What to Write on Your Website (When You Have No Idea Where to Start)
You know what your business does. You've explained it to dozens of people, on calls, in emails, over coffee. But the moment someone says "just write something for your website," you freeze.
The blank page feels different when it's public. Suddenly everything you want to say sounds wrong - too casual, too stiff, too salesy, too vague. So you put it off. The site stays half-finished, or you publish something you're embarrassed by, or you pay someone to write copy that sounds nothing like you.
None of that is necessary. Here's a way through it.
The problem isn't that you don't know what to say
Most people who struggle to write their website copy don't have a writing problem. They have a framing problem.
They're trying to write about themselves - their experience, their credentials, their process - when what a website visitor actually needs is to understand what's in it for them. The shift is small but it changes everything: stop writing about your business and start writing about your visitor's situation.
Everything else follows from that.
Page by page: what actually needs to go there
Home page
Your homepage has one job: help the right person realize they've found what they're looking for - and help the wrong person move on quickly.
That means your first line should describe who you help and what changes for them. Not your company name. Not your tagline. The person and the outcome.
If you run a bookkeeping service, "Clear books and fewer tax surprises for small business owners" tells someone immediately whether they're in the right place. "Professional, reliable accounting solutions" tells them nothing.
After that: a short paragraph expanding on what you do, a photo or image that sets the right tone, and one clear call to action. That's all a homepage needs. Don't try to explain everything - that's what the other pages are for.
Services (or Work With Me, or What I Offer)
This page answers the practical questions someone has before they'll consider reaching out:
- What exactly do you offer?
- Who is it for?
- What does the experience actually look like?
- What's the outcome?
Be concrete here. "A collaborative, results-driven engagement" tells someone nothing. "Six weekly sessions over two months, each 60 minutes, focused on [specific thing]" tells them everything they need to decide.
If you have more than one service, give each its own section with enough detail that someone can self-select the right one. Don't make people guess.
About page
The About page is where most people write a professional bio and call it done. That's a missed opportunity.
Credentials and experience matter - they build trust. But they don't make people choose you. What makes people choose you is a sense that you understand their situation and that you're the kind of person they'd want to work with.
Write your About page the way you'd introduce yourself to a potential client who asked "so, how did you end up doing this?" Cover what you do and who you help, but also: why you do it, what you've learned that's shaped how you work, and a bit of who you are as a person.
Warm and human beats polished and distant, every time.
Contact page
This page needs to do exactly one thing: make it easy to take the next step.
If you use a booking tool, embed it directly. Don't route people through a contact form that leads to an email that leads to a calendar link three days later - every extra step loses people.
A short sentence explaining what happens after they reach out is enough. "Pick a time below and we'll have a 30-minute call to see if we're a good fit" is better than a blank form with a Submit button.
Blog or Resources (optional, but valuable)
You don't need a blog. But if you have anything to say about your area of expertise - questions your clients ask often, things you wish people knew before working with you, perspectives that distinguish how you think - a handful of useful posts does more to build trust than anything else on your site.
People often find a business through a blog post, not a homepage. And reading someone's thinking is one of the fastest ways to decide you want to work with them.
If this feels like too much, start with three posts. Write them like you're answering a question someone actually asked you.
If you're still stuck: look at how others do it
Sometimes the fastest way out of a blank page is to see a real example. Not to copy it, but to understand what a finished page can look like - the length, the tone, the structure - and then adapt it to your own voice.
WebFold's themes page includes demo websites with fully written sample content. Each theme comes with a working example site - Home, About, Services, Contact - written for a realistic business. You can read through them to get a feel for what works, and use them as a loose template for your own pages.
A few things that make copy better, regardless of page
Write to one person. Imagine the specific type of person you most want to work with and write as if you're talking to them. "You probably have a tab open right now comparing three options" is more engaging than "many of our clients find themselves in situations where..."
Cut the filler. Read every sentence and ask: does this add information, or is it just taking up space? Cut phrases like "I'm passionate about helping people" and "with years of experience in the field." Say the actual thing.
Don't bury the point. Put the most important thing first in every section. People scan before they read. If the key information is in paragraph three, most visitors won't see it.
Say what you actually charge, or get close. Fee ambiguity costs you leads. People would rather self-select out than have an awkward conversation only to find out your pricing doesn't work for them.
Getting it live beats getting it perfect
The most common website mistake isn't bad copy - it's no website, or a website that never gets updated because updating it requires too much effort.
Write a first version. Get it live. Then improve it when you get feedback or when something starts to feel off. A working, imperfect site does more for your business than a perfect one you're still drafting.
If you want a site that's easy to keep current - where you edit a Google Doc and the change appears on your site without logging into anything - that's what WebFold is built for. Free plan, no credit card required.
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