I have a little habit.
Whenever someone tells me about their business, I look up their website.
I can’t help myself.
Sometimes it’s beautiful.
Professional photography.
Nice logo.
Great colors.
Everything loads quickly.
And then I start reading.
Or at least I try to.
Because quite often, right there at the top of a website someone has spent hundreds—or thousands—of dollars building, I’ll find something like this:
Welcome to ABC Company!
Underneath it:
We have proudly served Northwest Georgia and the surrounding areas since 1997.
And somewhere not far below:
Our mission is to provide our valued customers with the highest quality products and services while exceeding expectations through our commitment to excellence.
There’s nothing technically wrong with any of those sentences.
They’re grammatically correct.
They sound professional.
They may even be completely true.
And almost nobody is going to read them.
That’s what makes them expensive.
Not because the words cost a lot to write.
Because of what they’re occupying.
The most valuable piece of real estate on your entire website.
The first few seconds of your customer’s attention.
And you’re spending them saying…
Welcome.
Nobody Came to Your Website to Admire Your Website
That sounds obvious.
But look at enough business websites and you’ll begin to wonder.
We tend to build websites from the business owner’s perspective.
We want to tell people who we are.
How long we’ve been around.
What we believe.
What awards we’ve won.
What services we provide.
Why we’re different.
Why we’re qualified.
Why we’re wonderful.
Some of that information matters.
But probably not yet.
Because your visitor arrived with something else on their mind.
A problem.
Maybe their air conditioner stopped working.
Maybe they’ve discovered termites.
Maybe their back hurts.
Maybe their child is being bullied.
Maybe they’re trying to sell their house.
Maybe they’re anxious and can’t sleep.
Maybe their business needs a new website.
Maybe they need a lawyer.
Maybe the sink is leaking all over the kitchen floor.
Whatever brought them there, there’s a good chance they aren’t thinking:
“I wonder what this company’s mission statement is.”
They’re thinking:
“Can these people help me?”
That’s the question your website needs to answer.
Quickly.
Imagine Walking Into a Hardware Store
Suppose I walk into a hardware store carrying a broken piece of plumbing.
Water is currently dripping under my kitchen sink.
I walk to the counter, hold up the broken part and say:
“I need one of these.”
The employee smiles.
“Welcome to Johnson’s Hardware. We’ve proudly served Northwest Georgia since 1962.”
Okay.
“That’s great. Do you have this fitting?”
“Our mission is to provide superior hardware solutions while maintaining an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction.”
Wonderful.
“But do you have this?”
“At Johnson’s Hardware, we believe our customers are family.”
At some point I’m going somewhere else.
Not because I dislike Johnson’s Hardware.
Not because their mission is bad.
Because they haven’t answered my question.
That’s what some websites do.
The customer arrives carrying a problem.
And instead of helping…
We introduce ourselves.
Start Where Your Customer Is
This is one of the simplest changes I make when looking at website copy.
Instead of asking:
What do we want to tell people?
I ask:
Why did they come here?
Those questions produce very different websites.
Imagine a roofing company.
The homepage could begin:
Welcome to Smith Roofing
Proudly serving Northwest Georgia since 1987.
Perfectly respectable.
But what if it began:
A Small Roof Leak Can Become a Very Expensive Problem.
We help Northwest Georgia homeowners find and repair roof damage before it damages the rest of their home.
Now I immediately know:
What they do.
Who they help.
Why it matters.
Or consider a martial arts school.
You could write:
Traditional Martial Arts Instruction Since 1973
That’s useful information.
But compare it with:
Build Confidence. Learn Real Self-Defense. Become Your Best.
One tells me about the school.
The other tells me what could happen to me if I walk through the door.
That’s an important difference.
Your customer isn’t uninterested in you.
They’re simply interested in themselves first.
So start there.
Your Headline Has One Job
People sometimes try to make headlines clever.
I understand the temptation.
Writers love clever.
But clever can be expensive too.
Your homepage headline doesn’t need to make someone think:
“Wow. That’s creative.”
It needs to make the right person think:
“I’m in the right place.”
That’s the job.
