job site), not a fake office.
- Never use stock photos of “staff” — 72% of people trust real images more.
- A quick, natural phone-or-pro photo beats a stiff, overly posed one.
Prove It: The Trust Signals That Close the Deal
Your story and your face open the door. Proof walks the customer through it. An About page without evidence is just nice words — add the things that show you actually deliver.
Instead of listing credentials like a résumé, show results. How many Vernon homes you’ve worked on, years in the community, a real customer review or two, recognizable local clients or partners, relevant certifications. Concrete beats vague: “Serving Greater Vernon since 2011, 400+ projects” lands harder than “we pride ourselves on quality.”
Reviews are the heavy hitter, since nearly everyone reads them before choosing a local business. Pull a genuine one onto the page, with a real first name and neighbourhood, and you’ve borrowed that customer’s trust for the next visitor.
Back your story with hard proof:
- Swap résumé-style credentials for results: projects done, years local, clients served.
- Add one or two real reviews with a first name and Okanagan location.
- Show relevant badges — licensed, insured, certified, local association memberships.
- Keep proof specific and true; vague superlatives read as filler.
Make It Unmistakably Local
For a Vernon business, “local” is a selling point your national competitors can’t fake. A customer choosing between you and some faceless chain wants to know you’re actually here, part of the community, and reachable. Your About page should leave zero doubt.
Say where you are and where you serve, by name — Vernon, Coldstream, Lake Country, Armstrong, the North Okanagan. Mention how long you’ve been part of the community, the local teams you sponsor, the events you show up to. These aren’t throwaway details; they’re trust signals that tell a neighbour you’re one of them.
It helps your rankings too. Weaving genuine local references into your About page supports your local SEO, so the same content that reassures a human also helps Google connect you to “near me” searches across the valley. Local done right pulls double duty.
Plant your flag in the Okanagan:
- Name your city and service area explicitly — don’t make people guess where you are.
- Mention community ties: years here, local sponsorships, events, partnerships.
- Use a real local photo — your storefront, the lake, a recognizable Vernon backdrop.
- Make it effortless to reach you: address, map, and a tap-to-call number on the page.
What to Leave Off Your About Page
Half of a great About page is cutting the stuff that quietly kills it. Most pages are bloated with content that makes the reader work harder and trust you less. Be ruthless.
Cut the corporate jargon — “synergy,” “world-class,” “passion for excellence.” Cut the long, rambling history nobody asked for. Cut stock photos of strangers, fake testimonials, and walls of text with no breaks. Cut anything that’s about impressing rather than reassuring. A wordy mission statement that says nothing specific is worse than no mission statement at all.
The strongest About pages we build for Okanagan clients are shorter than the ones they replace. When you strip out the filler, the real, human, trustworthy parts finally get room to land — and the customer actually reads them.
Delete these on sight:
- Corporate buzzwords and “passion for excellence”-style filler.
- Stock photos of fake staff or generic handshakes.
- A long company history that serves your ego, not the customer.
- Dense walls of text — break it up so it’s scannable on a phone.
End With a Clear Next Step
Here’s the piece almost everyone forgets: your About page needs to ask for the next step. You’ve just earned the visitor’s trust — don’t leave them on a dead-end page with nowhere to go.
Finish with a clear call to action that matches what you want them to do: “Get a Free Quote,” “Book a Consultation,” “Call Us.” Make it a real button, and on mobile make the phone number tappable. The reader who made it to the bottom of your About page is one of your warmest leads — they’ve done their homework on you and stuck around. Give them the obvious next move.
Think of the flow: story, faces, proof, local roots, then “here’s how to reach us.” That’s an About page that quietly does sales work for a Vernon business around the clock.
Close the loop:
- End with one clear call to action — quote, booking, or call.
- Use a real button plus a tap-to-call number, not just a sentence.
- Match the ask to your business: “Book a Consultation,” “Get a Free Estimate.”
- Never end the page with a full stop and no next step.
Quick Wins: 5 Things You Can Do Today — Free
- Add a real photo of you or your team. Swap any stock image for an authentic one — it’s the single fastest trust boost on the page.
- Rewrite your first line. Replace “Founded on a passion for…” with the real, human reason you started — in plain words.
- Drop in one real review. Paste a genuine customer review with a first name and Okanagan town right onto the page.
- Name your service area. Spell out Vernon, Coldstream, Lake Country — wherever you actually serve — so it’s unmistakable.
- Add a button at the bottom. End the page with a clear “Get a Free Quote” or “Call Us” — don’t leave readers stranded.
A great About page is one of the highest-leverage pages you’ll ever write, because it works on the exact people who are closest to becoming customers. Get it right — real story, real faces, real proof, real local roots, and a clear next step — and it turns quiet interest into calls, all day, without you doing a thing. The same business, told honestly, simply wins more of the people already checking you out.
Leave it as a wall of corporate filler and you do the opposite: you take warm, ready-to-buy visitors and give them a reason to hesitate. In a town like Vernon, where people genuinely want to support real local businesses, that’s a gift you’re handing your competitors. If you’d like a hand turning your About page into one that earns trust, our complete guide to website design in Vernon and the free audit below are the place to start.
Does your About page build trust — or quietly cost you customers?
We’ll review your About page and the rest of your site, then show you the changes that would turn more visitors into calls. No pressure, no jargon — just an honest look at what’s working and what’s holding you back.
