How to write your own website copy (without sounding like everyone else)

Writing your own website copy is one of those tasks that feels straightforward until you sit down to do it. You know your business. You know what makes you good at what you do. And yet the moment you open a blank document and try to write your homepage headline, something strange happens: everything sounds either wildly generic or weirdly formal, and nothing quite says what you actually mean.

This isn’t because you can’t write. It’s because website copy is a specific kind of writing that most people have never been taught — and some of the things that make you good at other kinds of writing, like nuance and qualification and depth, can actively work against you here.

Here’s a practical approach to writing copy that sounds like you, speaks to the people you want to hire you and does its job.

Start with your client, not with yourself

The most common mistake in DIY website copy is starting from the inside out. You know your methodology and your process, so you write about those things first.

But a visitor landing on your homepage cold doesn’t care yet about your methodology. They care about one thing: is this relevant to me?

The most effective homepage copy starts from the client’s perspective. What is the problem they have that brings them to you? What does their situation look like before they’ve worked with you? What do they want to be true that isn’t yet?

Start there. Lead with their situation, then introduce yourself as the person who can shift it.

A useful practical exercise: collect every email or message you’ve received from enquiring clients, particularly the ones that explain why they were getting in touch. The words they use to describe their problem are the words you should be using in your copy.

The above-the-fold formula

The section of your homepage visible before someone scrolls needs to do three things in as few words as possible: say what you do, say who you do it for and give someone a reason to stay.

A reliable structure:

Headline: what you do and who for.

Subheadline: what that makes possible for them.

For example: “Web design for solo business owners. A website that works as hard as you do — without you having to build it yourself.”

That’s not the most poetic copy in the world; but it answers all three questions immediately: what (web design), who for (solo business owners) and why stay (it works for you, and you didn’t have to do it yourself).

Avoid headlines that are clever without being clear. If your headline works better as the title of a lifestyle blog than a description of a service business, it’s probably not earning its place.

Write how you actually talk

One of the most reliable signs that copy will underperform is when it sounds like a slightly more formal version of the person who wrote it. Words like “bespoke,” “leverage,” “holistic” and “seamlessly” tend to appear in copy written by people who are trying to sound professional — and end up sounding like an industry brochure instead.

Read your draft copy out loud. If you’d never say a sentence in conversation, it probably shouldn’t be on your website. If a phrase makes you wince slightly as you say it, remove it.

Your website copy should sound like the best version of how you’d introduce yourself to someone who’d be a perfect client. Clear, confident and specific — not formal, not stiff and not trying to appeal to everyone.

Page by page: what each section needs

Homepage

Clear positioning, one specific CTA and some form of social proof — a testimonial, a client outcome or a brief case study reference — visible before someone has to scroll too far.

About page

This is the page most people either over-write (everything about their background and journey) or under-write (two sentences and a photo). The about page isn’t your biography; it’s the answer to “why would I trust this specific person with my problem?”

Start with what matters to your clients — why this work is important to them — before you talk about yourself. Then introduce your background in terms of why it makes you well-placed to help. End with something that makes you feel like a person: a detail that gives the reader a sense of who they’d actually be working with.

Services pages

Lead with the outcome, not the deliverable. “A website that positions you clearly and converts cold traffic” works harder than “a five-page custom website.” Then describe what’s included, how the process works and what someone needs to do to get started.

Include pricing, or at minimum a clear indication of the investment range. Withholding pricing doesn’t protect you from price-sensitive clients; it just creates friction for everyone else.

Contact page

Keep it short. Tell people what to expect after they get in touch and how long they’ll wait for a response. A simple form — name, email and a brief description of what they need — is better than a long questionnaire that feels like homework before the relationship has started.

A note on keywords

If you want your website to be found on Google over time, some awareness of keyword intent is useful. This doesn’t mean stuffing your copy with phrases; it means writing about topics in the language your potential clients are actually searching.

Think about the questions your ideal clients are Googling before they find someone like you. “How to get more clients as a [role],” “how much does a website cost,” “do I need a website or can I just use Instagram.” The answers to those questions are the topics your copy and blog should address.

Google Search Console (free, once your site is live) shows exactly what searches are bringing people to your site. Google’s Keyword Planner is useful for research before launch.

The truth about writing your own copy

You can write your own website copy, and many people do so successfully. The challenges are the curse of knowledge — it’s hard to see your own clarity problem from inside it — the blank page problem and the closeness problem, which makes it hard to evaluate your own work objectively.

If you write a draft and it doesn’t feel quite right, a professional copy edit or a copywriting consultation can often get you where you need to be without commissioning a full copywriting project. Fresh eyes and a specific brief go a long way.

Eleven Eleven Studio includes copy direction in every project and as an add-on service. Find out how it works by getting in touch via our contact page.