Texts for Business
A business bio is the 30 to 150 words that describe your company where there is no room for a full page: the Google Business Profile description, an Instagram or LinkedIn profile, a directory listing, the footer of a quote. Most bios for trades and services say the same thing ('reliable, professional, customer satisfaction is our priority') and so they say nothing. A useful bio names who you work for, what exactly you do, where, and one reason to believe you.
This guide gives you a structure that fits in 60 words, the length limits of the places where the bio will live, and three rewritten examples: a cleaning service, a construction company and an accountant. Every business in the examples is fictional.
Table of contents
- Where a business bio is used and how long it can be
- Five things every bio needs
- A structure that fits in 60 words
- Three rewritten examples
- First person or third person
- Proof that holds up
- Words that make every bio sound the same
- Keep every version saying the same thing
- FAQ
- Related glossary terms
- See also
Where a business bio is used and how long it can be
The same bio rarely fits everywhere, because each place cuts the text at a different point. Write one long version first, then shorten it for each platform instead of writing five unrelated texts.
| Place | Practical limit | What the reader sees first |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile description | 750 characters | The first two lines under the business name in Maps |
| Instagram bio | 150 characters | The whole text, on one screen, above the grid |
| LinkedIn company page 'About' | 2,000 characters | The first two to three lines before 'see more' |
| Directory listing or marketplace profile | Depends on the directory, often a few hundred characters | The first sentence in the search results of that directory |
| Quote, invoice or email signature | One or two sentences | The whole text, under your name |
The first sentence does most of the work, because on every platform it is the part shown before the reader has to click. Put the service and the customer there, and keep the history of the company for the end.
Five things every bio needs
- Who you work for. 'Homeowners and letting agents in Leeds' tells the reader in five words whether they are in the right place. 'Clients of all sizes' tells them nothing.
- What you do, in the words the customer uses. End-of-tenancy cleaning, loft conversions, year-end accounts. Leave the industry jargon for the quote.
- Where you work. A city, a radius, a list of areas. Search engines and customers both look for it, and a bio without a place reads as a company without one.
- One reason to believe you. Years in business, a licence, insurance, a number of completed jobs, a named certification. One is enough. Three unverifiable claims are worse than one verifiable one.
- The next step. A phone number, a booking link, 'free quote within 24 hours'. A bio ends with something the reader can do.
If one of the five is missing, the reader fills the gap with an assumption, and the assumption is usually 'probably not for me'.
A structure that fits in 60 words
Most bios can follow one order: service and customer, area, proof, next step.
[Service] for [customer] in [area]. [One sentence of proof: years, licence, volume or a specific result]. [Next step with a contact or a promise about response time].
Written out for a plumber: 'Emergency and planned plumbing for homeowners and landlords across Bristol. Gas Safe registered, fully insured, 1,400 jobs completed since 2016. Call before 9 am for a same-day visit.' That is 31 words, and it answers all five questions.
The long version for LinkedIn or a directory adds a second paragraph: how you work (fixed quotes, one point of contact, what happens after the first call) and who is behind the company. The short version for Instagram keeps only the first sentence and the next step.
Three rewritten examples
Each example shows a typical first draft, then a rewrite in the structure above. The company names, numbers and places are invented for the examples.
Cleaning service
First draft: 'Brightside Cleaning is a professional cleaning company offering high quality cleaning services for residential and commercial clients. Customer satisfaction is our top priority.'
Rewrite (48 words): 'End-of-tenancy and regular home cleaning for tenants, landlords and busy families in Reading and Wokingham. Same two cleaners every visit, products and equipment included, deposit-return checklist for tenancy cleans. Booked over 900 cleans since 2021. Text a photo of the property for a fixed price within an hour.'
The rewrite names two customer groups, the area, one operational promise the customer can check on the first visit, a number, and a next step with a time.
Construction company
First draft: 'Northgate Construction Ltd is a family-run building company with years of experience delivering projects on time and on budget to the highest standards.'
Rewrite (56 words): 'Extensions, loft conversions and full renovations for homeowners in north Manchester. Family-run since 2009, with our own bricklayers, joiners and electricians, so there is one contract and one site manager for the whole job. Fixed-price quotes with a written schedule, and a two-year workmanship guarantee. Send drawings or photos for a quote within five working days.'
The rewrite replaces 'on time and on budget' with what makes that plausible: in-house trades, one site manager, a written schedule. The guarantee is a specific commitment rather than a 'highest standards' adjective.
Accountant
First draft: 'We are a friendly, approachable firm of accountants providing a full range of accounting and tax services to small businesses and individuals.'