If I arrive on a counselor’s website because I’m struggling with anxiety, I’d rather see:
You Don’t Have to Spend Every Day Fighting Your Own Thoughts.
than:
Discover Your Path to Transformation
What transformation?
Financial?
Spiritual?
Physical?
Are we selling yoga?
Business coaching?
Essential oils?
I don’t know.
And that’s the problem.
Clear beats clever.
Almost every time.
People Don’t Read Websites Like Books
When I write a book, I expect someone to begin near the beginning.
Page one.
Then page two.
Then page three.
Websites don’t work that way.
People bounce around.
They scan.
They look at the headline.
Skip a paragraph.
Notice a photograph.
Read a subheading.
Scroll.
Stop.
Scroll again.
Maybe go back up.
Click something.
Leave.
Return three days later.
Your webpage has to survive that behavior.
That’s why structure matters almost as much as the words themselves.
You can have excellent writing buried inside a giant wall of text…
And nobody will ever discover it.
White Space Is Part of the Writing
I’m a long-form writer.
Anyone who has followed me for very long knows that.
I’ve never believed people automatically stop reading because something is long.
They stop reading when they lose a reason to continue.
But there’s another part to that.
Long doesn’t have to look long.
Compare a page containing twelve dense paragraphs with a page containing those exact same words broken into shorter paragraphs with clear headings and breathing room.
One feels like work.
The other feels approachable.
That’s what white space does.
It gives the reader somewhere to rest.
White space isn’t wasted space.
It’s punctuation for the page.
It tells your eyes:
Pause here.
This idea matters.
Now move to the next one.
And especially on a phone, that matters enormously.
A paragraph that looks perfectly reasonable on a desktop monitor can become a brick wall on a six-inch screen.
If your customers are reading your website on their phones—and many are—write and design for that reality.
Subheadings Are Signposts
You’ve probably already been doing something while reading this article.
Scanning.
Maybe you read every word.
Maybe you didn’t.
But I’d bet your eyes noticed:
Nobody Came to Your Website to Admire Your Website
Start Where Your Customer Is
Your Headline Has One Job
White Space Is Part of the Writing
Those subheadings aren’t decorations.
They’re part of the communication.
A good subheading tells a scanning reader:
Here’s what this section is about.
That allows someone to understand the basic argument of a page even if they don’t read every sentence.
Business websites need this desperately.
Instead of:
Our Services
Try:
Everything You Need to Get Your Home Comfortable Again
Instead of:
About Us
Maybe:
Serving Rome Families for More Than 50 Years
Instead of:
Why Choose Us?
Try:
What Makes Our Approach Different
Specific language creates momentum.
Generic language creates wallpaper.
Don’t Make Me Hunt for the Next Step
This one surprises me.
I’ll visit a business website.
Read the homepage.
Become interested.
And then wonder:
What am I supposed to do now?
There’s a phone number somewhere.
Maybe.
Perhaps there’s a Contact page hiding in the menu.
Maybe there’s a tiny button at the bottom.
Or perhaps the website simply assumes I’ll figure it out.
Don’t make your customers work that hard.
Tell them what to do.
Schedule Your Appointment.
Request an Estimate.
Start Your Free Class.
Send Me What You Need Written.
Call Today.
Book a Consultation.
That’s a call to action.
And calls to action aren’t pushy when they’re helpful.
Think about walking into a new building.
You don’t resent the sign telling you:
RECEPTION →
You’re grateful for it.
It removes uncertainty.
A good call to action does exactly the same thing.
One Page Doesn’t Need to Say Everything
Another problem I regularly see is the homepage trying to carry the entire business on its back.
Every service.
Every credential.
Every company value.
Every staff member.
Every certification.
Every frequently asked question.
Every award.
The history of the company since somebody’s grandfather bought his first truck in 1953.
There’s a place for much of that.
It just doesn’t all belong at the front door.
Think of your homepage like meeting someone for the first time.
You don’t shake hands and immediately explain your entire life history.
You introduce yourself.
Establish relevance.
Create enough trust for the conversation to continue.
Your homepage should do the same.
