Website Copywriting

Regardless of what stage your business is at, you’ll do need to do some foundational work before you start to work with a website copywriter. Before you hire a copywriter, you need to:

• Know who your audience is – Your website copywriter has to know who they’re writing for
• Know what you’re selling – Your website copywriter has to know what products or services to describe and promote
• Be willing to let go – If you’ve done all the writing yourself up until now, you need to be ready to find someone who will do a better job than you… and trust them to do it
• Have time to collaborate – Your copywriter will save you time, but only if you set aside the time to brief them, answer questions, and provide feedback
• Have budget set aside – If you’re down to your last dollar, please don’t spend it on hiring a copywriter… you’re better off DIYing as best as you can until you can afford some help
• Want to grow your reach and impact – If you don’t want to grow, you’ll probably be too scared to publish your updated site (for real – this does happen!)
• Understand what a copywriter does – Don’t just hire a website copywriter because some coach/guru told you to… do some research and then decide for yourself if it’s a good investment

Working on a copywriting project before you’re ready doesn’t make good business sense. So, if a client comes to me and doesn’t have the above essentials in place, I’ll tell them they’re not ready to work with me yet. Simple 🙂

Most clients who book me for website copywriting services are at one of these three stages:

1. Start up: launching their first website

If you’re a startup and you need a clear brand voice and messaging, hiring a professional copywriter makes sense.

A word of warning — if funds are tight, it’s a good idea to keep your launch site simple so you don’t over-capitalise. The good thing about websites is you can always upgrade your copy down the track once you’re ready.

2. Level up: upgrading DIY copy to sound more pro

Some clients DIY their website copy and find this is sufficient to get them through the first year or so of business. But over time, a DIY website can really hold back the brand, especially if they want to charge premium prices and attract better clients.

The good thing about upgrading DIY copy for a business that’s already got customers and clients is that they’ve got a clear business model, product, or service. They know who their clients are and what their biggest problems are. The website copywriter’s job is to refine the brand voice and turn all of these insights into copy that connects with the audience and helps to drive enquiries or sales.

3. Brand refresh: updating their website and brand

Some clients have already worked with a professional website copywriter before. But over time, brands change, services start and stop, and the audience comes across new problems. Most businesses will need to make minor tweaks to their copy every few months (depending on what stage of business they’re at). But every few years, there’ll likely be a big enough shift in the business to require a complete refresh of the website copy. A lot of the time, this happens alongside a new website design and restructure.

TIP: No matter whether you’re at stage 1, 2, or 3, always contact your website copywriter early on in the process. Your copywriter should be involved in planning your project, site structure, pages, content, and more. And that should (ideally) happen even before you book your web designer.

Regardless of what stage your business is at, you’ll need to do some foundational work before you start to work with a website copywriter. Before you hire a copywriter, you need to:

• Know who your audience is – Your website copywriter has to know who they’re writing for
• Know what you’re selling – Your website copywriter has to know what products or services to describe and promote
• Be willing to let go – If you’ve done all the writing yourself up until now, you need to be ready to find someone who will do a better job than you… and trust them to do it
• Have time to collaborate – Your copywriter will save you time, but only if you set aside the time to brief them, answer questions, and provide feedback
• Have some budget set aside – If you’re down to your last dollar, please don’t spend it on hiring a copywriter… you’re better off DIYing as best as you can until you can afford some help
• Understand what a copywriter does – Don’t just hire a website copywriter because someone told you to… do some research and then decide for yourself

Working on a copywriting project before you’re ready doesn’t make good business sense. So, if a client comes to me and doesn’t have the above essentials in place, I’ll tell them they’re not ready to work with me yet.

Every copywriter you work with will have a slightly different process. My process is pretty front-heavy. That’s because I like to spend a good chunk of time making sure I’m the right person to work with a client and that the project fits with their goals. Plus, I like to spend a lot of time understanding their business, their audience, and researching before I write the copy.

