Create the website you're dreaming of, without the stress

Unless you're an expert, writing your own copy is overwhelming. Especially when it's for your brand-new website and even more so when success feels so personal. Your mind races with questions: where do I start? What should I put on each page? Do I even need lots of pages? What tone should I use?

But here's the key thing you need to know: Writing for your website doesn't have to be fancy or polished - it just needs to be you speaking openly and honestly about what you do, how you help people, and why it matters.

I'm Donna Airey, Founder of HomeGrown PR and for over 15 years, I've been helping people to figure out their stories and how to use them. Whether that's early on when they're getting their websites up and running and seeking early visibility, or later when their business is established and they're trying to reach new audiences.

In this blog post, we'll cover the main things you need to think about before you share your thoughts with a designer or start putting your website copy together. If you take the time to put this work in now, at the very beginning, your story will have the longevity needed so that you don't need to re-do the work further down the line.

Before typing a single word

Before you even think about writing your website copy, make sure you're clear on these basic questions:

• What does your business do in one sentence? Imagine explaining it to a complete stranger.

• What makes you different from others offering similar services?

• How do you want people to feel when they land on your site?

• Who are you speaking to? What do they care about? What do they need help with?

Everything you will write (on your website or any other communications) should link back to these answers.

It needs to begin with your story, not a sales pitch

So many parts of our lives are bombarded by sales and marketing opportunities that consumers have become jaded and expect businesses to work a bit harder on the softer sell. They want to first buy into the concept before investing any of their hard-earned cash.

That's why it's so important to be clear on your story and the journey that you take customers on - not the customer journey through your website this time, but the positive impact you could have on their life. What can you do for them, how do you reduce a problem, how easy is it to access or use?

People don't buy services anymore; they buy a vision of scenarios they relate to and want.

To get to the crux of this, there are some really important questions to ask yourself:

• What challenge does your customer have right now?

• Why does it matter now, in this moment in time?

• Is there a trend, shift or conversation happening in your industry that you can tap into?

• How does your service fit into that picture?

This isn't just about being relevant. This is about building your core offering around things that people truly need and building your visibility at the same time. By considering key trends, you'll have topics you can build PR, SEO and content marketing efforts around and when you align all of your channel messaging, that's when you'll see the most success.

If you're still a little uncertain, try this: imagine or actually find a friend to explain your service to, someone who's asking, "So how does that actually help people, right now?" When the answer feels natural and you have a relevant timely part to it, you'll know you've nailed it.

Find Your Voice

Once you know who you're speaking to, it's equally important to think about how they like to be spoken to. Do you trade in a highly professional market that stands on ceremony or are you speaking to people who have concerns and need reassurance so a warm and approachable tone is needed?

Your tone of voice is a large part of what sets you apart from competitors and can actually become a key part of your offering. It needs to be genuine so will likely be an extension of your own personality. Have a think about these questions:

• Are you friendly and chatty, or more measured and professional?

• Do you want to feel like a guide, a cheerleader, or a calm expert?

• Which words or phrases do you always use or avoid?

If you're still unsure about tone, try writing down the key elements of what you do in bullet points. Stop and read them out loud. Change the words if you need, to make them sound more like you. When you sound like yourself, you'll appeal to more people than you ever would as a corporate robot!

Every page on your website needs to do a job

Then it's time to think about the actual pages you want on your website. There are core pages that most sites have in common: homepage, about, services and contact page. There's a reason for this - they provide the essential information that a prospective customer needs to know about you.

Homepage: Here's where you put your sharpest summary of what you do to hook people and guide them to their next step. Be clear on what you do and who it's for within seconds.

About page: Show who is behind the business, explain what prompted you to set it up, and why that should matter to your customers. With small businesses especially, people buy into the person behind the business just as much as the business itself.

Services page: People are going to look closely at what you offer and see if it can really help them before committing any money. Explain what you do, how it helps, and address the challenges of your intended customers.

Contact page: Make it easy to get in touch. It's about removing any final barriers to working with you.

If you ask yourself on every page "What's the one job this page needs to do for me?" you won't go wrong.

Be press ready from the beginning

Here's a little secret: PR or public relations is simply the public perception of your business. Everything you put out into the public domain is being used by people to form opinions about you and your business.

The words you add to your website are often the first intentional thing you put out into the wild and they become the foundation for everything else you do - emails, networking conversations, social media posts, client proposals and yes even conversations with the media.

Getting your website messaging right from the start creates a better experience for customers but it also puts in place the firmest foundations to build a thriving business from. Remember, your website is your digital presence, but once it's set up, you need to help people discover it.

A good website isn't about the perfect words. It's about being clear, honest, and genuinely helpful to your audience.

By Donna

Donna’s bio

Donna is HomeGrown PR's founder and creator of the Hybrid PR Model - a strategic approach that blends senior-level expertise with in-house capability building for scaling businesses. 

Since 2022, HomeGrown PR has provided PR training and consultancy for service-based businesses, helping them build visibility through a model that adapts as companies grow while developing long-term skills within existing teams.

With 15 years of PR experience across agency and in-house roles, including as Head of Cyber Security practice at PAN UK, she has guided teams through data-led strategies that grow visibility and build market differentiation for companies of all sizes.

Donna also founded the Press Ready Club, an accessible online community where small businesses build PR confidence through daily journalist opportunities and practical guidance.

Connect with Donna on LinkedIn or explore HomeGrown PR's services at homegrownpr.co.uk.