Writing
, 2 min read
How to write the words for your website
You know your business better than any copywriter. A simple method for writing the words yourself, page by page, so they sound like you.
The words are the part of a website owners most often put off, and the part that matters most. A visitor decides whether to stay by reading, not by admiring the layout. The good news is that you already know everything the words need to say. You explain it to customers every day.
Start by talking, not typing
Imagine a new customer asking what you do and why they should pick you. Answer out loud and record it on your phone. Then write down what you said. That transcript is closer to good website copy than anything you will write from a blank page, because it sounds like a person.
What each page needs to say
| Page | What it has to answer |
|---|---|
| Home | What you do, who it is for, and how to start |
| Each service | What is included, what it costs, and how long it takes |
| About | Who is behind it, and why they can be trusted |
| Contact | Every way to reach you, and what happens next |
Write for the visitor, not about yourself
Count how many sentences start with "we" and how many talk about the customer. "We have fifteen years of experience" is about you. "Your boiler fixed the same day, by someone who has done it for fifteen years" is about them, and says the same thing.
- Name the problem they have before the service you sell.
- Use the words customers use. If they say "AC repair", do not write "climate solutions".
- Be specific. "Open until 9pm on weekdays" beats "flexible hours".
- Give a price or a starting point wherever you honestly can.
Cut more than feels comfortable
Most first drafts are twice as long as they need to be. Delete every sentence that would be true of any business in your trade, such as "we are passionate about quality" or "customer satisfaction is our priority". Nobody believes them, and they push the useful sentences further down the page.
If a sentence could appear on your competitor’s site unchanged, it is not doing any work on yours.
Help Google and AI answers too
Search engines and AI assistants read your pages the way a careful stranger would. Say plainly what you do and where, near the top of each page, in a full sentence: "We are a family dental clinic in Malviya Nagar, Jaipur." Use one page per service, so each one can be found for its own search, and answer the common questions in plain sentences rather than in clever headlines.
Read it out loud before it goes live
Anywhere you stumble, a visitor will too. Anything you would not say to a customer’s face, cut. Then ask someone who does not know your business to read the home page and tell you, in one sentence, what you do. If they cannot, the top of the page needs another go.
When we build a site you get a short outline for each page to fill in, using the method above, and we edit and lay out what you send. If you would rather not write it at all, full copywriting is a paid extra, quoted by the number of pages.