How to Write Website Copy That SELLS: Guide for Founders

Jul 31

Copywriter showing a client how to write website copy for their business

Anyone can write website copy. But not everyone can craft strategic and effective copy that does more than just “be there.”

In fact, most business owners end up filling their website with words that don’t bring any results.

So, as a professional website copywriter, I’ll teach you how to write website copy that sells (step-by-step).

But first, let me show you what you’ve actually been missing out on so far.

What should your website copy do for you?

Your website copy should be your best salesperson: working in the background for you 24/7—no breaks or holidays allowed.

More specifically, it should:

Position you as THE go-to solution in your dream client’s eyes
Attract your audience organically on Google
Repel the wrong-fit customers (unless you’re happy to spend hours running random discovery calls or waste money on refunds?)
Connect with your target prospects
Actively sell your services rather than just describing your business
Bring you new leads regularly

Has your current website copy not being doing all this? Or perhaps your website is new so you’re writing it for the first time and want to start with a bang?

Then, here’s how to write website copy that does aaaaaaaaaaaaall that for you.

Step-by-step guide on how to write website copy for your business

Disclaimer: this isn’t something you’ll get to do in one go as you read this blog post.

So, bookmark it right now and come back to it as you work your way through these steps.

Done? Let’s start.

1. Get clear on your brand messaging

Giada showing a client how to write website copy

Brand messaging is how you talk and write about your business, what you focus on the most, and how you convey your value proposition to your dream audience.

This must be consistent across all your marketing channels.

And specifically, as soon as they land on your website, your audience should understand:

Exactly what you do
Whether it’s for them
How this will benefit them / why they should care

But they won’t be able to do that if YOU are not clear on that first.

So, start here, and keep brainstorming until you get to a clear overview.

2. Research, research, research

Magnifier to show the importance of conducting research before learning how to write web copy

I know you’re here to learn how to write web copy, but take it from a professional copywriter: writing is actually the smallest part of copywriting (ironic, considering it makes up over 60% of the actual word!).

The biggest? Research, planning, and strategy.

Now, you might be thinking “Well, it’s different for you, because you write for different clients every time: I already know my business!”

But trust me: starting to write your website copy without getting clear on the following points is a risky game—even if it’s your business. Why?

Because you’d end up relying on assumptions or what you’re remembering, which isn’t the whole picture.

So, instead:

Get clear on your target audience – Who exactly are they? Be as specific as possible: when you try to target eVeRyOnE, you end up connecting with no one
What are their pain points? – If they’re looking for your types of services, it’s because they’re trying to solve a problem (or two)
How does your business fix them or help them overcome them? – This should create a strong contrast against their current situation
What are your audience’s most common objections? – Even if they’re looking for your types of services, your audience is still coming up with reasons not to part with their own money (more or less subconsciously). For example, these might be “I could just do it myself” or “Maybe I can worry about this in a few months”
What are the most impressive results you’ve achieved? – Anyone can say “I’m good at what I do” or keep it vague like “I’ll take your business to the next level”, but what can that look like in practice?
Reread your testimonials and feedback – What do your clients value the most? What words do they use? This is also part of your voice of customer research: you’ll want to use terms your audience is already familiar with, not buzzwords and complicated jargon
Remember your calls, and go through your email exchanges – This will help you identify more pain points, objections, and common patterns
Analyse your competitors – Look at their website copy (for example, did they bring up some points you hadn’t thought of?), testimonials, and reviews (are there any negative ones you can keep in mind to set your business apart?)
Lurk where your audience is active – From your own social media posts to shared communities and forums like Reddit: what does your audience have to say when it comes to your industry and types of services? Once again, this step is also useful for voice of customer research

3. Find your keywords

Learning how to write website copy that sells is a game-changer for your business. But if you don’t optimise it for SEO, who’s going to read it?

Sure, you can direct your existing audience to your website. But why exactly would you want to miss out on those who’re actively looking for your types of services on Google?

If you forget about them, they’ll find your competitors instead. Harsh but true.

Now, don’t get me wrong: nobody can guarantee that you’ll show up on Google’s first page. There are too many factors that influence those rankings, and you haven’t got any control over some of them.

But when you optimise your website copy for the keywords that your audience is searching, you’re giving yourself the very best chances—and why leave them to your competitors?

So:

Use one of the best free or affordable keyword research tools (as a beginner, you can start with Google Keyword Planner)
Look for your type of business, services, or products to find the best keywords to describe them: what are people actually searching for? (Psst: it might not be your first guess)

For example, some of my clients found me because they were looking for a “website copywriter”, a “copywriter for female entrepreneurs”, or “website copywriting services.”

