Website Copy That Sells: Write for Your Customers, Not for Yourself

Open your website’s home page. What is the first sentence? If it is something like “Welcome to our company” or “We offer high-quality services”, your visitor has already started to leave.

Visitors didn’t come for you

Many business websites talk mainly about the company: when it was founded, its philosophy, its awards. Visitors, though, arrive with a problem and want to know two things quickly: whether you can solve it, and what they need to do to get started.

That’s why, when I start a new website, the first question I ask the client isn’t about colours or design. It is: “What is your customer looking for when they find you?”

Four rules for copy that sells

1. Start from the customer’s problem

The first sentence has to answer “am I in the right place?”. Instead of “Our company has been active in air conditioning since 1998”, write “Air conditioning installation and service in Thessaloniki, with an appointment within 48 hours”.

2. Be specific

Words like “quality”, “reliability” and “professionalism” are on every website, so they say nothing. Say what the customer gets, how quickly, and what makes you different.

• Before: “We offer high-quality services with consistency and reliability.”
• After: “We deliver in 5 working days, with a written 2-year warranty and a technician who answers the phone.”

3. Write for a quick scan

Most people don’t read a page from top to bottom. They scan it. Short paragraphs, headings that say something, lists and bold on the key points all help.

4. One goal and one button per page

Every page should know what it wants from the visitor: to call, to ask for a quote or to book an appointment. One clear button works better than five options.

Bonus: it helps your SEO too

When you write with the words your customers use, you also write with the words they type into Google. Copy that clearly answers a question has a better chance of showing up when someone searches for that question.

Try it on your own website

Read the first sentence of your home page as if you were a customer. If it doesn’t tell you what you do, who it’s for and what to do next, it’s worth rewriting. If you like, send me the link and we’ll look at what can be improved.