Website Content Writing Tips: A Homepage

One of the areas of marketing that many small business owners really struggle with is website content writing. Even if it is not directly them who turn their message into a well crafted copy, coming up with what they should be communicating to their visitors is still a problem.

As much as I am an advocate of creating a website yourself, I believe that the content on it should be delivered by a professional. At the end of this post I even list some of my writer friends whom I can vouch for when it comes to website content writing.

However, I am also aware that for many startups hiring a professional writer is way beyond their budget. Thinking of them I wrote a set of guidelines to follow when creating content for their websites.

In this first post of the series I want to focus on the main entry point to a website, its home page.

THE REAL PURPOSE OF YOUR WEBSITE

Before we go any further with discussing website content writing I want to touch on one more thing, the real purpose of your website. Few days ago I asked some of the companies I work with if they know what it is. Not a single person was able to properly answer the question. I got many different answers. One of the most common one was that a website should simply bring more business, some of my clients mentioned a promotional value of it too. In reality though, its real purpose lies in doing 3 things:

1. Raising awareness about your company. With most business searches happening online these days your website should serve as the perfect introduction of you and your company.
2. Shortening the selling process. Your website should also build your authority and provide your prospects with so much valuable information about you that they would be ready to buy the minute they meet you. A website on its own rarely sells. However it can greatly shorten the sales process by providing your prospects with the most important information they want to know about you.
3. Making it easy to access that information anytime. Your website should also allow your prospects to access this information at any time. They might need to find out or remind themselves of anything they are looking for about you and a website will most likely be the first place they will look at.

Naturally, there are more aspects of a small business website than just those 3, however, they are the key ones. Your website can also serve as a good referral point. Many people will most likely mention it when they are referring you to others. They will use your website as an introduction to you and what your company stands for.

And even for that reason alone your copy should include all the information that may help your prospects make a decision whether to buy from you or not.

Website Content Writing Tips: Your Homepage

Since you now know what is the real purpose of the site, I think it is time we talk about what sort of content you should include on your home page. Just before we begin though, remember, you are not trying to get your visitors to place an order (unless you run an ecommerce store of course, that’s a different story though) but build your image of an expert and authority.

To bring the best results, a properly structured small business home page should answer those 7 questions:

1. What makes you different? One of the most important things in sales is to differentiate your business from the competition. In order to get your prospects to even notice you, let alone consider you for the job you need to stand out from the crowd.

   One of the best ways to achieve that is to state the single greatest benefit of doing business with you. It should quickly communicate your company’s position on the market and make your prospects want to find out more.

   John Jantsch offers some really great advice on the subject, go check it out if you still struggle with it.

2. How you work? By showing your prospects the systems by which you work you define how the working relations with your are going to be. You don’t have to include any graphs and charts here, however, explain clearly how you work and what is involved in the delivery of the project.

   There is also one other aspect of communicating your systems to prospects, it helps you to justify your price. In most cases your prospects don’t realize the amount of work that is involved in what you do. However, by presenting the process to them, you make it much clearer.

3. Why you do what you do? Most companies or their owners have some story behind them. It is usually related to why they do what they do. I am sure you have one too. Use your story to connect with your prospect on more personal level. Tell in a few lines what are your reasons or motivations for doing what you do. I, for instance have lost my first business because of some stupid mistakes I made. Now I try to help other startups to do not repeat them and to build a solid foundation for their business. There is an additional aspect of your story. It is a great way to further differentiate your company from its competition. And stories are also easier to remember too which makes them a perfect marketing tool.
4. Who do you want to work with? I wrote already on this blog how in order to make it in business you have to focus on a particular market or niche (I even dedicated one section of my book to that). Prospects also feel more comfortable working with someone who specializes in their industry.

   State clearly what is the market, niche or industry that you work with to attract exactly those prospects.

5. What you offer? Naturally your prospects want to find out as quickly as possible if you can deliver their projects. Therefore list your core services right there on the home page. It will save your prospects a lot of time with trying to find your Services page (and remember, many of them are not as computer literate as you are).
6. Do you have any examples of how you have helped someone? Nothing works better to convince people how good you are than a “before – after” comparison or a case study. Include a short one on your home page to show how your product or a service has helped others. It doesn’t have to be long, just few lines at most but try to answer those three questions in it:
   1. What was the problem?
   2. What was your solution?
   3. What was the result?
7. Who you have worked with? The final element is a list of your past and present clients. It works really great with reinforcing the rest of your content. It is a fact that a knowledge that other people have trusted you before makes it easier for a prospect to buy from you.

Website content writing is not an easy task, I agree. As I have mentioned already, I advocate that you should get a professional writer to do it for you. However, if you are on a limited budget, consider my advice above then when creating your website copy.

One more thing before I go. All the content I mentioned above may sound like a lot to put on the home page. Do not worry yourself with those things when you are coming up with it though. It is your designers job to fit in nicely on the home page. And if you are following my advice and building your website yourself, there are plenty of good wordpress templates that can easily accommodate all that copy anyway.

FREELANCE WRITERS I RECOMMEND

As I mentioned at the start of this article, I want to give you a list of some of the best web writers I know. I can vouch for them when it comes to website content writing, they really do a great job.

So, without any further ado, the 3 professional writers I recommend you consider for your website:

1. Princess Jones
2. Sharon Hurley Hall
3. Carole Seawert

(Please note that I am not in any agreement with any of those writers. I do not get a cut of a sale if you go ahead with them, nor any other form of gratification. I recommend them because I know that they will do a great job on your site.)

Image by Flickr user, statted