BONUS TIP: you can’t just upload your new copy, never touch your website again, and hope it magically gains traction on Google! You must blog on it regularly, too. This will also allow you to target the biggest chunk of your audience: those who’re trying to find out more about their pain points and/or your industry but aren’t ready to invest just yet. A win-win!

4. Plan your website copy structure—and keep it simple

Maybe you’re building your website from scratch. Perhaps you already have one and are looking to replace its copy. Either way, make it or keep it as simple as possible.

Identify your main goals – What do you want your website copy to promote the most? For example, this could be selling your premium offer and getting more newsletter subscribers
Plan the right website pages and an intuitive menu – You don’t want to overwhelm your audience with endless menu items! Otherwise, they won’t know what they should actually click next

Now, the latter really depends on your type of business, of course. However, a popular menu structure is:

Home page
About
Services (overview)
Pages for each individual service
Contact

But you might benefit from additional pages like a portfolio, success stories, sustainability, etc.

5. Write your website copy for your audience, NOT yourself

You’re here to learn how to write website copy that actually sells, right? Then, remember you’re not the one buying your offers: your audience is.

So, you shouldn’t write your website copy in a way that strokes your ego, impresses your family, or matches your personal taste.
You must write it in a way that connects with your audience and gets them to take action. That’s all that matters!

So, here are some mindset shifts and points to consider (and never lose sight of):

Always write your website copy with your audience in mind – What do they need to know? Hint: NOT that “I’m passionate about what I do”
Address them directly – In fact, try and use “you” more often than you say “I/we”
Your audience is the hero of the story – Don’t make the mistake of positioning yourself as the hero! You’re the trusted guide who’ll help them achieve their happy ending (which is still pretty cool, isn’t it?)
Focus on the benefits of your services, not their features – For example, Apple didn’t try to sell the first iPod by saying “5GB of storage”. They said “1,000 songs in your pocket” (I know that’s not as impressive today, but come on: this was all the way back in 2001!)
Use the “so what?” test – When you write your website copy, put yourself in your dream client’s shoes and, after every paragraph, ask yourself: “So what? Why should I care?” If you can’t answer it, that section needs to be reworded or removed altogether
Use your audience’s language – Refer to your voice of customer research when writing website copy for your business
Spin your brand story – Storytelling in marketing leads to +30% conversions when used correctly! And that’s why your brand story must position your audience as the hero and show them the transformation you’ll bring about for them

Fine-tune your brand story with my FREE Storytell to Sell✨ workbook

6. Write a draft for each page

What you actually include and focus on will really depend on your unique business and goals. However, here’s a website copywriting plan that tends to work for most.

Home page

Use it to provide a clear overview of your business and to then direct your visitors to the right page or next step for them.

Some key sections:

Above the fold (everything they see before scrolling down): this should clarify exactly what you do, who for, and how it benefits them, as well as offering your main calls to action
Connecting with your audience’s pain points and presenting your business as the obvious solution
Clear breakdown of your services with links to the relevant pages
Short about section linking to the About page
Newsletter or lead magnet section

About

This page should show your audience why they can trust you with their money—and why they should choose you.

So, you can cover:

How your own experience and mission is relevant to your audience
Why you’re the best possible person for it (e.g. experience, background, certifications, etc.)

And don’t treat it as a dead page: add a call to action at the end (for example, to head to your Services page)

Services

Build it as an overview of all your services to help your audience identify the right one for them at this stage:

Have smaller sections for each of them
Include direct calls to action

Individual service pages

The aim here is to sell that service (duh)

Offer a clear overview of that offer (much like your above-the-fold section on your home page, but focusing on this service alone: what it is, who it’s for, how it benefits them)
Connect with your audience’s pain points
Offer them a solution
Remind them of why they should trust you
Tackle their most common objections
Clarify everything that's included (but try and focus on the benefits rather than features alone)
Include plenty of social proof, like previous results or client testimonials
Wrap it all up, and paint a picture of the final outcome
End it with a strong call to action (but scatter a few more throughout the page)

Contact

Don’t just have a sad contact form without any kind of context!

Remind your audience of why it’s important that they take action or give them a final nudge

Clarify what happens next (for example, if they have to submit a form, you could mention that you’ll get back to them within 2 working days)

BONUS TIP: add social proof throughout your core pages too, starting from your Home

7. Optimise your new website copy for SEO

Remember those keywords I told you to look for?

