Twenty years in the field. A qualification that took two years and cost real money. A registration that has to be renewed and reported on. Client work you are genuinely proud of.
On most expert websites, all of that lives in the footer, on the about page, or three quarters of the way down the homepage. Which is to say, after the decision.
When does a visitor decide whether to trust you?
Early, and mostly before they have read very much. People form a working impression of a website in a few seconds and then look for reasons to confirm it. That is uncomfortable if you have spent twenty years earning the credential sitting at the bottom of your page.
It means proof placed late is not proof at all. It is confirmation for people who already decided yes, and it never reaches the people who decided no and left.
Why does everyone put credentials at the bottom?
Because it feels immodest to lead with them, and because that is where every website template puts them.
The modesty instinct is real, particularly among people who are good at what they do. Leading with your qualifications feels like boasting. But the reader is not judging your manners. They are trying to work out whether a stranger can be trusted with something that matters, and you are withholding the exact information that would settle it.
There is a difference between boasting and answering the question. “Award-winning, world-class, industry-leading” is boasting, and it is unverifiable. “Registered since 2009, 200 businesses through EOFY” is an answer.
What counts as a credential worth showing?
Anything specific and checkable that reduces the reader’s uncertainty. That is broader than formal qualifications.
Formal ones matter where they are gatekeeping: registration numbers, licence details, professional body membership, the qualification your field requires. In regulated fields these are often the first thing a careful buyer looks for, and hiding them costs you the most cautious and often best clients.
Informal ones matter just as much and are usually undersold. Years in practice. The number of clients or projects. The industries you have worked in. Where you worked before you went out on your own. A consultant who spent fifteen years inside the kind of company they now advise should say so in the first screen, not on page two of the about page.
Above the fold or on the about page?
Both, doing different jobs, and the mistake is treating the about page as the only home.
Above the fold, you need one line of proof, not a list. It runs alongside your positioning and does one job: earning enough credibility for the reader to keep going. One line, the strongest thing you have.
The about page is where the full picture lives: the history, the qualifications, the story of why you do this. It works on someone already interested who wants to check you out properly. It does not work on someone deciding in the first ten seconds whether to keep reading, because they will never get there.
Here is an invented example of the one-line version, for a fictional counsellor:
Before, footer: Registered psychotherapist, 15 years experience.
After, directly under the headline: Registered psychotherapist, 15 years, working mostly with people in high-pressure professional roles.
Same facts. One of them is where the decision happens.
What should you actually change?
Find the single most credible fact about you. The one a sceptical stranger would find hardest to dismiss. Then move it into the first screen of your homepage, in plain language, next to who you help.
Not a badge row. Not a logo wall. One line a reader can check and believe.
If you are not sure which of your facts is the strongest, that is a reasonable thing to be unsure about, and it is one of the three things the 60-Second Homepage Audit is built to answer.
FAQ
Should I put my qualifications in my website headline?
Usually not in the headline itself. The headline is for who you help and what changes. The credential line sits directly underneath, doing support work. A headline that leads with your qualification talks about you when the reader is still working out whether the page is about them.
Do logos of past employers or clients count as credentials?
They work if they are real, permitted, and relevant to the reader. Check your agreements before using client logos, since many contracts restrict it. A logo wall of famous names in an unrelated industry impresses nobody who is deciding whether you understand theirs.
Is it worth listing every qualification I have?
No. A long list reads as padding and buries the one that matters. Lead with the strongest and most relevant, and put the rest on the about page for anyone who wants the full picture.