If you’re investing in a website for your business, you want to see a return on your time and resources, right? Good news: The right website copy can quite literally work for your business 24/7. Bad news: With the wrong copy, it will be a wanky piece of cyberspace you’ve probably spent a lot of time or money on to make it look nice.

Want to hear exactly how to create website copy that will attract and engage all the right people, while you sleep? Here’s my guide to website copy your dream clients will love.

Get to Know Your Ideal Client

You’ve got to do some research before you even think about typing up a word of website copy. No boring textbooks or reports here. I mean getting to know your ideal client.

Maybe you’ve already thought about how old they are, what they do for work, and all that other demographic stuff that doesn’t actually tell you too much about someone. I’m talking about going a tad Single White Female, here, and really getting to know what makes your ideal client tick.

You’ve gotta learn your ideal client’s values, fears, attitudes, desires, interests, and entitlements if you want to write website copy that will resonate with them. When you can understand your ideal clients on a deeper — Yes, even a bit stalker-y — level, you can write copy using words and language that will make them feel seen.

You don’t actually have to stalk your ideal client to get inside their heads and speak their language. The internet does the creepy part for you. Start by taking a look at the discovery calls and info (DMs, enquiries, etc.) you’ve gathered from ideal prospects you’ve communicated with.

Then take a gander at Amazon book reviews around topics related to your service, or peek at your competitor’s testimonials. You might even let yourself go down the Reddit rabbit hole to see what people admit to when they feel anonymous.

Once you’re armed with a clear sense of what your ideal clients are looking for and the words and language they use to describe it, you can mirror that back to them in your website copy. When they visit your website, they’ll feel like they’ve found the answer to their service-provider prayers.

A post-it note on a keyboard reads, "Who are you?"

Don’t Make Your Website Copy All About You

Have you ever had a chat with someone who went on and on about themselves without asking a single question about you? Whether it’s your best friend, a bad blind date, or a colleague you don’t usually mind, those conversations aren’t exactly things that make you feel involved.

If you use up all your website copy telling visitors how great you, your business, and/or your services are, you’ll leave the same bad taste in their mouths as a me-filled conversation will. Your website copy should focus on the client, not on you.

So, how can you write website copy that promotes your business, but doesn’t go on and on about your business? Yes, it’s possible. And yes, people will like it so. much. better.

I have a little exercise to help you out, here. Write this down: WIIFM? It stands for What’s In It For Me, and it’s every copywriter’s secret weapon for creating website copy your ideal client will relate to.

To tap into it instantly in your copy, frame your offer with a series of questions that will make your ideal clients feel seen:

Ever felt [X, Y, or Z]?
Sick of doing [X] when you could be doing [Y]?
I know you're here because you hate [X] too, and you know there's a better way.

Looking at your offer from your client’s perspective, you can start whipping up website copy that plays to them and what they want vs. you and what you’re selling them.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Talk About the Transformation

Now that you’ve got a handle on why you should be writing client-centric copy vs. a “me me me” snorefest, let’s bump things up a notch.

Your ideal client needs something, right? They’ve sought out your website because they need to solve some sort of problem (actual or potential) they’ve got on their plates. So, the most important thing your website copy can address is the transformation they’ll experience if they invest in you.

You can wax poetic about all the hard work you’ve put into your offer’s impressive features. Or all the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve spent to make yourself an “expert.” But if you don’t tell ideal clients how you’ll change their lives with your website copy, none of that shit matters.

A cocoon transforms into a Butterly, suggesting the transformation a client should expect from a business.

If this makes sense but you’re not sure what that transformation looks like, try this:

Grab a piece of paper (or open a new Google Doc, you do you) and make two columns: Before and After. In the Before column, jot down:

What your client has before they buy into your offer (limited time, a disorganized business, etc.)
How they feel before your offer.
What their average day is like before your offer.

Then in the After column, note:

What they have after they buy into your offer (more bandwidth, better processes, etc.)
How they feel after they get your offer.
What their average day is like after they have your offer.

This’ll help you shape how you can use your website copy to describe how your offer will create that transformation your ideal clients are searching for.

Cut Out The Jargon

If you’re buying a car, do you really care about what all the parts inside are actually called? Probably not. (No offense, car aficionado friends, but it’s not my jam.) Do you want to know that it’s safe, fuel-efficient, and has somewhere to hold your flat white inside? Hell yes.

If a car manufacturer tried to sell you on a shiny new ride by telling you all about their high-flow cold air intake systems or their cat-back exhaust systems (yes I had to Google these for this article), you’d likely move right on over to the next best option. I know I’d be running away.

Don’t send your dream clients running away from your website by throwing industry jargon at them. It won’t impress them, it’ll bore them… Maybe even annoy them. No one should have to Google what the hell you’re talking about on your website.

Instead, talk to your website visitors like you would a friend. You know, the ones who work in a totally different industry than you, but you still chat about work with over vino sometimes. You wouldn’t go tossing around inaccessible industry terms talking to them, would you? God, I hope not.

Before you write website copy about your offer, think through how you’d describe it to your BFF, or that aunt who always asks “How’s the job?”

Try dictating (Google Docs has a special function for it) how you’d describe your offer to non-industry friends. Or, take a look through your emails and texts and see how you talk to non-work people in your life.

It’s okay for your website copy to sound like you: Actually, I hope you’ll let it. Your dream clients will be a lot more interested in working with a real human being who talks to them like they’re a friend, than an ad machine who spits “Sell, sell, sell!” copy at them.

A collage shows a woman confused by math equations, suggesting someone's confusion when presented a language they don't know.

Make Your Website Copy Snappy

How much fun is it to scroll, scroll, and scroll some more through a website before you get to the bloody point? It’s not. And I’m willing to bet you don’t actually waste time scrolling if you don’t get what you’re looking for pretty quickly.

Think your dream client’s going to spend time poring over your website copy instead of doing better things with your time? That’s a hard no, too.

Your website copy isn’t the place to add a bunch of flowery filler language. Save the winding prose for your journal… Or somewhere no one will have to suffer through it.

The quicker you get to the point with your website copy, the more people will read it, and the more likely you are to get the sale.

It starts with your headline: It needs to hook your website visitors, so they’ll want to see what else you’ve got to say. Hint: Go back to that section on WIIFM.

Skip the long bulky paragraphs and make sure your sentences aren’t too long and waffley. Let your big and important info stand out with italics and bold type. Pique readers’ interest with intriguing statements and points that make you relatable

And when it comes time to tell readers what you want them to do (AKA contact you, buy, etc.), tell them EXACTLY what to do with a clear call to action (also known as a CTA, but as I said: NO JARGON here!).