Your website is the world’s introduction to your company. It is the first impression many people will have, and it is frequently the tool people use to form opinions about your company—good or bad. If your website is unprofessional, visitors will probably think your business is unprofessional.

Web design is a huge component of making a good impression, of course. Using modern, forward-thinking web design to show off your business is our whole raison d’être here at Zen Den. But there’s another crucial component of how people perceive your website: the content. What your website says is as important as how it looks.

So how do you create amazing copy that will make potential customers want to learn about and do business with your company? Here are a few suggestions:

HIRE A PROFESSIONAL COPYWRITER
Many people are hesitant to pay for copywriting services because writing is something they know how to do. But before you decide to do it yourself, think about how much time and effort you will have to dedicate to writing content. Would you rather spend your time working on something you’re more interested in? And if you do your own copywriting, will you be pleased with the results?

Professional copywriters are experts at getting your company’s message across clearly and succinctly. They know what readers will be interested in and what they will just skip over. They effortlessly weave in SEO keyword phrases. They eliminate spelling and grammar errors. And because copywriting is their specialty, they can do it a lot faster than you can.

Hiring a copywriter to create your website content can end up saving you time, money, and hassle—and the end result will likely be superior.

DON’T LEAVE OUT NECESSARY INFORMATION
Whether you write your own content or hire a website copywriter, you need to make sure you give potential customers all the information they need. One easy way to double-check is to use the old “5 W’s and one H” approach that news articles follow: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Who works for your company? What do you do? When are you open? Where are you located? Why should people buy your product or service? How much does it cost? These are a few of the questions you should make sure that your content answers.

DON’T PUT IN EXCESSIVE INFORMATION
While you want to give a complete picture of your company, you don’t want to overload people with information. Website visitors have very shot attention spans, and if they get bored, they will navigate away. We recommend limiting pages to 500 words or so (about the length of this blog post). If you have more to say, divide it into bite-sized sections for easy consumption.

Take these suggestions to heart, and you’ll end up with compelling content to go with your exceptional design. Visitors will be impressed.

Here is a great article that applies not only to writing effective emails, but also great copy for websites.