Here’s how I work with clients, from initial enquiry and proposal to writing, editing, and launching the copy:

Step 1: Enquiry and Chat
Most clients start by filling out an enquiry form, and from there, I’ll schedule a Zoom call. On this call, we’ll go through a bunch of website and business info, and they’ll get the chance to ask any questions about my website copywriting process.

Step 2: Plan and Proposal
After we chat, I’ll have enough info to put together my recommendations and a proposal (with terms and conditions attached). If this fits the client’s needs, budget, and timeline, they’ll accept. Then I’ll send through the initial invoice and we’ll schedule the project.

Step 3: Briefing, Research & Supporting Docs
Most of the time, I’ll schedule another call for further briefing with the client. I’ll conduct audience, competitor, and keyword research. And depending on the project, I might also create some online surveys for Voice of Customer research. From this, I’ll be able to create a document with SEO recommendations and another document that outlines brand messaging, including tone of voice, USP, taglines, and key messages. Once approved, these will be used to guide the copy drafts.

Step 4: Writing
Then it’s time to start drafting. It all happens in Google docs so we can collaborate easily. Once the first draft of the website copy is ready, my client gets the chance to go through it and provide me with feedback using the comments or suggestions tool. I include up to two revisions so I can get the copy just right.

Step 5: Ready for Launch
The final version of the website copy is neatly laid out in Google docs (SEO meta titles and descriptions included). I use tables to structure the copy and show things like buttons, columns, and sections — so that it resembles a website layout. If the client a little tech savvy, they can put it straight into their content management system (like WordPress), or send it off to their web designer.

Of course, I tailor this process to each individual client. If it’s a smaller scale project or a client I’ve already worked with, I might do a quick informal proposal — and I might not need to create as many supporting documents.

Website copywriting prices vary hugely, from under $100 per page, right up to six-figure projects. The main factors influencing the cost of hiring a website copywriter include: experience, demand, niche specialisation, skill level, special skills, scope, urgency, and potential risk/reward.

The more experienced, skilled, and specialised your website copywriter is, the more they’ll charge. And if your project requires more words or pages, or needs to be delivered urgently, you can expect your website copywriting costs to go up.

Projects will also cost more if there’s a lot of risk associated with getting your project wrong (e.g. government, medical, or high-profile) or a high potential ROI (high ticket items or high volumes of traffic). That’s because businesses in high risk/reward situations prefer to work with the most experienced, skilled copywriters possible to maximise their chances of success.

Maybe you just want a professional writer who can put something basic together or edit out your spelling mistakes. If so, there are plenty of great copywriters out there who should fit your needs.

But if you need to tick a lot more boxes than that (on-brand, SEO, conversion, etc.) finding the right website copywriter can be tricky. In fact, you might have to try a few different copywriters before you find one you’re happy to work with long-term.

Here are some prompts when researching potential website copywriters to narrow down your options and choose the right one for you:

• Do they have experience writing website copy in my niche/industry?
• Do I like the example styles in their website copy portfolio?
• Do they have plenty of positive testimonials from real clients?
• Do they have a website that demonstrates good copywriting practices?
• Do they break up their copy with headlines and spaces so it’s easy to read on mobile?
• Do they demonstrate a good understanding of conversion copywriting best practices?
• Do they use clear calls-to-action on every page?
• Can they do SEO copywriting and either suggest keywords or work with my keyword list?
• Is it clear that they write for humans, not just Google?
• Do they understand the bigger picture, such as marketing strategies and business goals?
• Do they have a clear website copywriting process?
• Can they collaborate with my SEO person and web designer to create a better site?
• Does their availability fit with my deadline?
• Does the investment make sense for where my business is at right now?
• Are they easy to work with and a good fit for my team?

I’m confident that these questions will help you compare potential copywriters and find one who knows what they’re doing and is a good fit for your business. But if you’re still unsure, test them out on a smaller-scale project first. You’ll quickly find out whether you like their writing style, communication, and process.