The challenge of writing website copy
Some of my clients come to me with this problem: We know we need to update our website because it’s not working, but we don’t know how to write the copy for it.
Well, here is the short answer. Start the website redesign with your value proposition in mind. Your value prop is the key to a successful website.
Turning a compelling value proposition into copy
If you don’t yet have a killer value prop, go back to creating a killer value prop article and do that first. Otherwise, you’ll just need to update the website twice. And that’s not lean. Are we a lean startup, or aren’t we?
Once you have a great value proposition, you still need to turn that into copy. Here is my favorite way of doing that:
Take the value proposition and place it on the banner. That’s your promise to the client, so it doesn’t have to be unique. Make sure it’s concise. Keep it simple. What is the user trying to achieve?
Next, you need to build your differentiation through unique selling points, usually through a combination of a feature and a benefit. Most startups make the mistake of focusing too much on the benefits or too much on the features.
Focusing too much on benefits usually results in the potential customer not understanding what the product is or how it works. Focusing too much on features won’t attract users at all, making the website useless.
You want a combination of both.
“Stay on top of follow-ups with our AI-powered notifications system.”
You can see we are using a feature (AI-powered notifications) with the benefit the user gets (staying on top of follow-ups). This helps the user see not just the benefit they are getting but also how they get there, which builds credibility.
How to structure a landing page with a value proposition in mind example
Make sure the USPs are unique and compelling so they build your differentiation. They should tell the story of how you will deliver the value you promised in the value proposition.
Next, you support all of that with testimonials, case studies, quotes, and similar supporting texts and images.
Keep in mind that this is just a template. You need to figure out what’s important for your target customer.
If they make decisions based on credibility and your strongest assets are nice logos of trustworthy clients, you should put them on top of the website or immediately below the banner.
If your strongest asset is the one feature no one else has, you should emphasize that further.
So, as always, test both ways. Internally towards your assets and externally towards the users.
Writing your website becomes easy when your product is well-positioned.
Feel free to use my startup positioning framework to do that. It’s available for free on Miroverse.
