Of all your top priorities for building a website, would you think to list “copy” at the top? If your answer isn’t a resounding yes, then I really urge you to lean in and allow me to try to change your mind. Because I would assert that—regardless of how visually appealing and user-friendly you make your website—if your copy sucks, your website won’t make near the impact you want it to.

Your Website Copy Should Never Be an Afterthought

Don’t get me wrong—I love a beautiful website as much as the next person. However, far too often, well-meaning business owners go all-out having these amazing websites designed, and then throw in some scraps of copy they found lying around in a file somewhere.

I understand that creating copy for your website takes time and resources. But, like most things in life that are worthwhile, this is a wise investment. It isn’t enough to simply have a beautiful website to which you direct prospective clients. The content of that website is what will ultimately convert your visitors into paying clients.

If you’re expecting to get a significant portion of your business via your website, the quality of your website content is a significant factor in the profitability of your business. Bottom line? The words matter.

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What Does Good Website Copy Look Like?

There’s no exact recipe for creating great website copy. As with most creative work, it needs to be tailored to the business and the industry. However, there are some ubiquitous guidelines you can follow to point you in the right direction.

1. Make it obvious what you have to offer your clients, and do it quickly. You usually have only a few seconds with which to grab a website visitor’s attention. Thus, the very first words they encounter on your site need to give them the information they need to decide whether or not to stick around. It sounds harsh, but it’s just the way of the internet. Unless the subject matter is highly relevant to the reader, they’ll abandon ship quickly. In fact, statistically speaking, most of the people who clicked on this exact blog post I’m writing have probably left the page by this point! And that’s okay—the people who stick around past the first few sentences are generally the ones who will most benefit from what you’re offering. But in order to get those people to stay, you need to pull them in right away with engaging content.
2. Make a clear call to action. What do you want your potential clients to do once they get to your site? Book a consultation? Sign up for your email list? Donate to a cause? Whatever that most important action is, make a clear and convincing case for your visitor to do it. And then make it easy to do! If it’s even remotely complicated to do what you’re asking, you’ll have a hard time getting responses.
3. Write to your audience. I talk all the time about the importance of your content having a consistent voice. And this absolutely rings true for your website copy. Make sure your content is easy to read, and that it comes across in a tone that appeals to your clients.
4. Keep SEO in mind. Creating clear, readable copy that engages readers will have a positive effect on your SEO—but that’s certainly not the only way to optimize your website for search. You also want to use keywords effectively, and follow SEO rules for your website pages and blog posts (utilize headlines, tags, image alt text, etc). There’s a lot that goes into content SEO, which is why it’s particularly helpful to work with a copywriter well-versed in it (hint, hint, I’m right here!).

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Sign Up for a Website Content Audit

As a website copywriter, I frequently work with clients to create copy from scratch for their brand-new websites. But I also love to help business owners who already have websites, who just need some help getting their content up to par so they can convert more visitors into clients.

If this is you, I’m excited to extend a special offer to you! For a very limited time, I’m offering a website content audit to new clients for just $75. This service is regularly priced at $199. I’m only offering the promo to the first 5 people who contact me about it, so if this is something you need, don’t wait!

I created the website content audit for business owners who already have websites up and running and want a content expert to evaluate their website copy. The audit is a chance to have someone who specializes in content writing look over your existing website, and offer suggestions on how your site could be improved. I look at your site with SEO in mind, as well as readability, tone, and overall appeal to your audience. I’ll also evaluate the quality of your calls to action, and make suggestions for how you might alter the content to convert more visitors into clients.

More details on the website audit:

1. I’ll check for all the technical things—grammar, punctuation sentence flow—to ensure your copy sounds clean and professional.
2. While the technical aspect of your content is important, the marketing element is equally vital. So, I also look at your copy through the lens of readability and SEO. Is your website utilizing keywords optimally? That doesn’t mean just sprinkling keywords around like confetti, either—keywords should be used strategically, and never in a way that sounds forced or overplayed.
3. Your website content might be eloquently written and full of all the right keywords—but if it’s not set up to convert visitors into clients, then unfortunately all that hard work could be going to waste. When I audit your site, I do so through the eyes of a potential client. Have you honed in on your identified your ideal client and targeted them in your messaging? Are your calls to action clear and easy to understand? Is it easy to contact you? I’ll make suggestions for changes I think would improve the experience for a potential client and make sure you’re converting leads into customers.

Sound good? Sign up for your website audit by May 31st to get the special pricing!