Whenever possible, every page should target a main one, but you can also use similar keywords to complement it and help your audience find you.

Try and use your keywords in:

Titles and headings
The first 100 words of your copy on that page
A few times within the text
Anchor text (the clickable words of a link)
Image alt text
Your meta description

but only when it feels natural. Don’t force them! Nobody likes to read a robotic text.

You also need to use your headings hierarchically—which, in this case, is just a fancy way of saying “in the right order”.

Don’t skip this step, because wrong headings are one of the mistakes I encounter the most when I review website copy written by someone who isn’t a professional SEO copywriter!

Have only one heading 1 per page (your title)
Then, introduce the next core section with a heading 2 (e.g. “Has your graphic design been holding you back?”)
If the following section is still very much related to that one, use a heading 3 (for example, “How your current graphic design is sabotaging your business”)
If it covers a completely different point, then it should be a heading 2, meaning that it has same value as the previous one (e.g. “Here’s how we’ll change that”)
And so on

Whatever you do, don’t ever use your headings to format your text and make a random sentence pop. Not to be dramatic, but that would DESTROY your SEO.

8. Edit your website copy, and make it easy to read

Rubber and pencil to show the importance of editing your website copy

As they say, “kill your darlings.” Just because YOU like a specific word or sentence, it doesn’t mean you should keep it.

So, while learning how to write website copy is key, I’d say that editing your first draft is just as important.

How to edit your website copy:

Get straight to the point, and remove all the fluff (like “Welcome on my website”)
Remember that the goal of each line is to get your audience to read the next
Still, most people will skim it (that’s where my readability tips will come into play soon)
Clear > clever – Don’t say something vague like “I offer business solutions” just because it sounds fancy. What does that actually mean? Is it a consultancy service? Software? Be specific!
Once again, remember the “so what?” test
Read your website copy out loud (I promise it makes a huge difference!)

How to enhance its readability:

On each page, divide your website copy into sections with headings
Use shorter paragraphs: nobody wants to read a huge block of text
Use bullet points
Use bold (sparingly) to highlight your key concepts and make things even easier for anyone who’s skimming your website copy

9. Use your website copy to inform your design (NOT the other way around)

If you’re updating your existing web copy, don’t try and force your new text into your old sections.

And if you’re learning how to write website copy for a new website, plan its design around your structure and words.

This will allow you to highlight the most important sections and make the entire copy easy to read.

That’s why I always wireframe it before delivering it to my clients—to help them get the very best out of it.

Because here’s the truth: you can learn how to write copy for your website or hire the best copywriter… but if you then upload it as one block of text? Or mess up its design?

Your audience will struggle to read it—and they might easily give up.

So, make your website copy and design work together strategically.

10. Proofread your website copy again, even after you’ve uploaded it

Business owner proofreading their website copy

I swear some typos only show up after you’ve hit “publish”!

So, read your website copy again and look for:

Typos
Repetitions (that’s why reading it out loud is key)
Consistency in spelling and styling (e.g. whether or not you’re using the Oxford comma, ampersands or “and”, etc.)

You can also use proofreading tools like Grammarly.

11. Refer to your website copy through the rest of your marketing and content

Another common mistake I encounter when working with new clients?

Their website copy tells one story, their LinkedIn profile a different one, their Instagram is a separate thing altogether, and so on.

Nope, nope, NOPE.

Your brand messaging and story should be consistent no matter where your audience is reading about your business.

Otherwise:

They’ll get confused
They’ll struggle to understand what your business is actually about
They won’t remember it
They won’t automatically think of you when they’re ready to invest

So, don’t ever lose sight of the brand messaging and story that you crafted when writing your website copy. In fact, you can (and should) even use the same wording in some cases.

For example, the top section of your home page and your social media bios should be extremely similar.

Some website copy examples

It’s easier to learn how to write website copy when you see it in action.

So, here are some examples of the strategic copy that I’ve written for some clients after clarifying their brand messaging.

Key elements:

what type of business this is (“boutique web design agency, digital consultancy, and learning platform”)
who for (“female high-flyers”—like them)
how it benefits them (“take off by starting your own business”, “propel it forward and higher up” and, overall,“fly their business to their dream destination”) and what they can expect, specifically (“website, tools, and resources”)
what they should do next (“find the right flight for you” or, if they’re not ready to invest, subscribe to their newsletter to “learn from our free tips & in-flight magazines”)

And another snippet: