As a website copywriter, I’m obviously biased, but there’s quite literally nothing that screams “I’m a professional business owner with my shit together!” more than having a kick-ass website.

Not only does having your own personal home address on the Internet show your potential clients and customers that you’re legit, it also shows them that you’re a professional who genuinely cares about ensuring your brand shows up, shows out, and puts its best foot forward.

AND, on top of that—if your website is done right—it shows them that you care about their needs, and that you’re the appropriate brand to meet those needs.

So, if you just read the above sentence and wondered what constitutes a “website done right” – keep reading. I’m excited to tell you.

#1 – Speak your customer’s language

I don’t know about you, but when someone gets me, it makes me feel so supported, validated, and genuinely happy. It’s a basic human desire to want to be understood, and that doesn’t just go for romantic relationships and friendships – this desire extends to the patrons of your business and members of your community as well.

When a new reader—a potential new customer or client—lands on your website, they’re looking to see if they belong. They’ll want to know if they’re in the right place, and if you’re the right person (or business) to serve them.

…and the best way to reassure them that they are, in fact, the target audience for your content (and services, and products), is to speak their language.

Writing website copy that you’re certain will strike the right chord with them is a KEY component of making them fall in love with you through your site. Remember: we all want to feel understood.

Here are a few ways to do that:

>> Know your audience like the back of your hand. Become familiar with the way they talk, the way they think, the things they find funny, the ways they spend their free time—and, most importantly, what their current life situation is like & how you and your services or products can improve it.

To learn more about understanding your target audience, read this post about how to develop an ideal client avatar, or purchase my target audience development workbook!

>> Use direct, specific language when writing your website copy. Keeping things simple will not only hold their attention; it’ll also prove to your readers that you know their needs so well that you can boil them down & make the solution seem easy.

To get access to easy copywriting tips that’ll improve your website copy & overall marketing skills, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Tuesday Table of Contents, for a tip every Tuesday morning!

>> Have a friend proofread your website. Preferably, a friend who has similar interests (or needs, or problems) to your ideal client or customer. Ask them to be honest with you about whether or not the copy makes them want to take your desired action.

Or, if you’d rather advice from a website copywriting professional, I’m available to audit your website copy for you and tell you what works, what doesn’t, and how to fix it. Book your copy audit right here!

#2 – Prioritize design

Next up on the get them to fall in love with you checklist is, of course, website design. This is how you appeal to your reader’s soft spot for aesthetics.

You can have all of the perfect, specific, direct, gorgeous website copy you want, but if it’s designed poorly, all of your efforts go down the drain.

(And vice versa.)

The way I see it, there are two ways to make your website beautiful.

1) Hire a website designer to custom-design it for you. (My friend Sarah Kleist is extremely talented and well worth the investment! She should actually charge double!)

2) Purchase a website design template.

And, if you’re a Showit user, you’ll want to start with Tonic Site Shop templates. They’re the gold-standard, the most-coveted, the must-have—or, as they’d probably say, the top-shelf template shop with ‘sites on tap’ for every type of business owner.

These easy-to-use Showit website templates are customizable and gorgeous on any device, with a seamless WordPress blog to match. Quite literally all you have to do is:

• Pick a design
• Buy it – use the code BTLCOPY for 15% off! (and, if you want my opinion, this template is my personal favorite)
• Customize it to fit your fantasy (as my preferred Peloton instructor, Cody Rigsby, says)
• Launch it
• Sit back and wait for dream client inquiries to flood your submission box

Long story long, they’re the best, and they’re worth the investment.

(Especially when you’ve got a friend with a discount code, happy to help you out with 15% off your purchase. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, use code “BTLCOPY” for 15% off!)

#3 – Pay attention to the user experience factor

Ensuring your website is easy to navigate, honestly, should be the number-one tip on this list.

If your readers can’t figure out how to effortlessly scroll through your site, they’ll X out before you even have a chance to impress them with your witty website copy and dazzling design.

And speaking of design… I know I just spent a whole collection of paragraphs telling you about how important it is, but it’s not all about the aesthetics. It plays a huge part in the UX factor – another reason why the strategically-designed Tonic templates are so freaking good.

(This isn’t a Tonic ad, I swear. But I couldn’t not remind you that they’re built for greatness, especially when we’re chatting about ease of user experience!)

#4 – Give them the unexpected

No matter which option you chose in the design department, going the extra mile by adding extra “nice-to-have” pages will always make your site look elevated and custom.

Here are a few ideas of extras you can add/customize:

• 404 Error – the page that comes up when your users unfortunately encounter a broken link. Read this post to learn more about the many benefits of customizing your 404 Error page!
• Resources – check out this example!
• Links – your very own landing page for all things link in bio (check mine out here!)
• Thank You – the thanks for inquiring message that comes up (like this!) after a client reaches out about working with you
• Portfolio – a showcase of your most noteworthy work—here’s mine!

…and that, my friends, is the recipe for a website built to last, a website bound to make you look professional, and most importantly, a website your potential clients and customers will fall in love with.

I hope you found this post helpful! To learn more about how to build a fall-in-love-with-you-worthy website, join the waitlist for my website copywriting + digital marketing course!

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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!