When does your business need to hire a website copywriter?

Hiring a website copywriter is just one of a thousand ways that you outsource an area of your business to decrease demands on yourself and increase demand for your services. 

Three scrolls on any social media platform will tell you that there are countless things that you could be doing, or professionals that you ‘should’ be hiring to wear fewer hats as a founder, while at the same time, boosting business. 

Deciding how to allocate your budget when there is so much expert advice to choose from is a big deal. 

I specialise in website copy because I know the impact that a strategic and well-written website can have for a small business - both for conversion and visibility. But when’s the right time to drop the pennies on a professional copywriter? 

Let’s find out, shall we? 

But first: What is a website copywriter?

A website copywriter writes to turn website visitors into customers or leads.

Using audience-focused, persuasive writing techniques, they guide attention and drive visitors toward a specific action, such as buying a product, booking a call, or signing up for a newsletter. 

A great website copywriter will go beyond basic writing skills by combining customer psychology, marketing strategy, user experience (UX) principles, customer data, analytics, competitor research, tone of voice, messaging strategy, SEO and more to make a website perform as a 24/7 digital salesperson. 

Can’t you just write your website yourself?

You can read, you can write, you can string a sentence together. Hell, you can even drop a pun when asked. But does that mean you can or even should write your website yourself? 

Well, website copywriting is different to regular writing for many reasons. First, there's the actual structure of your website; you need a proper understanding of what each page is for - because every page has a different job to do

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Then there's the writing on the page itself.

You need to think about writing your website copy for humans. When I say humans, what I actually mean is a very specific set of people - your target audience. Your website copy needs to connect with them, so that they remember you and reach for you when they're ready to buy. So you must understand how to write persuasive copy that guides and nudges toward action. 

You also have to structure and write it so that bots can crawl your web copy and surface you on Google at the right time, to the specific audience you’re aiming for. That’s called on-page SEO or SEO copywriting; you can learn to do this but it takes time and experience to get it right.

And before you put pen to paper, or hands to keyboard, when it comes to writing website copy that converts, you really need to consider buyers across all stages of the journey, from ‘never heard of you ' through to purchase-ready and beyond.

So yes, in theory you can write your own website - but for a website to act as a website (by promoting and selling your product or service) you have to learn the craft first.

Perhaps the better question is whether you have the time and resources to become a copywriter yourself, or whether it would be a better investment to just hire someone who already knows what they’re doing with the words?  

The biggest problem with a DIY website

What I see so often with DIY websites is that they’re undervalued and underused for what they're actually for. 

Founder-written websites often (not always!) tend to feature heavily inward-facing content. They’re often accidentally self-centred. That’s because it’s a learned skill to remove yourself from the writing and put your audience’s needs first, and say only what they need to hear. 

Your website is primarily a selling tool - not a CV or a journal. It’s there to build trust and to be an active advertisement for your brand. It’s a legitimacy-proving thing that puts you in front of the exact people who are searching for you at any given time. 

And did you see what you’re paying for your website hosting? Mmhmm. A tidy sum. It pays to get it right.

Also, bear in mind that all the marketing you’re doing around and outside of your website, paid for with money and/or time, simply won’t do as well as it could do if your website isn’t first positioned to do the job it's designed to do. 

And by that I mean, imagine spending a chunk of your budget on ads, or slogging away on social media, making reels and the like. All those avenues are pointing back toward your website - if you don’t have the copy in place to properly welcome your prospects and tell them exactly what they need to hear to stick around, or make their next click - then you’ve got a pretty leaky marketing investment on your hands.

So when is the right time to hire a website copywriter?

Well, there’s no wrong time. 

If you can budget for expert copywriting advice and help with what is essentially your most important marketing asset, please do so. 

But I advise you to think carefully about the type of copywriting support you choose. Don’t assume that the only option is to go all out on a big ol’ throw the baby out with the bath water website copywriting project. 

A business that’s been running for 8 years, has a professionally designed site, a wealth of customer insight, Google Search Console data, an established tone of voice and well-defined audience, will need different support to a business that’s six months old, still experimenting with their brand messaging and yet to niche into a defined audience. 

(Which is why I’ve built a range of copywriting services that you can match to your business at any given stage.) 

