The Ins & Outs of Web Copy: What Every Biz Owner Needs to Know
Lil Key Takeaways: This Blog at a Glance
Writing web copy can feel overwhelming, but it’s essential for attracting and connecting with your dream people.
Your web copy needs a double-punch of clear messaging and sticky brand voice.
Good web copy uses storytelling, psychology, and strong calls to action to turn visitors into clients.
Your website should balance showcasing who you are with meeting your audience’s needs.
SEO-backed copy is important to help your site rank higher and attract the right people.
No need to be cutesy to kick things off; let’s just pull our boots on and address the elephant in the room–writing your website copy can be hella intimidating.
Whether you’re writing your web copy from total scratch or trying to refresh and refine your website’s words to make sure your brand voice is super sticky, and your messaging is clear, this process can feel draining in every sense of the word.
Here’s the deal–this pressure feels super heavy because your website copy is actually a big deal.
I don’t mean to add to the struggle, but I don’t want to sugarcoat this–your web copy can make or break whether your dream people find you, vibe with you, and feel inspired to work with you.
Translation? Your site’s words need to be good–and they need to be you.
But what all goes into “good web copy,” and, more importantly–can you write your own? This blog has the answers you’re looking for.
What’s the Deal with Web Copy?
Let’s pull this back to a 101 level just to make sure we’re all on the same page before we press onward into the world of what makes good web copy.
Web copy doesn’t need to be a scary-to-approach phrase. It really just means the words that live on your website tell your audience about what you do and give them insight on where to go next.
In other words, web copy really is just the words that live on your site.
Not so scary, right?
In concept, this isn’t terribly difficult to understand. In execution, though, writing web copy can feel as heavy as that elephant in the room we talked about at the start of this blog. And that’s because writing web copy is a big deal.
Your website is what’s supposed to snag your dream people’s attention, encourage ‘em to check you out, inspire them to see if you’re the right fit, and then act on it.
I get it; that’s a big ask for words–especially if you’re not used to writing compelling and converting words. But what makes web copy doubly challenging is that you 100% don’t want to inundate your people with words.
The more crowded and word-heavy your site is, the less people are interested in taking a peek at it (in most cases).
Web copy is all about strategically infusing your brand’s sticky voice to make an impression, clear messaging so you land with them, sales psychology to delight them, storytelling to excite them, and guidance to direct them on what steps come next.
And all of this is supposed to happen without overwhelming them with words.
Kind of a tall order, right?
Why You Need Strategic Web Copy for Your Site
If you read that last section and thought to yourself, “I don’t know, lady–seems like a lot to ask out of a few pages of words. I might just sit this one out…”, I definitely understand where you’re coming from.
Here’s the deal, though. Strategic web-copy is kind of a non-negotiable in this digital era.
If you want your site to make a dent in the search engine results, connect with the people you actually want to connect with and help you sell your products or services, you’ve got to dive into the wild world of web copy.
And that’s because hella good web copy does a couple of different and important things for your brand.
Flips on the Neon Welcome Sign for Your Dream People: Your brand is special–but it exists in a crowded market where everyone looks and sounds the same. Your website is the perfect place to stand out and show everyone why you’re different. It’s where you can flaunt that special little brand voice of yours, vibe with your people, and make true connections. And all of that helps you show up and show out for the people you call your dream clients.
It Pulls Your Entire Brand Together: You’ve got little pieces of your brand all over the web–Instagram, email marketing, your online shop, Pinterest, etc. Your website is the one perfect lil place that you own entirely. It acts as a hub where you can piece all of those tidbits together for the ultimate masterpiece of your brand.
It’s a Chance for a Full Dive Into Who You Are: Everyone tells you websites are all about your people–and that’s true, to some degree. But your website is also about you–it’s about who you are, what you stand for, your origin story, and why it matters for your dream people. Great web copy harnesses the power of hella good storytelling to help your dream people get the full picture of you and to help them decide if you’re the right fit for them.
They Can Take Action Right Here: Websites afford you something super cool that other digital spaces don’t always offer–the ability for your dream people to find you, connect with you, and invest in you (buy from you!) all in one place. If someone finds you on IG, they can catch your vibe–but they usually have to make their way to your site to invest in your services or snag a product. When someone’s on your site, it’s this all-in-one experience where they can click with you, connect with you, and convert all at one time.
What the Best Web Copy Has in Common: Must-Haves in Your Web Copy
Everyone’s site is different–and for good reason. Every brand has a different dream audience, purpose, goals, and promises.
It makes sense that not everyone’s web copy should be the same, right?
Still, there are some commonalities that weave throughout all the killer web copy out there, and I think it’s hella important to point them all out so you can take a peek at your own copy and ask yourself, “Am I checkin’ the boxes on all of these?”
Clear Messaging
Your web copy is where your messaging strategy shines. If the phrase “messaging strategy” bums you out (like it does for me), just know that messaging is really just what you want to communicate to your people.
Your website’s words should be derived from a killer and clear messaging strategy on who you are, what you do, what makes you unique, why you’re a must, the transformation you can promise, etc.
