10 Tips for Website Creation from a Website Copywriter
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Businesses and brands need a website in order to flourish and grow. An online presence should not only drive new traffic to your business, but also engage your current clients with relevant and shareable information.
Website creation and development can be scary and overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.
Fear not, friends.
If you don’t have an in house development team, or you can’t afford to hire a freelance developer to create your website there are several sites that will help you build it yourself. We’ve used Wix, Squarespace and Wordpress, but Shopify is also an option, especially if your main goal is to have an online store.
If you are in DIY mode, congratulations to you! We admire and encourage your tenacity and perseverance. We’ve compiled some standard tricks and tips for creating your dream website that will make you stand out among competitors and will actively promote your brand and build your business.
10 Tips for the DIY designer and business owner
1. Pencil and paper first.
It’s easy to get excited about an exciting and spiffy looking template, but we suggest using paper and pencil to work out how you want the main page to look. And while you’re writing, think about your website content in general. What pages will you need? What is important to your brand? What is your style? What information do you need to share about you and your business? Make a list.
2. Have content ready before you design.
Thinking through the information you need to share, the brand style you want to convey and the image you are trying to create will help you realize what content you need to write. This way you can prep the content and have it ready to drop into the pages as you create. A good website copywriter can save you hours of work in this phase.
3. Understand design basics.
For example, most website designers will tell you how important it is to have your most critical information “above the fold” or in the uppermost portion of the first page, and to have that particular layout optimized for mobile. Most people’s first impression of your business will be on their smartphone.
4. Focus on the user experience.
Is your layout and information flow intuitive? Be sure that you pair the most relevant information with enhancing and essential photos or graphics, and any critical data the user may need to make a decision about your product or service.
5. Choose a simple design.
You want to keep it clean and minimal, with plenty of white space to give the reader’s eyes a break, however, you do want to pay attention to details like typography. Typography is a huge design element and it should play a serious role in relaying your image, and you will want to keep it to as few fonts as possible. Too much can distract from your message and overload the user’s senses.
6. Check out your favorite pages for inspo.
What brands, blogs and sites do you frequently log into? What elements do you notice that you like about each one and what would you like to try to replicate on your own site? Pay attention to color combinations and contrasts. Notice how some pieces pop and others fall out of attention. Take notes.
7. Keep elements aligned.
This means you need to preview it in both desktop and mobile versions and make sure all elements on all pages are aligned correctly. Anything is off, and your site becomes less authoritative, less reliable, less easy to comprehend. This is off putting to the user experience.
8. Keep it simple.
Say what you need to say, and nothing more. Avoid excessive features. Website copywriting is designed to accomplish this task with attention to detail and the ability to be succinct.
9. Stay true to your brand values.
If you are writing your own content this seems easy enough, but be sure as you work to incorporate necessary keywords and information that you convey who you are and what you stand for. A competent website content copywriter can easily do this for you.
10. Collect and use feedback.
This is critical to improve the site, the content and the user experience. If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
This is not an exhaustive list of tips for creating, building and executing a successful website for your business. Undoubtedly, you will find more helpful hints as you begin your design. The more you look for assistance, the more technical it will become.
All of this is to say that you can absolutely create your own website to support your products or services. As we mentioned above, user-friendly websites like Wix, Squarespace, and Spotify are hugely beneficial for beginners and those who don’t necessarily have the technical background to write code.
Although we have used Wordpress, we don’t recommend it for beginners as it requires ongoing plugins and maintenance that may inevitably be easier to manage by a hired team.
If you find in the midst of creating the perfect website, you would like for someone else to do the copywriting, we are available to chat and love to take on new projects. Reach out and let's chat.