Writing Website Copy That Actually Wins Work
Five practical copywriting techniques that double the number of enquiries a small business website produces, with before and after examples from real pages.
Most small business homepages go like this: a welcome message, a paragraph about how long you’ve been established, a list of services, a stock photo of a handshake. Nobody reads it, nobody enquires, and the conclusion is “the website doesn’t work”. The design usually wasn’t the problem. The words were. Here are the five techniques that fix it, learnable in the time it takes to drink a coffee.
1. Lead with their problem, not your history
Visitors arrive mid-thought. They have a problem and about eight seconds of patience.
Before: “Established in 2004, we are a family-run firm committed to delivering excellence in everything we do.”
After: “Boiler stopped working? Gas Safe engineers across Stockport, usually out the same day.”
Your history matters, and it builds trust further down the page. It just isn’t the opening line.
2. Write like you talk
Read your homepage aloud. If you’d never say it to a customer standing in front of you, don’t put it on the page.
Before: “We leverage bespoke solutions tailored to your unique requirements.”
After: “We’ll look at how you actually work, then build something that fits it.”
The corporate register isn’t safer. It just makes you sound like everyone else, which is the actual risk.
3. Be specific, because specifics are believable
Vague claims get discounted automatically. Specific ones get believed.
Before: “Fast turnaround and competitive prices.”
After: “Quotes within 24 hours. Most kitchens fitted in 5–7 days. Typically £8,000–£14,000.”
Numbers, names and timescales do the persuading. Adjectives don’t.
4. Answer the objection you always get
You know the three questions every customer asks before committing. Put the answers on the page.
If people always ask whether you cover their area, say which areas you cover. If they always worry about disruption, describe what the first day actually looks like. Every unanswered question is a reason to close the tab and ring someone else.
This is also the single best source of page ideas. Write down the questions from your last ten enquiry calls; that’s your content plan.
5. One clear next step per page
Most small business pages offer four things at once: call us, email us, follow us, download our brochure, sign up to our newsletter. Choose one, make it the obvious action, and repeat it.
Before: a footer with six equally weighted options.
After: “Call 0161 xxx xxxx, or send a photo of the problem and we’ll quote today.”
Putting it together
Here’s a structure that works for almost any small business service page:
- The problem, in their words, one sentence.
- What you do about it, plainly.
- Proof: photos, numbers, reviews, accreditations.
- What happens next: the steps from enquiry to job done.
- Cost: a range, or at least how pricing works.
- The one next step, repeated at the bottom.
That’s it. No cleverness required, and it beats a beautifully designed page that says nothing in particular.
The exercise worth doing this week
Take your busiest service page. Delete everything above the first mention of a customer problem. Read what’s left aloud. Then add the three questions you always get asked, with honest answers.
Most people find their page gets shorter, clearer and noticeably more persuasive in about forty minutes.
If you’d like a second opinion on what your pages are currently saying, and what they should be, that’s part of the free website review.