Rewrite (52 words): 'Year-end accounts, VAT returns and payroll for owner-managed companies with up to 15 staff in Nottingham. Fixed monthly fee agreed in advance, quarterly review call, replies within one working day. ACCA-registered firm with a practising certificate, insured for professional indemnity. Book a 20-minute call to get a fee quote before you switch.'
For a professional service, the professional body and the insurance are the proof. The size limit ('up to 15 staff') is deliberate: it tells larger companies to look elsewhere and tells small ones the firm is built for them.
First person or third person
Use 'I' when the customer will deal with you personally: sole traders, consultants, photographers, coaches. A bio in the first person from a one-person business reads as honest; a 'we' from the same business reads as a company that does not exist yet.
Use 'we' when there is a team the customer will meet. Use the third person ('Northgate Construction builds...') only where the platform expects it, such as a directory that lists many companies in the same format. Whatever you choose, keep it consistent within one text. A bio that starts with 'we' and ends with 'I' makes the reader wonder how big the company really is.
Proof that holds up
Proof in a bio works only if it can be checked or at least pictured. 'Over 15 years of experience' is fine if it is true; 'award-winning' needs the name of the award; 'trusted by hundreds of customers' needs a number and a place where the reviews are. Prefer the specific version each time:
- Years: 'since 2011' instead of 'many years'.
- Volume: '380 boilers installed last year' instead of 'countless installations'.
- Credentials: the registration scheme, the licence number if the trade requires one, the insurance level.
- Reviews: '4.8 from 212 Google reviews' instead of 'five-star service'.
- Guarantees: the length and what it covers.
Update the numbers at least once a year. A bio that says 'over 500 jobs' three years after it was written undersells a company that has done 1,200.
Words that make every bio sound the same
Some phrases appear in so many bios that readers skip over them. Each one can be replaced with the specific fact it was standing in for.
| Generic phrase | What it was trying to say | Write instead |
|---|---|---|
| Professional and reliable | We turn up when we say we will | 'Arrival window of two hours, confirmed by text the day before' |
| High quality work | We do the job properly | 'Two-year workmanship guarantee' |
| Competitive prices | We are not the most expensive | 'Fixed price agreed before we start' |
| Customer satisfaction is our priority | We fix problems when they happen | 'If something is not right, we come back within 48 hours' |
| Passionate about what we do | We have been doing this a long time | 'Third generation of roofers in the family' |
Read the finished bio and remove every adjective that is not attached to a fact. What remains is usually shorter and more convincing.
Keep every version saying the same thing
The bio will exist in five or six places, and a customer often reads two of them before calling. The company name, phone number, address and opening hours must match everywhere, which matters for local search as well as for trust. The service list should be the same list, in the same words, even when the Instagram version only has room for two items.
When something changes, change it everywhere on the same day. Keep the long version in one file with the date of the last edit, and cut the short versions from it. The about us page can then expand the same facts into the story of the company, instead of contradicting the bio with different numbers.
FAQ
How long should a business bio be?
Between 30 and 150 words, depending on where it goes. Write the 150-word version first, because it is easier to cut than to expand, and keep the 30-word version for profiles with a character limit.
What is the difference between a business bio and an about us page?
The bio is the summary that has to work on its own in a place you do not control, such as a Google listing or a social profile. The about page is a full page on your own website, with room for the team, the history and photos. The bio should never contain a fact the about page contradicts.
Should a business bio mention prices?
Mention the pricing model when it is a reason to choose you: fixed quotes, hourly rate published on the website, monthly fee. Leave the actual numbers for the price list, so the bio does not go out of date with the next price change.
Can I use the same bio on Google, Instagram and LinkedIn?
Use the same facts and the same first sentence, then cut to each platform's length. Google shows the first two lines, Instagram allows 150 characters, LinkedIn hides everything after the first two to three lines behind 'see more'.
Related glossary terms
- About us page - the long version of the same facts
- Value proposition - the promise that belongs in the first sentence
- USP - the one difference worth naming in the proof sentence
- Social proof - reviews, numbers and credentials that can be checked
- Tone of voice - why the plumber's bio and the accountant's bio should sound different
- SEO friendly company description - the service and the place, as search engines read them
- Testimonials - where to send the reader who wants more proof than one sentence
See also
- Cleaning company description - the full service page behind the cleaning bio
- Construction company description - a description for work priced per project
- LinkedIn bio for accountants - the professional version, written for a personal profile
- Instagram bio for hairstylists - a bio that has to work in 150 characters
Write the bio with the rest of the page
A bio is easier to write when the company description already exists, because the facts are the same. The free Texts for Business generator writes the company description, the headline and the button text in one pass, so the bio on Google and the text on your website say the same thing about the same company.
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