Your website and brand messaging will likely always be in flux. Your website will be a continuous evolution, but typically, I find that businesses younger than two or three years are still gathering insight, data, customer voice - all things that give a business certainty around its positioning, USP and broader messaging. 

A website copywriter isn't going to be able to be able to create that data for your business. A good copywriter works from those foundations, translating them into well-written, creative, commercial copy that communicates your brand effectively and sells whatever you're doing to the right people. 

If you don't have some or all of those foundations in place yet, consider whether a lighter-touch service, such as a power hour, done-with-you copywriting (where you learn as you go) or website copyediting, might be a better investment as you build up. 

If your website is holding your business back, it’s time to call in a pro

At the other end of the spectrum: if you've been in business for a while, you're looking at getting a bespoke website professionally designed, pivoting, rebranding, or you’re just not seeing a return on the website you’re paying out for each month, then I urge you to start looking for a website copywriter that you want to work with. 

Snazzy website design only solves half the problem; I've never met a web designer (and I’ve met a lot) who doesn’t recommend working with a website copywriter first. 

It’s much harder to design a website without professionally written copy, and the ROI won’t be as impressive. That’s because it’s unlikely that people will buy from you based on how pretty your website is. Remember, copy sells (literally!).

To go from simply lurking on your website to becoming a bona fide lead, your audience needs to:

• Understand what you do 

• Believe in what you do

• Believe that you’re the best choice 

• See proof

• Be told how to buy from you

• Feel seen and understood

How to choose a website copywriter

Ideally, you want to pick someone who:

• Understands on-page SEO and how to write for search so that they can help you improve not just showing up on Google, but showing up on Google to the right audience 

• Knows how to write so that your intended audience actually clicks onto your site, stays on the page, and goes through to meet the call to action

• Uses storytelling and writes like a human so that your copy connects with the people reading it

• Is either in your niche or industry, or has experience across multiple industries

• Is an excellent interviewer - someone who can ask the questions that get your positioning, your USP and your customer insight out of you

• Can tell you exactly what your website really needs, instead of expecting you to have all the answers

• Understands broader business strategy and development 

  
  

Most copywriters will offer a short call to see if you’re a good fit. Website copywriting can be a fairly collaborative (often lengthy) process, so you want to make sure you get on and enjoy it together. Aww.

The long-term benefits of working with a great website copywriter

Much like a garden, your website needs regular tending to bloom. 

If you find a great website copywriter - keep them! Your website isn’t done and dusted just because you have a professionally written homepage, bio and services page. 

To work as it should, showing up on Google, consistently promoting and selling your offers - your website needs regular maintenance and updates. I can’t tell you how many businesses stick ‘update website’ on their to-do list, never get around to it, and all the time and money they put into getting it sorted in the first place ends up virtually wasted. 

Unless you’re using your website simply as a digital brochure, it should be continuing to bring in new business - and for it to do that, you need to keep on top it, keep optimising and keep answering the questions that your target audience are searching for. Because if you don’t, your competitors will. 

This could be a monthly blog post, updating individual landing pages or existing pages as your business evolves and grows (as it will), writing and publishing case studies, regularly optimising your key pages with fresh, relevant content. 

Most website copywriters will have a range of retainer options, and if you’ve already invested in a brand new website and fresh new copy, you should consider taking advantage of those options. 

After a copywriter has written your website, they’ll be well-versed in your brand and business, and the writing will become faster and easier while your website becomes more authoritative and useful to both you and your customers. 

Think of your website like a supermarket

People are paid an extremely good salary to organise a supermarket (the flow of the shop, the way things are laid out on the shelves, all those cheeky little at point-of-sale shenanigans, the BOGOFs!). 

None of that is accidental; it's all strategically set up to encourage purchases and meet shoppers' needs. 

Guess what? Your website needs to do that same thing. The marketing you do off-site is like window dressing, and there's no point fixing the window if you haven't sorted out the shelves.

If you’d like to arrange a free and breezy 15-minute call to pick my brains about your website and what the next best step for it is, get in touch with me right here, or email me, Sarah, at hello@thepropercopystudio.co.uk 

This piece of writing and all other words found in The Proper Copy Studio blog are written by Sarah Ellis, not an AI bot. If you stumble across an em dash, the word ‘quietly’, or a commonly used tricolon, I can assure you it is pure coincidence. Pinkie promise.