Why Your About Page Might Be Talking About the Wrong Thing

You know that feeling when you’re reading your own About page and something inside you goes quiet? Not the good kind of quiet. The kind where you’re thinking, “That sounds like… someone else entirely.”

Maybe it reads like a resume. Maybe it’s all credentials and accomplishments, stacked up like trophies. Maybe it’s so polished and professional that your own mother wouldn’t recognize herself in it. Or maybe, worst of all, it talks about your business journey but somehow leaves out the part about why you actually care.

I see this a lot. A lot.

Women solopreneurs will sit down, open their About page, and realize it’s telling the story of who they were, not who they are. It’s holding them back from showing up as the real, grown version of themselves. And every time someone lands on that page, they’re meeting an outdated version of you. That’s not a small thing. That’s the difference between someone feeling like, “Oh, I could work with her,” and someone feeling like, “I don’t think she gets it.”

Your About page has one job: to help the right person believe that you can help them. But it can’t do that job if it’s not actually about you.

The Real Purpose of an About Page (Hint: It’s Not What You Think)

Here’s what I know from 30+ years in sales and marketing: your About page isn’t a biography. It’s not a place to list everything you’ve ever accomplished or every certification you’ve ever earned. It’s not even really about you, if we’re being technical.

Your About page is about them.

Specifically, it’s about answering the question that’s already in your visitor’s head the moment they land on it: “Can you help me?” But the second layer, the one that matters just as much, is, “Do I trust you? Do you seem like someone who gets my situation?”

Many women find that the About pages they wrote five years ago, or even last year, were designed to prove they were legitimate. They were building a case for themselves. And that made sense at the time. There was something to prove back then.

But you’re not that person anymore. You’ve done the work. You’ve earned the right to trust yourself.

So your About page now has a different opportunity: instead of defending your expertise, it gets to reveal your humanity. Instead of listing qualifications, it gets to show how you think. Instead of sounding like a press release, it gets to sound like someone worth talking to.

That’s a completely different page.

The Pages That Are Holding You Back

Let me walk through the most common things I see on About pages that are actually working against you.

The Resume Approach

This is when your About page reads like it’s supposed to be in a LinkedIn summary, or worse, on a job application. It opens with your title and a list of what you’ve done.

“I’m a business coach with 20 years of experience in marketing. I’ve worked with over 500 clients. I have an MBA. I’m certified in XYZ methodology.”

Here’s the opportunity hidden in that approach: you’ve done incredible work, and it matters. But listing it doesn’t prove you can help her. It just proves you’re busy. The woman reading this page isn’t asking, “Has this person been busy?” She’s asking, “Has this person been busy solving problems like mine?”

Pivot from the resume to the story. Show her the kind of work that makes you light up. Talk about the specific type of client where something just clicks for you. Share what you’ve learned about how people actually change, not just what you’ve done.

The Wandering Backstory

This is when your About page becomes a memoir. You grew up in a small town. You always loved helping people. You had a crisis that changed everything. You went back to school. You started your business.

Some of that is worth knowing. But not all of it. And definitely not in the chronological order of your life.

The opportunity here is to keep the meaning and cut the meandering. Your visitors don’t need your autobiography. They need to understand: what shaped how you think about the work you do now? What do you know that they need to know?

There’s a difference between “I grew up in a small town and my mother was a nurse, so I learned to care about people” and “I’ve spent the last 15 years watching successful women sabotage themselves out of perfectionism, and I’ve learned exactly how to break that pattern.”

One is memoir. The other is an invitation.

The Professional Headshot With No Personality

I’m not talking about your photo. I’m talking about the writing that goes alongside it.

A lot of About pages read like they’re written by someone’s attorney. Every sentence is perfectly balanced. Nothing is too casual. Nothing is too honest. Everything is buttoned up and safe.

Here’s what happens when you do that: you sound like every other professional. And worse, you don’t sound like you.

The real opportunity is to let your voice actually be there. If you’re funny, be funny. If you’re direct, be direct. If you cry easily and aren’t afraid to say it, say it. Your voice is the thing that makes you magnetic to the people who are supposed to be your clients, and completely irrelevant to the people who aren’t. That’s a feature, not a bug.

This is where I make it easy. I help you figure out what actually needs to be on your About page, and what’s just taking up space.

What Actually Belongs on Your About Page

Okay, so if it’s not a resume and it’s not a memoir, what is it?

Here’s the framework I work with:

Who you are now, and what you do.

Not your title. Who you actually are. The kind of person who does this work. The kind of woman you’ve become.

“I’m a coach who specializes in helping women over 50 untangle their confidence after a big life change.”

Not: “I’m a life coach with experience in women’s empowerment and resilience coaching for midlife transitions.”

What you’ve learned that matters.

