Quick answer
- Write the words before the design starts. The design is built around them, not the other way round.
- Begin with one sentence that says who it is for, what you do and the outcome they get. Everything else expands on it.
- Home page formula: a headline, a sub-headline that says how, proof you can back up, three benefits and one call to action.
- Each page has one job. The about page builds trust, service pages answer questions, the contact page says what happens next.
- Use plain words, short sentences and "you". Cut jargon and anything you would not say out loud to a customer.
- Use the words customers actually search for, and treat page titles and meta descriptions as copy.
- Draft it, test it on a real customer, read it aloud and cut it by a third. Hire a copywriter if writing is not your strength.
The words on your website do more work than the design. Visitors decide within seconds whether you do what they need, and they decide from the headline, not the colour scheme. Yet copy is the part of a website project that founders most often leave until last, and the most common reason a launch slips.
Why the Words Come First
Good design is built around content, not the other way round, which is why we ask for the copy, or at least a solid draft, before design begins. Our guides to writing a website design brief and the website design process both show where it fits. A designer working with real headings and paragraphs can set the hierarchy, the spacing and the calls to action properly. A designer working with placeholder text is guessing.
Start With One Sentence
Before you write a single page, write one sentence with three parts: who it is for, what you do and the outcome they get. "We help independent cafés take online orders without paying marketplace commission." "Accountancy for freelancers who want their tax done without the dread." "Branded workwear for trades businesses, delivered in five days."
The sentence will take longer than you expect, because it forces decisions you may have been avoiding. Once it exists, pin it somewhere visible. Every page on the website is an expansion of it, and anything that does not support it probably does not belong.
The Home Page Formula
Most effective home pages for a new business follow the same structure, and there is no prize for inventing a new one.
Headline
What you do and for whom, in a dozen words or fewer, understandable by a stranger in five seconds. It is not a slogan, a welcome or a mission statement.
Sub-headline
One or two sentences that say how you do it, or what makes your version different. This is where the detail that did not fit the headline goes.
Proof
Something that shows you can be trusted, as early on the page as possible: a client quote, the names of businesses you have worked with, a review score, a qualification or accreditation, or simply the founders' relevant experience. Use what you have and keep it honest.
Three benefits
Three short blocks, each with a heading and a sentence or two, each describing an outcome for the customer rather than a feature of your service. "No long contracts" is a benefit. "Flexible subscription model" is the same thing described from your side of the desk.
One call to action
Decide what you want visitors to do and ask for it, in the same words, at the top of the page and again at the bottom. Get a quote, book a call, start a free trial. If you offer three different actions, people will do none of them.
Before and after
Take an invented bookkeeping business for freelancers. The first draft of the home page opened with: "Welcome to Ledgerly. We are passionate about delivering innovative financial solutions that empower businesses to reach their full potential." It says nothing a visitor can use.
Rewritten with the formula: the headline becomes "Bookkeeping for freelancers who would rather be working." The sub-headline says how: "We keep your books up to date, chase your late invoices and file your tax return, for a fixed monthly fee." Proof follows in the form of a short client quote with a name and a trade. The three benefits are "Nothing to install", "A real person who knows your business" and "Your tax return filed early, every year". The call to action is "Book a free 20-minute call". Same business, same price, and now a stranger knows in five seconds whether it is for them.
What Each Page Needs to Say
About
New businesses are bought on the strength of their founders, so this page matters more for a startup than for an established company. Tell the story briefly: who you are, what you did before, why you started this business and what you believe about how it should be done. Add the credibility you have, with photographs of real people rather than stock images, and keep it to a few hundred words.
Service or product pages
One page per service, each following a simple order: the problem the customer has, what you do about it, how it works step by step, how pricing works, the questions people usually ask and a call to action. Write it for someone who has never bought this kind of service before and is slightly nervous about it.
Contact
The most neglected page on most websites. Say what happens next: who will reply, how quickly and what the first conversation involves. "Send us a few details and Sam will reply within one working day to arrange a call" removes the worry of being pushed into a sale, and more people will fill in the form.
Pricing
If you show prices, say what is included, what is not and what moves a quote up or down. If you do not, say how pricing works and what a typical project costs.
