How to write your own website content: a small business guide

Your designer has sent the page plan and asked for “the words”. You know your business inside out, you talk about it all day, and yet the cursor has been blinking at the top of an empty document for twenty minutes. This guide is for that moment. It walks you through what each page needs, roughly how long it should be, how to sound like yourself, and what to hand over so your site gets built without a dozen rounds of “can you just send the text for the about page?”.

Before you write: the customer’s questions and the one-sentence test

Start with their questions, not your history

The most common mistake we see in homemade website copy is that it starts in the wrong place: the year the business was founded, the owner’s career, the values statement. The visitor did not search for your history. They searched for “emergency plumber Colchester” or “dog groomer near me” because they have a problem right now.

So before you write a word, list the ten questions customers ask you most, on the phone, at the counter, on WhatsApp. Things like:

• Do you cover my area?
• How much does it roughly cost?
• How quickly can you do it?
• Are you qualified or insured?
• What happens on the day?
• Can I see examples of your work?

Those questions are your website. Every page exists to answer some of them. Your history can go on the about page, in a paragraph.

The one-sentence test for your home page headline

The first line a visitor reads should pass a simple test: does it say what you do, who it is for and where you do it? One sentence, no cleverness.

“Welcome to our website” fails on all three. So does “Quality solutions for all your needs”. “Patios, driveways and fencing for homeowners across Romford and Havering” passes.

A few more that pass:

• “Dog grooming in Harold Hill for nervous dogs and busy owners.”
• “Accountants for sole traders and small limited companies in Southend.”
• “Secure yard and container storage for trade businesses near Brentwood.”

Put a line underneath that handles the next worry (“Free quotes, usually within 48 hours”) and a button or phone number beside it. That is the top of your home page done, and it is the hardest bit.

Page by page: what goes where and how long

Most small business sites need four kinds of page. Here is what each is for, a structure that works, and a rough length. Shorter is fine if you have said what matters.

Home

Headline (the one-sentence test), a supporting line, a call to action. Then three or four short blocks: your main services with a line each and a link, two or three reviews, real photos, and the areas you cover. Finish with the call to action again. The home page is a signpost, not the whole journey.

About

Open with who you are and how long you have been doing this, in two sentences. Then: what you are known for, who is on the team (first names and photos help enormously), qualifications and insurance, and one or two human details. People hire people.

Each service

One page per main service, not one “Services” page with everything crammed in. A page called “Boiler servicing” can rank for boiler servicing; a paragraph on a general page cannot. Structure it like this:

1. Heading naming the service and the area.
2. Two or three sentences on who it is for and the problem it solves.
3. What is included, as bullets.
4. How it works: book, visit, quote, job, aftercare.
5. Rough pricing or what affects the price.
6. A review that mentions this specific service, if you have one.
7. Three or four photos with captions.
8. Call to action.

If you are a tradesperson, our post on what every tradesperson’s website needs goes deeper on service pages, galleries and quote forms.

Contact

Phone number that dials on tap, email, a short form (name, phone, what you need), opening hours, and an address and map if customers visit. Then the most reassuring sentence on the whole site: “We reply to every message within one working day.” Say it and mean it.

How to write it: scanning, tone, proof and next steps

Write for people who scan

Almost nobody reads a web page top to bottom. They skim the headings, glance at a photo, and decide. Write for that.

• Paragraphs of one to three sentences. If a paragraph fills a phone screen, split it.
• A heading every 100 words or so, and make each heading say something (“What a service includes” rather than “Details”).
• Bullets for lists of three or more things.
• Bold the two or three phrases a skimmer must not miss, such as the price or the area, and nothing else.

Tone: write like you talk on the phone

When a customer rings and asks “do you do resin driveways?”, you do not say “We offer a comprehensive range of bespoke surfacing solutions”. You say “Yes, we do loads of them. Where are you? I can pop round Thursday.” That second voice is the one that belongs on your website.

A trick that works: record yourself answering your top ten customer questions on your phone, then type up what you said. Tidy the grammar, keep the words. It will sound more like you than anything you write cold.

Use “you” more than “we”. “We offer evening appointments” becomes “You can book an evening appointment”.

