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What to actually put on the page

Most website projects stall at the same point: someone has to write the words. Here is how to make that much less painful, and why the writing matters more than the design.

Start with the questions you get asked

You already know your content. It is the things customers ask you on the phone, every week, before they commit. How much does it cost. How long does it take. Do you cover my area. What happens if something goes wrong. Do I need to be in.

Write those questions down, answer each one honestly, and you have most of a website. These are also, word for word, what people type into search engines — so answering them properly helps you get found as well as helping you get hired.

The structure of a page that works

1. What you do, in one sentence. Not a slogan. A sentence a stranger understands immediately.
2. Who it is for. Being specific attracts the right people and repels time-wasters, which is a feature.
3. What it involves. The actual process, step by step.
4. What it costs, or how it is priced. Even ranges help. Pages with no pricing at all lose people who assume the worst.
5. Proof. Photos of real work, reviews, how long you have been trading, qualifications.
6. What happens next. One clear action — ring this number, fill this in, book a slot.

How to write it

• Write how you speak. Read it out loud. If you would never say it to a customer's face, do not put it on the page.
• Cut the throat-clearing. "In today's fast-paced world" and "we pride ourselves on" say nothing. Delete and start at the real sentence.
• Be specific. "Fast response" is a claim. "We usually ring back within the hour" is a fact people can hold you to, which is exactly why it is persuasive.
• Say "you" more than "we". The customer cares about their problem.
• Short paragraphs. People scan on phones. Walls of text get skipped entirely.
• One idea per heading. Someone should be able to read only the headings and understand the page.

What to avoid

• Stock photos of models in an office that is not yours
• Claims you cannot back up — "the best in Yorkshire"
• Industry jargon your customers do not use
• A homepage that is a slideshow with no words
• Hiding the phone number
• Content generated wholesale by AI and published unedited — it reads as filler and search engines are increasingly good at spotting it

If you truly cannot face writing it

Talk instead. Record yourself explaining your business to an imaginary customer for ten minutes, then have that transcribed and edited. Almost everyone speaks about their work more clearly than they write about it. We do this with clients regularly and it is the fastest way through a blank page.

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