Tone and Voice
Write the way you would speak to a customer across a table. That means plain words rather than impressive ones, short sentences, "you" more often than "we", and no jargon unless your customers use it themselves.
Consistency matters as much as the words. The tone of the website should match the logo, the colours and everything else the brand does, which is one reason the branding and the website work best when they are developed together. Our guide to startup logos and branding explains what to have in place before the design starts, and when we design a logo and brand identity alongside a website, the look and the words are developed to pull in the same direction.
Length and Scannability
People scan web pages before they read them, so structure the page for scanning: a clear heading every few paragraphs, lists where there is a list to make, one idea per paragraph and the important words at the start of sentences. As a rough guide, a home page needs 300 to 600 words and a service page 500 to 900, which is enough to answer the customer's questions without padding.
Use the Words Customers Search For
Write the way customers describe the problem, not the way the industry does. If people search for "bookkeeper for freelancers", that phrase belongs in the headline and the page title, naturally, rather than "financial administration solutions".
Page titles and meta descriptions are copy too. The title is the headline Google shows in results and the description is the sentence under it, so they should be written with the same care as the page itself, with the business name and the service in the title and a reason to click in the description. Our guide to getting a startup website found on Google covers the rest of the search basics.
A Working Process
- Write in a shared document, one page per section, with the headings in place before the paragraphs. The designer can work from it directly.
- Give it one owner. Copy written by committee ends up saying everything and nothing. Others can comment; one person decides.
- Test it on a customer. Show the home page draft to someone who matches your ideal customer and ask them what the business does. If they cannot tell you, rewrite the headline.
- Read it aloud. Anything you stumble over, your visitors will too.
- Cut it by a third. Every first draft is too long. Remove the adjectives, the throat-clearing introductions and anything that repeats.
Using AI for a First Draft
AI writing tools are useful for getting past a blank page. They are poor at knowing what makes your business different, because they do not know your customers, and left unedited they produce the same smooth, generic copy for every business in every industry. Use one for a first draft if it helps, then add the specifics only you know, remove anything that sounds like everyone else and check every claim is true. Our guide on working with a website designer who uses AI looks at where the tools help and where they do not.
When to Hire a Copywriter
Plenty of founders write perfectly good website copy with the method above. A professional copywriter earns their fee when writing is not your strength, when the website is your main sales channel and small improvements in conversion matter, or when you simply do not have the time. In the UK, freelance copywriters typically charge from a few hundred pounds for a home page to a few thousand for a full website, depending on experience and the amount of research involved.
When we design and build a startup website, we advise on what each page needs to say and shape the structure around your draft, and we can quote for copywriting alongside the website if you would rather hand the writing over. Our startup website design prices explain what a project includes, or contact us with your one sentence and we will take it from there.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many words should a home page have?
Roughly 300 to 600 words is typical for a startup home page: enough to say who it is for, what you do, why you can be trusted and what to do next, without turning into an essay. Service pages usually run longer, often 500 to 900 words, because they have to answer the questions a customer has before they get in touch.
Should I write the copy before the website is designed?
Yes, or at least a solid draft. Designers work best with real headings and paragraphs, because the length of the words determines the layout. Design built around placeholder text usually has to be reworked when the real copy arrives. Waiting for content is also the most common reason a website launch slips, so starting early protects your timescale.
Can AI write my website copy?
It can write a first draft, and that is a reasonable way to get past a blank page. It cannot know your customers, your real differences or the way you talk, so the draft will be generic until you edit it heavily. Treat it as raw material, add specifics only you know, cut the filler and check every claim is true.
What is a call to action?
The thing you want the visitor to do next, written as an instruction: get a quote, book a call, start a free trial, see prices. Every page should have one, it should be the same one throughout the page, and it should say what happens when the visitor clicks. A page without a call to action leaves people to guess, and most of them leave instead.
Do I need a copywriter for my startup website?
Not necessarily. If you can explain your business clearly to a stranger in conversation, you can write a workable first version with the method in this guide. A copywriter is worth paying for when writing is not your strength, when the website is your main sales channel or when you are short of time. We can quote for copywriting alongside the website if you would like that help.