Tell me:
What do you do?
Is it for someone like me?
Why should I trust you?
What should I do next?
If I want the rest, give me somewhere to find it.
The Problem May Not Be Your Website
This is why I’ve become interested in what I call a Website Tune-Up.
A lot of business owners assume their website isn’t working because they need a new website.
Sometimes they do.
But sometimes the design is perfectly fine.
The logo is fine.
The photographs are fine.
The technology is fine.
The problem is the words.
Or the order of the words.
Or the fact that the most important sentence is buried halfway down the page.
You may not need to spend thousands rebuilding everything.
You may simply need another person to look at the page and ask:
What does the visitor see first?
Do they immediately understand what you do?
Does the headline matter to them?
Are we talking about their problem or ourselves?
Can the page be scanned?
Is there enough breathing room?
Do the subheadings tell a story?
Is the next step obvious?
What’s missing?
What’s unnecessary?
What could we say more clearly?
That’s what I mean by a tune-up.
We’re not necessarily replacing the vehicle.
We’re opening the hood.
Sometimes Five Words Are Worth More Than Five Hundred
That’s one of the strange things about writing professionally.
The amount of writing doesn’t necessarily determine its value.
A 2,000-word article might take hours.
A five-word headline might take twenty minutes.
But if that headline sits at the top of a website visited by 10,000 potential customers every year…
Which words are worth more?
Probably the five.
This is why I don’t think businesses should measure writing by the word.
You’re not buying vocabulary by the pound.
You’re buying communication.
Sometimes the most valuable thing I can do is write three paragraphs.
Sometimes it’s deleting three paragraphs.
Sometimes it’s taking the sentence buried at the bottom of the page and moving it to the top.
Sometimes it’s changing:
Welcome to Smith Heating & Air.
into:
Come Home to a Comfortable House Again.
Not more words.
Better placement.
Better purpose.
Better first impression.
Look at Your Own Website
Here’s something you can do without hiring anybody.
Pull up your website on your phone.
Not your computer.
Your phone.
And pretend you’ve never seen it before.
Give yourself about five seconds.
Then ask:
What does this company do?
Who is it for?
Why should I care?
What should I do next?
If those answers aren’t obvious, you’ve found somewhere to start.
Then scroll.
Don’t carefully read every sentence.
Scan it like a stranger would.
Look only at the headings.
Do they tell you anything?
Can you follow the basic story of the page without reading every paragraph?
Is there breathing room?
Are the important ideas easy to find?
Now look at your calls to action.
Are they specific?
Obvious?
Helpful?
Or is your customer expected to figure out the next step alone?
You may discover your website doesn’t need to be torn down.
It may simply need to communicate better.
The Words Nobody Reads
That’s why I call unread words expensive.
Every sentence occupies something valuable.
Space.
Attention.
Time.
And opportunity.
A hundred words nobody reads aren’t neutral.
They may be standing between your customer and the ten words she actually needed.
That’s the part of website writing I find fascinating.
I’m not trying to make every page shorter.
I’m not trying to make every sentence clever.
And I’m certainly not trying to make every business sound the same.
I’m trying to help the right words get noticed.
Because your website isn’t really there to tell people everything about your business.
It’s there to begin a conversation.
And conversations begin when someone feels like you’ve understood why they came.
So the next time you look at the top of your homepage and see:
Welcome to…
Maybe don’t ask whether it’s technically correct.
Ask whether you’ve got something more important to say.
Because somewhere out there is a potential customer with a problem.
They’re holding a leaking pipe.
Or worrying about termites.
Or staring at a damaged roof.
Or searching for help for their child.
Or lying awake with a mind that won’t stop racing.
Or trying desperately to find someone who does exactly what you do.
They’ve landed on your website.
You have their attention.
Maybe for ten seconds.
Maybe five.
Don’t waste those seconds welcoming them.
Help them.
And if you look at your website and think,
“I know what I’m trying to say. I’m just not sure the website is saying it…”
That’s exactly what a Website Tune-Up is for.
Sometimes you don’t need a new website.
You just need to find the words that deserve to be read.