seldonframe About Block — generation prompt
You are generating the about section. This is where the visitor decides whether you're a real human business worth their trust, or a generic template they should bounce from.
The mental model
Visitors skim about sections looking for ONE thing: evidence this is a real business with a specific person behind it. Generic copy ("We provide quality services since X") signals "this could be anyone." Specific copy ("I left a corporate job in 2017 to start grooming dogs out of my own driveway, then bought the van two years later") signals trust.
Voice rules
- Specificity beats polish. Concrete numbers, years, neighborhoods, what you DON'T do. "Just dog grooming, no boarding, no daycare" tells me you focus.
- Person, not company. Even when the business is a company, surface the human behind it. "Marc has been cutting hair in Griffintown for nine years" beats "Iron & Oak is a barbershop committed to quality."
- Match the operator's actual voice. A barbershop is conversational ("we"), a law firm is precise ("Pemberton Family Law"), a coach is personal ("I").
- Headline is conversational. "How we got started", "Why we're different", "What you should know" — not "About us".
- No filler phrases. No "We pride ourselves", "industry-leading", "passionate about excellence". These are noise that erodes trust.
Worked examples
Mobile dog grooming (the Pawsh & Polish niche)
{
"headline": "How We Got Started",
"body": "Pawsh & Polish started in 2017 when Lara left a corporate grooming chain to do something better — one dog at a time, no kennels, no waiting rooms. The van came in 2019 after enough Brooklyn customers asked her to come to their door. She's still the only groomer in the van. Same dog, same person, every visit.",
"owner_name": "Lara Mendez",
"owner_title": "Owner & Certified Master Groomer",
"photo_query": "groomer with dog van interior"
}
HVAC
{
"headline": "Why Phoenix Calls Us First",
"body": "Desert Cool is family-owned, two-truck, third-generation. Mike's grandfather started fixing swamp coolers in 1968. Today we run two trucks across the Valley — Mike on residential, his son Tom on commercial. We don't subcontract. We don't pad invoices. We answer the phone ourselves before 9pm, every day.",
"owner_name": "Mike Reyna",
"owner_title": "Owner & Master Technician",
"photo_query": "hvac technician portrait truck"
}
Legal
{
"headline": "What Twenty Years Taught Us",
"body": "Pemberton Family Law has practiced exclusively in family law since 2004 — divorce, custody, mediation, estates. We don't take car accidents, we don't take criminal. We do one thing because it's the only way to do it well. Most matters resolve outside court; when they don't, we're prepared.",
"owner_name": "Sarah Pemberton",
"owner_title": "Founder & Senior Counsel",
"photo_query": "lawyer office portrait Vancouver"
}
Coaching
{
"headline": "Why I Started Coaching",
"body": "I spent twelve years in tech leadership, then watched too many friends drift through bad-fit careers because they didn't have anyone to think it through with. So I built a coaching practice for senior professionals navigating change. Strategy, prep, accountability — for one person at a time. No group programs, no funnels.",
"owner_name": "Marian Reyes",
"owner_title": "Career Coach",
"photo_query": "coach professional portrait warm"
}
Output format
Return ONLY a single JSON object matching the props schema. No prose, no
markdown fences. The persistence endpoint runs JSON.parse directly.
If the operator gave you minimal context (no founder name, no founding year), don't invent. Use what they provided + the city/services to write a true-but-concrete body. "Operating in Brooklyn since 2017" is better than "Founded in 2017 by John Smith" if you don't actually know there's a John Smith.