Proof: reviews, numbers and photos

Anyone can write “reliable, professional, friendly”. Proof is what moves people, and you have more of it than you think.

• Reviews. Copy your best Google reviews onto the relevant pages, with the first name and town. Link to your Google Business Profile for the rest.
• Numbers you can stand behind. Years trading, jobs completed, five-star reviews. Only figures you could defend if a customer asked “really?”. Round down, not up.
• Photos. Your work, your van, your team, your premises. Phone photos in daylight beat stock images every time. Caption each one with what and where.
• Badges. Gas Safe, NICEIC, Checkatrade, insurance. Only the ones you currently hold.

Calls to action: tell people what to do next

Every page needs one clear next step, the same everywhere: ring, book, or request a quote. Put it at the top and the bottom. Make the wording specific: “Get a free quote” or “Book a groom” rather than “Submit” or “Learn more”.

Lower the fear around it: “no obligation” and “usually replied to the same day” each remove a small reason to hesitate.

SEO basics without stuffing

You do not need to become an SEO expert to write pages that Google understands. Three habits cover most of it.

1. One main phrase per page. Pick the thing a customer would type, such as “boiler servicing Chelmsford”, and give it a page.
2. Use that phrase in the page title, the main heading and the first paragraph. Naturally, once each. Then write normally. If a sentence only exists to repeat the keyword, delete it.
3. Name the town you serve. In the headline, in the text, in the footer. Say it the way locals say it.

That is most of on-page SEO for a small site. The rest (Google Business Profile, reviews, citations) is covered in our guide to local SEO for Essex small businesses, and when a site is built on the Standard build we handle the titles, meta descriptions and schema for you.

Common mistakes (and quick fixes)

• “Welcome to our website.” Delete it. Replace with the one-sentence headline.
• We, we, we. Flip sentences to start with “you” or the customer’s problem.
• Jargon. “CPD-accredited”, “end-to-end solutions”. If a customer would not say it, explain it or cut it.
• Walls of text. Split, add headings, bullet the lists.
• Vague superlatives. “Best in Essex”, “highest quality”. Swap for proof: a review, a number, a photo.
• Saying everything on the home page. Move the detail to service pages and link to them.
• No next step. Add a call to action to every page.

Using AI tools responsibly

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and the rest are useful for one thing above all: getting past the blank page. Give them your ten customer questions, your rough notes and your town, ask for a first draft of a service page, and you will have something to react to in a minute. Then treat it as a draft from a keen junior who has never met you or your customers.

• Never publish it unedited. It will be generic and a bit grand. Rewrite it in your phone voice.
• Check every fact. These tools confidently invent qualifications, guarantees and prices. If it says you are “fully certified”, make sure you are, and for what.
• Cut the filler. “In today’s fast-paced world”, “look no further”, “unlock”, “elevate”. Out they go.
• Do not paste in customer data. Names, addresses and anything else personal stay out of the prompt.

The copy brief: what to hand your designer

Here is what we ask clients for at WebProud, and what any good designer will be glad to receive. One document, one section per page.

• Business name exactly as it should appear, phone, email, address and opening hours.
• The one-sentence headline for the home page, plus the supporting line.
• The list of pages, with the main phrase and town for each.
• Draft text for each page, headed and bulleted as you want it to appear. Rough is fine; finished is better.
• Four to six reviews, with first name and town, and permission to use them.
• Photos, named sensibly (“resin-driveway-hornchurch.jpg”), with a caption for each.
• Logos of accreditations you currently hold.
• Your call to action wording and where enquiries should go.
• Links to your Google Business Profile, and anything you must legally show (company number, VAT number).

With that in hand, a designer can build the whole site without guessing, and you avoid the biggest cause of delays we see: waiting on the words. Our website launch checklist picks up where this brief leaves off.

Where to start

Tonight, write the ten customer questions and the one-sentence headline. Tomorrow, record yourself answering the questions and type it up. By the weekend you will have more usable copy than most businesses ever get round to.

If you would rather have help, we will happily look at your draft and tell you honestly what to cut. Our post on how much a website costs in the UK explains what is included at each level, and you can book a free 20-minute scoping call whenever you are ready. We reply within one working day.