Not the list of credentials, but the insights those credentials gave you. What do you know about how people actually work, change, and grow? What do you know about the specific problem you solve?

“After 15 years of working with overwhelmed nonprofit directors, I’ve learned that every single one of them was waiting for permission to stop doing everything themselves. The permission never comes from outside. It has to come from inside. I teach them how to give it to themselves.”

That tells me way more than “certified in nonprofit management and executive coaching.”

Why you care about this specific work.

Not “I’m passionate about helping women” (everyone says that). But why. What is it about this work that keeps you coming back?

“I care about this because I watched my sister shrink herself for 30 years trying to be the person everyone else needed. Then she turned 55 and stopped. She became a person again. I got angry about all those lost years. So I teach other women how to not wait that long.”

That reason doesn’t have to be a dramatic story. It can be simple: “I love it because I get to work with people who are ready to actually do something different. No more thinking about it. Just doing it. That’s where the magic happens.”

A clear picture of who you help.

Be specific. Not “entrepreneurs” or “small business owners.” But “women consultants who’ve built strong reputations but feel invisible because their websites look like they were designed in 2008.”

That specificity is what makes someone reading your page say, “Oh my god, she’s talking about me.”

An honest statement about how working together actually goes.

No corporate speak. No promises of transformation or revolution. Just: what happens when someone works with you? What are they signing up for? What will be different?

“We’ll spend three months together. We’ll talk every other week. I’ll ask you hard questions. You’ll get frustrated. Then you’ll get it. And the way you show up in the world will shift.”

That’s real. That’s honest. That’s magnetic.

The Difference Between an About Page and a Sales Page

Here’s where a lot of women get confused, and I want to clear this up.

Your About page isn’t where you make the sale. That’s not its job. Its job is to make someone believe you’re trustworthy and that you understand them. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

Once they believe that, they’ll click to your services page, or they’ll read your testimonials, or they’ll book a call. But they won’t do any of that if your About page doesn’t first convince them that you’re someone worth taking seriously.

A lot of women try to do too much on their About page because they’re anxious that visitors won’t understand the value otherwise. They add features of their program. They list their credentials again. They throw in pricing information.

All of that is noise. It’s getting in the way of the one job: make her believe you get her.

When Your About Page Stops Serving You

There are a few signs that your About page isn’t working anymore.

You don’t feel like yourself when you read it. Everything about it feels like you’re wearing someone else’s voice. That’s a sign that you’ve outgrown it.

People don’t seem to be getting what you actually do based on conversations after they’ve read it. You’re still explaining yourself. Your About page didn’t do the explaining for you.

You’re embarrassed to share it. Seriously. If you feel that little cringe when you’re linking to it, or when someone’s reading it over your shoulder, that’s information. That’s your instinct telling you it’s not honest anymore.

You’ve changed, and your About page is still in an older version of you. This is the big one. You’ve evolved. Your business has evolved. Your perspective has evolved. But your website is frozen in time.

That’s the moment to rebuild it.

How to Start Rewriting Yours

If you’re ready to take a look at what’s actually on your About page right now, here’s where to start.

Read it out loud. Seriously. Hear it in your voice. Where does it sound wooden? Where do you stumble? Where does it feel like someone else talking?

Mark those spots.

Then ask yourself: what’s one thing I believe now that I didn’t believe five years ago? What’s one insight I have about my clients that I’ve learned the hard way? What’s one reason I actually care about this work that I’ve never said out loud?

Write those things down. Not polished. Just honest.

That’s the raw material. That’s where your real About page lives.

If you want help figuring out what actually belongs on your About page, and how to make it sound like you instead of like a generic business consultant, I can help. Book a Free Website Clarity Call with me, and we’ll talk about what’s holding you back from showing up as the real version of yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I include my personal story on my About page?

The short version: only if it explains how you think now. If your personal story helps someone understand why you’re good at what you do, include it. If it’s just backstory, skip it. You’ve got maybe 300-400 words to make your point. Make it count.

How long should my About page be?

Long enough to answer the questions your ideal client is asking, short enough that she actually reads it. For most solopreneurs, that’s 300-500 words. Some are longer, some are shorter. The length matters way less than whether every sentence earns its place.

Do I need to include credentials on my About page?

You can mention them, but don’t lead with them. Lead with who you are and what you do. If you have a certification or degree that specifically explains why you’re trustworthy for this particular work, mention it. Don’t list all of them like you’re filling out a LinkedIn profile.

What if I don’t have a big origin story or personal drama to share?

Perfect. That actually makes your job easier. You can just tell the truth: “I’m really good at this, I love it, and here’s what I’ve learned about how it works.” That’s enough. You don’t need a fairytale backstory to be trustworthy. You just need to be real.

If your website no longer feels like you, let’s talk about it – Book a Free Website Clarity Call with Beth →