If you’re trying to write web copy without a messaging strategy, you’re just throwing pretty words at the wall and hoping some of them stick. You need to have a crystal clear understanding of what you’re trying to communicate first.
Sticky Brand Voice
If you know anything about me, you know I could talk Brand Voice all day long. If messaging is the what behind your words, then brand voice is the how.
Here’s the Boundless Copy brand voice definition™(I’m kidding but also not kidding about that ™).
The consistent & curated personality, vibe, & attitude your brand takes when presenting itself to the world. Brand voice is the perfect lil fusion of who you already are and who your dream people need you to be.
Your web copy is the perfect opportunity for you to infuse your personality and your vibe into every word you write. And that voice should be clear and sticky–AKA, something that makes your people double-take when they hear your words.
It helps you stand out, gives you the competitive edge, keeps you top of your mind, and reaches the right people the right way (Psst. your dream people).
Like I always tell my clients, don’t work so hard on the messaging of your brand just to deliver it in a way that no one remembers.
The Power of Storytelling
Storytelling–and really good storytelling at that–can actually help your brand click with and sell to your dream people.
Science doesn’t lie–human brains are wired to connect with and be inspired by stories. When we hear and get invested in a really good story, our emotional brains are triggered, our neurons fire on all cylinders, and we’re more likely to remember something and resonate with it.
Stories can…
Build trust and reliability
Stick with your people
Show your audience you’re for them
Cut through distraction
Inspire action
The words on your website should tell a story.
No, you shouldn’t take this an opportunity to sit your people down for a full-page tale–but you should weave little microstories into your words that they can relate to and resonate with!
Sales Pysch Strategy
That storytelling thing I just mentioned? That’s part of a larger conversation–something called neuromarketing or sales psychology.
When I say your words on your website should be strategic, I’m not just talking about sounding pretty–I’m talking about strategy from a (non-icky) psychological perspective.
Sales psychology refers to the kind of strategy used to understand and influence the psyche of your dream client–what taps into their primal brain, makes them feel good, and inspires them to make choices (like connect with you or buy from you).
Copywriters often call sales psych principles the element that “charms and disarms” your dream people–but I like to think of sales psych-infused words as an effort to better understand and speak to your people.
Inspiring Calls to Action
You probably hear these called CTAs, and they’re crucial elements in your web copy.
Because, yes, you want to charm your people, connect with them, and inspire ‘em to take action–but they can’t actually do that if you don’t make it clear how they can do that.
Your calls to action are the buttons, words, and next steps your people need to take action. That could be:
Buying from you
Joining your email list
Hopping on a waitlist
Filling out your contact form
Downloading a freebie
Inquiring about a new service
Or about a 1 million other things. Here’s the thing about CTAs, though–they should be a beautiful balance of clear and clever.
Clear enough to ensure people know what they’re clicking and where they’re going, clever enough to keep their attention and inspire them to take action.
A Full Dive Into You & Your Business
There’s this ongoing battle about web copy. Some writers and strategists think that the words on your website shouldn’t be all about you–the brand. Instead, it’s supposed to be fully about your people.
I don’t completely buy this–I think it’s a balance. Yes, totally; as consumers, we’re a little bit selfish–we want the words we’re reading to immediately be about us. But we’re also people looking for our kind of people. That means we care about who we’re buying from. To take that a step further, it means we need to be willing to open up, be vulnerable, and let our dream people get to know us on our sites.
You know that expression “people want to buy from people.”
Well, that’s true–but it goes a little deeper. People don’t just want to buy from people; they want to buy from people they vibe with, connect with, get a beer with, walk their dog with, or ally with on Survivor.
It’s not enough to just be a person–you have to be your dream client’s kind of person. The good news? If you understand your dream client, you already are that person–your words just need to make that clear.
SEO-Backed Words
I don’t mean to throw off our fun word vibe by talking about SEO, but I can’t not mention it when we’re talking about web copy.
The long and the short of it is that we have to care about keyword research when we’re writing web copy because we need guidance on how to show up for our dream people.
If you’re a wedding photographer in Colorado and you want your site to show up in Google when your dream people search “Colorado wedding photographer,”– we need to do a little keyword research to ensure that we’re writing your words in a way that furthers that goal.
Done With You Web Copy or Done For You Web Copy–We Can Help With Both
Writing your web copy might be important, but it doesn’t have to be crazy intimidating.
For some biz owners, taking a done-for-you web copy approach is the best way to get the job done. They find their perfect-fit web copywriter, hand it off, and get back something truly magical.
Other business owners (maybe like you?) are seeking a hands-on writing experience so they can learn to write their own words–a done-with-you web copy approach if you will.
The good news? Boundless offers both! We’ve worked with tons of amazing brands to write brand-voice first, strategic web copy that flips on the neon welcome sign for their dream people.
But we also help writers take the power of their words into their own hands and write their own web copy (with our expert assistance, too).
Wanna chat about writing the stickiest, can’t-skim-past words possible for your website? We’ve got you covered, pal.
Hit us up, fill out our contact form, and get ready to make some word magic.
