Writing website copy that converts

The one rule underneath all of it

Write what you would say on the phone. If a customer rang and asked what you do, you would answer in one clear sentence without using the word “solutions”. That sentence is your homepage headline. Businesses become oddly formal in writing, and formality reads as distance.

A quick test for any sentence: could a competitor put their name on it? “We pride ourselves on quality workmanship and customer service” could belong to anybody, which means it says nothing. “We only do bathrooms, and we do about forty a year” could not.

The homepage

Six blocks, in this order. This is not a creative decision; it is the order people make decisions in.

1. What you do and where. One headline. “Emergency plumbing across Reading and Wokingham, seven days a week.” Not a welcome message.
2. Who it is for and what it costs. One or two sentences under the headline, with a starting price if you can.
3. The action. A phone number and a button. High up, before anything else.
4. Why you rather than the next result. Three specific things. Not “quality, service, value”, but “same-day callouts”, “fixed prices quoted before we start”, “we clean up properly”.
5. Proof. Reviews with names, photographs of real work, accreditations.
6. The action again. People decide at different points.

A service page

One page per service you want more of. Each one follows the same shape:

1. The name of the service as the heading, in the words customers use, with your area if it is local.
2. What it is, in a sentence, for the person who is not certain they need it.
3. Who it is for, and when. “You need this if…” is a strong subheading.
4. What happens, step by step. Three to five steps. This removes more hesitation than anything else on the page — people do not fear the price, they fear the unknown.
5. What it costs. A figure, a range, or a worked example.
6. The questions people ask about this specific service. Straight from your inbox and your phone calls.
7. The action.

The about page

It is the second most-visited page on most small business sites, and it is usually the weakest. The mistake is writing a company history. Nobody cares what year you were founded; they are checking whether you are real people who will turn up.

Write about the people. Names, photographs, how long they have done this, something human. Say how many jobs you do, or how many customers you have. Say where you are based. If there is a genuine reason the business exists — you got tired of how the last place did it — say that, because it is the one thing a competitor cannot copy.

Five habits that improve any page

• Cut the first sentence. Almost always a warm-up. The second sentence is where the page really starts.
• Use “you” more than “we”. Count them. If “we” wins by a lot, rewrite.
• Prefer specifics to adjectives. “Fast” is a claim. “Most callouts within four hours” is evidence.
• Short paragraphs. Two or three sentences. On a phone, a five-line paragraph is a wall.
• Say the price, or say why you cannot. Silence reads as expensive.

Words to cut on sight

Not because they are forbidden, but because each one is a place where something specific could have gone instead: solutions, bespoke, passionate, cutting-edge, seamless, synergy, dedicated to excellence, one-stop shop, we pride ourselves on, welcome to our website.

Before you publish

• Read every page aloud. You will hear what your eye skipped.
• Give it to someone outside your industry and ask them to explain back what you do.
• Check every page has one clear action, and that it is the same action.
• Check your headline would make sense to someone who has never heard of you.