7 steps to writing website content you love
Writing website copy is the WORST THING IN THE WORLD!
Well, okay, it’s not that bad. I’d say Donald Trump is making a pretty solid play for the WTITW title. But since you’re here, there’s a good chance you’re feeling that way about your website.
And since you’re here, you probably fall into one of the following groups. Which one are you?
You have a sense of how you want your website to look and sound, but no matter what you do, you just can’t get there.
You need to write your website copy but you’re feeling completely overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. At this point you’d take Everest sans oxygen bottle over website copywriting.
You know some of the basics – you’ve read so. much. info. But you’re struggling to know how to apply all that to your business and your website.
You’ve written some stuff, but something’s not quite right … and you can’t figure out what or why. Let alone how to fix it.
You’re having crippling self doubt about your abilities as a writer. You’ve seen so many great websites and you’re thinking ‘OMG I can’t do that!’.
So which is it? 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5? A combo?
Whichever group you’re in right now, know that you don’t have to stay there.
Introducing group F (for ‘F*#% yeah I’ve finished my website and I love it!’). Group F welcomes you. We’d like to help you become a member.
I (Ruby) have written website content for many, many businesses. From some of the world’s biggest tech companies and financial institutions, to governments and not-for-profits, to small businesses and solopreneurs – psychologists, marketers, career consultants and coaches.
And no matter what the business is or what industry they’re in, the challenges and mistakes are often the same. As a solopreneur (or tiny biz) it might comfort you to know that being a world-leading tech company does not make you immune to some of the most basic website copy mistakes!
How to write great website content: 7 steps
1. Know who you’re talking to – your website target audience
This is THE most important first step. But you’d be amazed at how many people and businesses write their websites without knowing who they’re talking to or, at least, who they want to attract. That’s your target market – your ideal clients.
When you know who your target audience is, you have a good idea of what their biggest problems are. So you know what kinds of things they’re searching for and what they really want and need. That is super critical for guiding what and how you write.
Who are your ideal clients?
What are their problems (relevant to your biz)?
What’s their single biggest problem?
How is that problem making them feel – and what sort of content would be attractive to them as a result?
What do they want to hear?
What do they NEED to know?
2. Understand what makes your business unique
It’s pretty hard to write awesome website copy that stands out if you’re not super clear on what makes your business (or you) stand out. So spend some time working out what makes your business special.
What do you offer that’s different?
What are the big benefits of what you offer? What results do you deliver? How do you make people’s lives or businesses better?
Every service takes a client from point A to point B. From being overweight to being a healthy weight and feeling great. From not speaking German to speaking conversational German. From having an idea to launching and growing an exciting business. What’s the journey you take people on? What’s your point A and what’s point B?
3. Use keywords in your website content
It’s important to include words and phrases in your content that people are searching for – your keywords. They help search engines work out whether your content is relevant for the people searching. And they help people find your content.
Here’s how to use keywords when writing your website copy:
Figure out your top keywords. The simplest, lowest-tech way to get started with some keywords is to make a list of about 5 broad topics you think are important to your target clients that you want to rank for.
Then under each of those broad topics, brainstorm a list of terms you think your target clients might be searching for, and refine them into a list of your top keywords.
Doing some basic keyword research will make your list of keywords more accurate and effective, but this brainstorm approach is at least a starting point.
Use your keywords throughout your website content but in a way that feels natural. Basically, if you’re creating content that’s aimed at your target audience and designed to solve their problems, you’re going to be organically using those keywords anyway.
You can also use keywords and phrases to guide what content you create. For example, if lots of people in your target market are searching for ‘Why is my dog eating grass?’, maybe you should write a blog post about it.
Important places to include keywords:
Titles
Meta descriptions
Headings and subheadings
Content (i.e. the main text of a page)
Image titles and photo captions
URLs
Need a step-by-step process to figure out your keywords? We’ve got one for you in LaunchKit.
4. Use a clear tone of voice across your website content
Having a clear tone of voice across your website will give it a strong, memorable personality and help it to stand out.
Your brand’s tone of voice is not about what you say, but how you say it. It’s how your business sounds. It’s how you express the general vibe of your business. You convey a tone of voice through the words you use and your writing style.
Using a strong, distinctive and consistent tone of voice across your website can help set you apart from competitors and build trust and connection with your audience.
