A new website most often gets stuck not on design or coding, but on text. The design is approved, the pages are waiting for content, and nobody in the company has time to write it. You do not have to write it yourself, though: a link to your current website or a few sentences about the company is enough. The article covers what good copy should contain, how to write it for Google, and a checklist before launch.
Why does a new website get stuck on the text?
I have been building websites since 2014, and the same reasons keep coming up:
- No time to write. The owner of a repair shop or the production manager is busy with customers and orders. Website copy gets pushed to an evening that never comes.
- Your own company is the hardest thing to write about. You know exactly what you do. Describing it to someone who does not know you is a different skill.
- It is not clear what to write, or how much. How many pages? How long should the texts be? What belongs on the homepage and what in the services section?
- Text has two readers. The customer deciding whether to buy, and the search engine that has to understand what the page is about. Writing for both at once is a craft.
- Approval goes round in circles. The owner, a partner and a manager all read the text, and each would write it differently. Without a finished first draft, the discussion revolves around a blank page.
- The supplier does not account for the texts. In many quotes, the content is left to the client. The website is then technically finished, just empty.
Worked example (model figures): a website has 8 pages, and writing and polishing one page takes 2–3 hours. That is 16–24 hours of writing in total, or 2–3 full working days that you have to find alongside your regular work. And that is still without changes after colleagues' feedback.
The result is usually similar: old texts get moved to the new site unchanged, or the launch is postponed. That is why it is worth sorting out the content at the start, not after the graphics. With me, the texts for all pages are part of website design, so you do not pay for them separately.
What should good website copy contain?
Good website copy does not need to be long or funny. It has to quickly answer the questions the visitor came with. A company website should include:
- Who you are for. One sentence right at the top about what you do, who you do it for and where. Visitors decide quickly whether they are in the right place.
- Specific services. Not “a comprehensive custom solution”, but exactly what you do. An accounting firm says who it keeps the books for. A repair shop lists the brands it repairs, and a manufacturer says what it makes and from what materials.
- Proof. Years of experience, samples of work, photos of finished jobs, certificates and references. Anything that shows you can do it, not just that you claim to.
- Prices, or at least a guide. If you cannot state exact prices, write what the price depends on and how the customer arrives at it.
- Frequently asked questions. What customers want to know before ordering: the process, the price, what they need to prepare. A medical practice answers whether it is taking new patients, and a tradesperson whether they also work outside town.
- A clear call to action. At the end of the page, one clear next step: an inquiry, an order or a consultation. Not five buttons side by side.
The difference shows most clearly in the first sentence. “We are a dynamic company with a long tradition” tells the visitor nothing. “We repair washing machines and dishwashers of all common brands in Kopřivnice and the surrounding area” tells them what you do and where. For an accounting office, “We offer comprehensive accounting services” is weak, and “We keep the books and tax records for sole traders and small businesses” is strong. After a strong first sentence, the visitor knows straight away whether you are the right fit for them.
Try it on your own website: read only the first sentence of the homepage and ask whether a stranger can tell from it what you do, who for and where. If not, start rewriting right there.
How do you write website copy so people find you on Google?
SEO copy is not text stuffed with keywords. It is written in the words people actually search for. It also includes a few parts that visitors barely see, but which decide whether they find you at all.
Search terms people actually use
Companies often describe their services in their own way, for example “interior fit-out solutions”. But the customer searches for “custom kitchens Ostrava”. An online shop for spare parts writes about its “range of components”, while the customer types in a specific part and brand. That is why I build headings and text around the terms people type into search, including the place where you operate.
One page, one topic
Each main service deserves its own page. When all services sit on one page, it is hard for a search engine to tell which query to show it for. A manufacturer that does metalwork, steel structures and powder coating should have three pages, not one.
Title and description for Google
Each page should have its own title and description. Google shows them in search results, and they are the first words a customer sees about you. If they are missing, Google puts something together from the page text itself. Keep the description to roughly 160 characters; Google usually shortens longer ones.
Image descriptions
Every photo needs a short description of what it shows. It helps search engines and also people who listen to the website with a screen reader.
FAQs and material for AI search engines
Questions with answers, also written as structured data, help search engines understand which questions the website answers. On top of that, some people now ask ChatGPT or another AI search engine instead of Google. For AI search engines, it helps to have a summary of the website in an llms.txt file and a text version of the pages that they can read easily.
What do you need to prepare for the texts?
Less than you probably think. When I write the copy, you do not need to write anything or find a copywriter.
If you already have a website
A link to your current website is enough. I will take the services, prices, contacts and photos from it. I will keep what works, rewrite outdated texts and add what is missing.
If you are starting from scratch
A few sentences are enough: what you do, who you do it for and where you operate. Bullet points are fine, and so is an email. Add a logo and photos if you have them. I will fill in missing photos from a stock photo library.
Do you already have texts prepared, for example in a quote or a brochure? That is fine. I will use them as a starting point and adjust them so they read well and match what people are searching for.
It helps if you add a few things that only you know:
- what sets you apart from others in your field and area,
- what customers ask about most often,
- what work you want more of, and what you would rather do less of.
None of this is a must, though. We will go through whatever I need you to fill in during the consultation.
How I write website copy: five steps
With me, the texts are not the last thing you wait for. They are written together with the designs, so you will see the five homepage designs with your content, not with made-up sentences. The process goes like this:
- Materials. I take your current website or whatever you have sent me.
- First drafts. AI helps me with the first drafts, so the content for the whole website comes together at once, not page by page.
- Manual editing. I read and fine-tune every text by hand: facts, tone, language and typography. I make sure it sounds like your company, not like an advertisement.
- Your approval. Nothing is published without your approval. I will change whatever you want done differently.
- Edits in the admin. You can then change small things, such as a new price or opening hours, yourself in the Czech-language admin.
Along with the texts I also prepare what the visitor does not see: titles and descriptions for Google, image descriptions, FAQs with structured data, and material for AI search engines. You do not need to order these separately or even know about them.
When I am not sure of something, for example the exact process for your service or the price, I do not guess. I ask you, and only what you confirm goes into the text.
You can see what such copy looks like in finished designs in the sample of five homepage designs for a fictional medical practice. What else website quotes often leave out and then charge for, I cover in the article how much a website for a company costs.
Checklist: website copy
Before you launch the website, go through these points:
- Is it clear right at the top what you do, who you do it for and where?
- Does each main service have its own page, or at least its own paragraph?
- Do the headings use terms people actually search for?
- Does each page have its own title and description for Google?
- Does the website include proof: experience, examples of work, references?
- Does the website answer customers' frequently asked questions?
- Does every photo have a description?
- Are the texts clear, with headings and bullet points, rather than one long paragraph?
- Is there a clear call to action at the end of the pages?
- Do the texts sound like your company, not like someone else's advertising?
If you hesitated over any point, you do not have to sort it out alone. Send me a link to your current website, or a few sentences about the company, and we will go through this checklist together in a free website consultation. I will tell you what the new website should contain and what I will need from you.