What to say on your website (and what to leave out)

Most small business websites look fine. Where they fall down is the words. A visitor arrives, reads a line about “quality and customer service”, can’t tell straight away whether you do what they need, and goes back to Google.

Getting the words right matters more than the design, and it’s the part most people find hardest, because it’s hard to describe your own business from the outside.

The first few seconds

People make up their minds quickly. The Nielsen Norman Group, who research how people use websites, found that visitors often leave a page within 10 to 20 seconds, and that to keep their attention you need to make clear what you offer within about 10 seconds.

So the top of your home page needs to answer three questions, in this order:

1. What do you do? In plain words: “Kitchen fitting”, not “Transforming spaces”.
2. Where? The towns or area you cover, or where people can find you.
3. Why you? One reason someone should pick you over the next name on the list.

For example (an example, not a real business): “Kitchen fitting across Beccles, Bungay and Halesworth. One fitter from start to finish, and we tidy up every day.”

If someone reads only that, they know whether you’re worth a call.

Why you: be specific

“Why you” is the hardest question, and the one most sites skip. The usual answers (“friendly”, “reliable”, “competitive prices”, “passionate about what we do”) don’t help, because every business says them and nobody can check them.

Specific beats general every time. Some ways in:

• What do customers thank you for? Look at your reviews and messages. The thing people mention again and again is usually your real reason.
• What do you do that others don’t bother with? Fixed quotes, Saturday appointments, tidying up, ringing back the same day.
• Who are you best for? “Older houses with awkward walls” tells the right customer you’re the right person.
• What’s the proof? Years doing it, a qualification, a number of jobs, a named local project. Only say what’s true and what you’d be happy to be asked about.

Write for scanning

Most people don’t read web pages word by word. In a study by the Nielsen Norman Group, 79% of people scanned a new page and only 16% read it word by word. The study is old, but the advice from it still holds:

• Put the most important thing first, on the page and in each paragraph.
• Keep paragraphs short, with one point each.
• Use plain headings that say what’s underneath (“Prices”, “Areas we cover”), not clever ones.
• Use lists for things like services or areas.
• Cut it down. Their advice was to use about half the words you’d use in print.

Use your customers’ words

Write the way your customers talk and search. They search “boiler service Lowestoft”, not “heating solutions”. They ask “how much is a sash window repair?”, not “what is your pricing structure?”.

A good test is to read a page out loud. If it sounds like something you’d never say to a customer in person, rewrite it until it does.

This helps with Google too. Google says it wants content made for people rather than to rank in search, and asks whether a reader leaves “feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal”. Pages written plainly for your customers tend to do well on both counts.

What to leave out

Some things take up space without helping anyone decide:

• Claims anyone could make, such as “quality”, “professional” or “second to none”.
• A long company history at the top. It can go on your About page, where the people who want it will look.
• Mission statements and phrases like “we pride ourselves on”.
• Every service you’ve ever done. Lead with the work you most want. Mention the rest briefly.
• Stock photos. Your own photos of real work, even taken on a phone, do far more.

Show it, then say what happens next

Words work best next to proof. Put a few real reviews near the top, photos of your own work beside the services, and, where you can, a rough idea of price. People are more likely to get in touch when they think they can afford you.

Then tell people exactly how to get in touch and what will happen. “Call or message us. We reply within a working day, and quotes are free.” Our guide to why nobody fills in your enquiry form covers that last step in more detail, and if you’re in a trade, see what a trades website should include.

A quick checklist

• The top of the home page says what you do, where, and why you
• At least one specific reason to choose you, which you can back up
• Short paragraphs and plain headings
• Words your customers would use, read out loud and checked
• No claims that every other business also makes
• Real photos and real reviews near the words they support
• A clear next step, and what happens after it

Want help with it?

If you have a site already, the free website health check tells you in plain English what might be putting people off. If you’re starting from scratch, working out what to say is part of every site we build: we write the words with you, from a few questions about your business. Our brand package goes further, covering how you look and how you sound everywhere, not only on your website.