What Does A Copywriter Need To Know To Write Your Website?
Rachel Bray
Website copywriter for professional service-based businesses. SEO copy and content to get you found online, prove expertise, build trust, and convert your target audience.
How does a copywriter know what to write for your website? After all, they’re not an expert in whatever it is you do – you are. So how will they speak to your customers and tell them what they need to know? Small businesses and entrepreneurs often worry about having their website professionally written. They either think they will have to do most of the work themselves, or that their website copy won’t properly reflect what their company does.
In reality neither of these things are true. Firstly, writing your own website is particularly difficult, no matter how good a writer you are. Good writing?is just one part of the puzzle. We don’t work from a ‘first draft’ that we expect you to provide. We will need some information from you – but not everything. And it’s up to the copywriter to ask all the right questions to get all the information they’ll need.?
What should a website do?
A website should serve many purposes. Amongst other things, it should:
What will a copywriter want to know?
There are some basic things you will need to tell your copywriter so they can do their job properly. They need to get a good overview of your company and what you’re about. There may be questions that seem irrelevant or unnecessary – don’t panic! Not everything will end up on your website. Some things just help us build up a full picture – and we don’t always know what will and won’t be relevant until we start writing your copy.
These are the sorts of things we will want to get more clarity on:
- What your business does
Your business might be quite simple, or it could be very niche or complicated. Either way, it needs to be explained in a way your target customers understand. And if you can’t explain it in simple enough terms for your copywriter to get it, how will you get your message across on the internet? We will still do our own research but we need to hear a basic overview of who you are, what you do, and why.
- Who your business is for (your target market)
Who you are selling your products and services to will determine how your website is written. If you’re dealing with young mothers you would expect the language to be different than if you were talking to CFOs of tech companies, for example. It may need to be very formal or very casual. Your target audience could need relatively simple language and messages or a certain level of education or knowledge might be assumed.?
When you know the demographic you are targeting you can appeal to their interests and target their pain points.?If your website is not written in a way that will appeal to your ideal customer, they will not be interested. At worst, you risk alienating them.
You might already have a brand tone of voice. If you do, we’ll work with it. If not, we can work with you to develop one.
- What makes you better than your competitors
What is it about your company that makes yours special and different? What is your USP, or unique selling proposition? There may be thousands of businesses doing what you do, but no one will do it exactly like you. Communicating this to your target market is very important if you want to differentiate yourself. You want to give people reasons to use you rather than someone else.
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- What your goals and objectives are
A copywriter will need to know what you want to achieve with your website. We’ve already mentioned some of the purposes a website serves, but what matters most to your company? It will be a combination of many things – but how do you see its main purpose? Is it for social proof to build trust and brand awareness? Or is it to sell more products? Too many people see their website as little more than an electronic business card and waste opportunities.
- What products and services you offer
We might only need an overview of what you do and how if we can go away and research it. Alternatively you might have plenty? of literature and other information we can use as a basis to write about your products and services. We’ll need an idea of how much detail you want to go into for each element but this might partly be determined by your website layout, your target audience, and your intention.
We will work with your website designer to make sure we get the layout of your site, or the site map, right too.?
What else matters when you're having your website copy written?
Writing website copy is not just about making sure all the information you want to get across is covered. We’ll remember to put in all the things you might not have thought about. How many websites have you been on that don’t have all the contact information you’re looking for? That don’t have links to other pages or proper calls to action? That don’t tell you what you actually want to know?
Make sure your copywriter writes SEO-friendly copy
Your website copy needs to be search-engine optimised. You want the search engines to return you when people are searching for what you do. Organic traffic, as it’s known, is a great source of potential business. Your copywriter should write with the search engines in mind as well as your target audience for your website to be properly effective.?
You’ll find more information on why you need SEO-friendly website copy here.
Choose a copywriter you trust
Having your website written is a big deal. You need to know your copywriter understands what you want and can deliver that and more. It’s worth talking to a few to see what copywriting services they specialise in and how they approach website writing for their clients.
For example, once you’ve decided to work with me I will arrange a call rather than sending out a generic document for you to fill in. I will have already done some research into your existing website (if you have one). I will have looked at your competitors’ websites too and will be armed with plenty of questions.?
It also means there’s no pressure for you to try to remember everything you want to say or get across in a written document. And definitely no expectation that you’ll be giving me a first draft to polish!
Get in touch about having your website copy written
I’m always happy to have a free chat about how SEO website copy could help. Why not get in touch?