I’d be willing to bet some serious cash on the fact that “how to write a homepage for your website” is a top-searched term among new and aspiring freelancers.

Now, I can’t prove that—but I’ve worked with a lot of business owners throughout my time as a freelance copywriter, and I can say with certainty that most of them feel slightly intimidated by having to write their homepage on their own.

It’s why I created my Homepage How To freebie, and it’s why I’m writing this blog post for you right now: to give you an easy formula to swipe if you’re partial to a DIY solution.

The 5 Questions Your Homepage Must Answer

Before we get into the how-to of it all, let’s review the 5 questions your homepage must answer—aka the 5 questions your potential clients and customers are pondering when they first land on your site.

1. Who are you? (aka are you the type of person I’m looking to work with?)
2. What are you an expert in? (aka are you worth hiring?)
3. Who do you serve? (aka am I the type of client you work with?)
4. How can I benefit from your services? (aka what’s in it for me?)
5. What do I do next? (aka where do I go after your homepage?)

For more information about the above 5 questions, read this post!

Now, let’s walk through what makes a great minimal homepage!

And because I’m a very teach-by-example person (as shown—and greatly appreciated by my students—in my website copywriting course), I’m going to breakdown the homepage from a recent website copywriting project for my super fun client, Sarah Price, and tell you the what-why-how of it all (just like in this post!)

Homepage H1 Headline

What: the headline that describes what this page is about.

Why: so the reader can instantly tell whether or not they’re in the right place (and so you can convince them not to X out).

How: begin with the keyword that your ideal clients or customers would type into Google you.

Sarah’s keyword is “social media management.” I added a bit more context by describing her social media management style as ‘community-first’, because it’s one of the things she wants her audience to know right up front: she actually cares about creating an engaged community for her clients (as opposed to just posting trending reels & cute memes and disregarding the audience’s response).

Mini About

What: a small section on a given webpage where you introduce yourself to your reader, and make things feel more like a conversation, and less like your website is just a bunch of boring info thrown at them.

Why: so your reader can get comfortable with you, and begin to feel like you have a unique understanding of how to help them. It’s all about the connection factor!

How: learn the art of the Mini About right here!

Benefit Call-Out & Services Overview

What: a quick section showcasing the main benefit you’re providing to your audience, followed by an overview of the services you offer that will help them achieve that result.

Why: to prove to your readers that you’re qualified to serve them, that you can give them what they want, and to reassure that they’re in the right place.

How: think of the benefit, solution, or result that your ideal clients are most concerned with—and then think of what the true want under the surface is, and write about that.

Sarah Price’s ideal client is looking for a social media manager to run their social accounts and take that responsibility off their plate.

But their true want is to have a thriving, engaged community that always comments on every post, waits anxiously for the drop of their next products, gives their input all the time, and recommends their products to friends.

So, that’s what I addressed in our benefit statement.

Then, I provided a quick overview of the 3 ways she can help her audience achieve that engaged community: retainer social media management, social media strategy, and her digital product, the Sustainable Social Workbook.

PAUSE! If you’re loving the design of Sarah Price’s website so far, you simply must check out my ridiculously talented bestie Kleist Creative for any & all of your Showit website design needs! (And make sure you read her case study about it—she goes into serious design depth & it’s really interesting!)

Social Proof

What: “a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation. In essence, it’s the notion that, since others are doing it, I should be doing it, too.” (Source)

Why: to convince people to work with you, using your credibility.

How: showcase a review, testimonial, or—like on Sarah’s site—an overview of the results your clients can expect when working with you.

I love the way we chose to lay out the social proof on Sarah’s homepage, taking it one step further than your average testimonial.

Sarah and I both noticed that numbers matter a lot when it comes to selecting a social media manager, even if we know that the community is actually what matters more.

So, we gave the people what we knew they’d want: a real review from an actual client, with legit numbers, and impressive results.

Then, right below that numbers section, we added a call-to-action mapping to her case study about that client project, with a button to see how she did it.

Extra Content Overview

What: a summary of other content you have to offer your audience, beyond just your services.

Why: because sometimes people are looking for more! Your readers are not always going to be ready to head straight to your Services page and start working with you immediately—some of them need more time to warm up, which is why blogging, email marketing, and selling digital products are all great options to have when trying to grow your community & market yourself.

How: treat your homepage like the roadmap it is, and share links to other places on your site that your readers can go to continue browsing.

(Added bonus: the more time that users spend on your site, the more credible Google will think you are—it pays off to have extra content.)

Final Call To Action

What: a statement inviting and encouraging an audience to take action.⁠

(CTAs are an integral part of any advertisement and can drive a variety of different actions depending on a brand’s goal, so it’s important to be specific about the intended action.)

Why: so they know where to go when they reach the bottom of your homepage.

How: summarize what they’ve learned from reading through your homepage, and give them a clear next step. My recommended 2nd stop is the Services page.

Want to keep learning about how to write your own website copy?

Here’s how I can help:

• Read my copywriting-centered blog posts
• Sign up for my upcoming website copywriting course
• Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, where I send one copywriting tip, once a week
• Follow along with me on Instagram for even more copywriting tips
• Book a mentorship session with me

Or, of course, you can skip the whole ‘learning’ idea altogether, and I can write your website copy for you! 🙂 Click here to inquire.

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If we haven’t had the chance to *virtually* meet yet, hi! I’m Sara Noel—website copywriter and marketing mentor for creatives, copywriters, and all-around cool people. If you like my content and you want even more BTL in your life, here are a few ways you can connect with me:

Subscribe to my newsletter! I send one marketing tip, once a week – and, according to my subscribers, it’s “the best marketing newsletter on the Internet” and “the only reason to wake up on Tuesday mornings.” So… yeah. You’ll love ‘er. 😏 Click here to subscribe!

Check out my services. I write website copy, sales pages, email sequences, blog posts, and brand messaging guides for entrepreneurs of all kinds! Maybe you’re my next favorite client.

Read the rest of my blog. It’s home to everything from copywriting tips, to marketing education, to freelance advice, to portfolio-worthy projects… if you like this post, you’ll love the blog. Here’s a quick roundup of my most popular posts.

Sign up for my web copy course. Actually, it’s not *only* about website copywriting—I also teach modules on copywriting basics, developing your target audience, search engine optimization, blogging, and email marketing.

Enlist me as your mentor. I have an entire in-depth blog post about my one-on-one consulting process for new and aspiring copywriters, if you’re interested in having a big-sis-style mentor to help you grow your freelance copywriting business & get results.

To get in touch with me directly, send me a DM or email sara@betweenthelinescopy.com. Have a great day!