Improve your website copy
Your copy is one of the most important elements of your website, and also plays a huge part in your brand personality. You can always look to improve your website copy, since the way in which you speak to your ideal clients/customers is important because your audience:
Identify with the language you use
Identify with your tone
Connects with you on an emotional level
As well as respecting a few minimalist design concepts (which we'll move on to in a sec), we will first say that your copy and brand go hand in hand, and so one of THE most important things to keep in mind when writing, is your brand voice. Speak how your ideal client speaks, and use the language that they would use. Think about your brand personality when planning this (for more on your brand personality, here’s another blog post you may like - how to create the best website design for your branding).
The 8 second rule …
Your website has less than 8 seconds to grab your visitor’s attention, and if they land on the homepage, the first bit of copy is significant in doing that. This is usually the ‘tagline’ and should consist of the following (as the primary info):
Who you are
What you do
Who you serve
It would also consist of your business or brand’s unique niche (e.g. brand message, pitch, value proposition, etc).
It’s at this stage too, that your site visitor might be inspired enough to take action to the next step of the user journey! And, friend, your copy has so much to do with it!
Improving your website’s copy
Minimizing your copy
Keep it short and concise; your copy needs to be to the point and you don’t want to write paragraphs and paragraphs of copy in order to bring your story across! Your site visitor doesn’t have the time to read for a long time, and people will always skim over text. Also put yourself in their shoes for a second, when you see a lot of text on a page, are you really tempted to sit and read through all of it?
No more than 5-7 links in your primary navigation; your primary navigation should follow your intended user journey. We would highly recommend to not include pages which are irrelevant to what you’re trying to achieve with your website (e.g. probably not a good idea to include your ‘Blog’ if you’re trying to get your visitors to hit the ‘Contact You’ link).
Use bullet points; don’t be afraid to use bullet points to quickly put across your message. When using bullet points, make sure to stick to sentences and not bullets of long paragraphs!
Break up the text; do this with plenty of negative space and/or images.
Improving your main website copy
Tagline; as we mentioned earlier this is the unique sales pitch that you’re giving to your website visitors, and it’s the first thing that they’ll see. Here are the main points you want to consider when (or let’s think of this as the formula) coming up with your tagline:
Who are you?
What does your business do; product or service?
Where are you based; only if geographically important?
Who do you serve?
What makes you unique?
Calls to actions (CTAs); keep these exactly that, asking your site visitor to take action. Phrases like, ‘contact me’, ‘let’s work together’, ‘get pricing’, ‘read my blog’. You want to write these so that you’re inviting them to do something, but also use language which your audience will absolutely love and connect with (e.g. playful, professional, etc).
About you; although this copy is ‘about you’, it’s not entirely! You’re writing in a way which talks about who you are, all the while you want your website visitor to read it and think ‘yeah, I can totally relate!’. Include the following:
Your name
A little about your family (e.g. if you’re a parent, or if this is relevant)
The story behind your business or brand
Your likes/dislikes
FAQs; use this opportunity to answer those questions which you’re always getting asked! It’s pretty simple here, list your main 4-6 questions & answers. If you have more than this, then you can use the Accordion block on Squarespace (this packs the answers into a neat block instead of a bulky and unattractive list, and so respects the minimalist rule).
Do a little website audit today, and take a look at where you can potentially improve your copy.
When we work on custom websites with our clients, although our service doesn’t include website copy, we provide some tools which help in producing great text for their site.
If you’re looking to make a life changing investment and see great shifts in your business, then get in touch with us, friend!
