How to write an About page for a handmade brand

For most makers, the About page is the part of the website that feels the most personal, and also the part that is written the most awkwardly. It usually ends up as a timeline: how it started, what year, what the logo means. Customers do not read it for that. They read it to answer one question: can I trust this person with my money, and with a gift for someone I love?

Here is a simple way to write an About page that answers that question, and still sounds like you.

Start with the customer, not with the year you started

The first line decides whether anyone keeps reading. "Founded in 2019, we are a small family business" tells the reader about you. A better first line tells them what you do for people like them, in plain words.

Say what you make, who it is for, and what is different about it. If a stranger can read only that one line and still understand why you exist, the rest of the page has a job to do.

Use a structure that does the work for you

1. One clear opening line. What you make and for whom.
2. The reason. Why you started making it. One or two sentences, not a life story.
3. How it is actually made. The specifics. Where the materials come from, how long a batch takes, what you do by hand that a factory would not.
4. A person. A name, a face or a pair of hands. People buy from people, and a handmade brand with no human on the page is just a shop.
5. What it means for the customer. What they get from choosing you instead of a mass-produced version.
6. One next step. Browse the shop, read about a product, send a message. A page that just stops loses people at the end.

Be specific, because specific is believable

Words like "quality", "passion", "unique" and "high standards" could be on any website, so readers skip over them. A concrete detail does more than any adjective. How many hours a piece takes. The name of the farm the wool comes from. The mistake you made on the first batch and what it taught you.

Both versions are invented to show the difference. The second one is longer, but you can picture it, and that is why it is easier to trust.

Write it the way you would say it

Many makers switch into a formal voice the moment they write "About us". Use "I" if you work alone, and "we" only if there really are several of you. Read the page out loud. If a sentence sounds like something you would never say to a customer at a market stall, rewrite it.

What to leave out

• A long timeline of dates that does not change what a customer would buy.
• Third person ("Anna is a passionate maker..."). It feels like a brochure and creates distance.
• Claims you cannot back up, like "the best" or "award-winning" without naming the award.
• Everything you could say. Pick the three things that matter most to the person buying.

A quick checklist before you publish

• Does the first line say what you make and for whom?
• Is there at least one detail only you could write?
• Is there a person on the page, in words or in a photo?
• Could any adjective be replaced with a number, a place or a name?
• Is there one clear next step at the end?
• Does it sound like you when you read it aloud?