But most businesses don’t do it because it requires you to decide on a bold tone of voice and stick with it. It means standing up and standing out, rather than trying to blend into the background. But if you can do it, it’s often a shortcut to growing your audience and client list.
Your tone of voice is most easily captured through a series of adjectives. For example, Biz Launch Lab’s tone of voice is:
Conversational and warm
Humorous and a bit irreverent
Accessible yet authoritative
To the point – no bullshit
Lucy’s Luxe Interiors’ tone of voice is:
Aspirational
Edgy
Upbeat (but real)
Confident (but not arrogant)
Not sure what your tone of voice is? Ask yourself:
How do you want your business to come across to the world?
What do you want people to think about your business?
How do you want to make people feel when they look at your website and read your content?
What tone of voice might your target clients be drawn to?
What is your tone of voice definitely not?
5. Use your website copy to answer their questions
People will usually come to your website looking for something specific like a particular resource, info on you or your biz (e.g. what services you offer, pricing, your background, etc.) or contact details.
So when you write your website copy, you need to preemptively answer the questions your website visitors will have. Have a think about the main questions your target audience will have and make sure you address them.
It should also be clear on every page of your website:
What you offer
Who it’s for
How it helps people
What visitors should do next
Your website visitors also like being told what to do. Not in a bossy way – they just want to know where to click, what to read, how to buy. So be kind and make it really easy for them.
Related: Should you DIY your website or hire a web developer? Here’s the lowdown.
6. Focus on them not you
Always put your audience or target clients front and centre of what you’re writing. There are so many reasons to do this.
One of the most important reasons is that it’s a really effective way to show potential clients you can solve their problem. You see, people don’t necessarily buy the best services – they buy the services they can understand the fastest. The ones that they immediately see will solve their problem.
This even applies to your About page. It might seem like that should be all about you, but actually it should also be around your potential clients – where they’re at, what they need, how you help them.
What does it actually look like to make your website copy client-focused (rather than you-focused)?
Address their needs and problems
Use their language – will they recognise themselves in your copy?
Use ‘you’ more than ‘I’ or ‘we’
Focus on benefits not features
Always ask (and answer) ‘why should they care?’
Get to the point quickly
Order your info in a way that make sense to them, not just you
Worried that there is no ‘them’? Need to start getting clients, like, yesterday? Our free 15-page workbook ‘5 Steps to Getting Actual Clients’ will help you get there. Tips, guidance and ACTION. Your next steps: sorted! Get it here.
7. Write website content for scanners not readers
Your website visitors aren’t readers. They’re scanners. It’s hard to accept – trust me, I feel your pain! You spend hours and hours carefully crafting your words, agonising over the placement of a comma (or is that just me?) … and you rightfully assume that your website visitors will at least have the courtesy of taking the time to read your excellent copy!
But that’s rarely what happens. People consume web content differently from print. They scan rather than carefully reading every single word. They jump around. And they’ll look for headings to guide their scanning. Big chunks of text and long sentences and paragraphs are off-putting.
If they can’t find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, they’ll leave – quicker than you can say ‘Oxford comma’.
So what does this mean for your website copy?
Four big things:
Use short sentences. The full stop is your new best friend.
Use short paragraphs. Don’t scare people away with huge chunks of text. Make it bite-sized and easy to digest.
Use lots of headings and subheadings. This will help readers find the information they need quickly.
Use bullet points (if it works for your content) to break up chunks of text and help people scan.
Scroll back up through this blog post and you’ll see we’ve used all these techniques to make it nice and easy for you to scan through.
Writing your website copy is hard. Let’s not pretend otherwise. I do it for a living and I still sometimes feel that sense of dread and overwhelm and gah where do I even start?! But as with anything, it gets easier with practice. It gets easier as you go. Hopefully these 7 steps give you a place to start and help guide you through. And that feeling when you’ve FINISHED? And you’re happy (enough) with what you’ve done? Nothing beats that feeling.
Join us in the comments – what do you struggle with most when it comes to writing your website copy? Or do you have any tips and tricks that have worked for you? We’d love to hear!
Need more help?
Need more help writing website content – or with another part of your marketing and copywriting? (Let’s face it, who doesn’t?) We made LaunchKit for you. It contains website writing templates, a bonus guide on how to be a better writer and so much more, including a simple marketing plan, a social media guide, real-world examples and handy tools.
It steps you through everything - from building a rock-solid brand foundation to sharing your biz with the world.