✍️ How to Overcome Writer’s Block: 5 ways that work

What is Copy and Content?

Content is the text, images, videos and media that make up a web page, brochure, or press letter, for example.

Often the best approach is to tackling copy is to write your content first, then design your website/brochure/letter, etc, to support this content. This will ensure your copy is well written, well structured and well ranked (for websites).

This guide will explain how you should go about writing copy and why it is important.

Why is website content so important?

You may have heard the phrase: “Content is King”. What does this mean, and why are web designers so fond of the phrase?

When done right, your copy can make the difference between a lost customer, and a surefire sale.
Good content and copywriting can help you build trust with your customers, inspire an emotional response and convince customers to buy from you.

But there’s more:
Good content will also help Google to identify your website, and help you rank for relevant keywords in the search results.
Luckily, writing your copy and gathering your content isn’t difficult,
but it does take a lot of time.

Don’t leave content until the end!

In a perfect world, Writing your content should be the first step in any project as it affects everything else that comes after.
For example, web designers often start designing and building the website, while the customer writes their content at the same time.
Most people forget about writing their copy until the website is nearly ready to launch.

That’s why Supply of content is the most common sticking point in delaying website launches.

Planning, writing and editing your content can take weeks, and should not be left to the last minute.

How long does writing content take?

Creative writing is as much an art as it is a skill, and some people will be naturally better at it than others.

Even for experienced copywriters, it takes time to write and refine.

As a rule of thumb:

If you have experience with creative writing, write regularly, and know your subject:

you should allow for at least 1 hour per 500 words to research, write and edit your work.

If you aren’t comfortable with writing, haven’t don’t any creative writing in a while, or need to research your subject:

you should allow at least 2 hour per 500 words

500 words fill approximately one sheet of A4 in a 12 point font.

How do I get started with writing my content?

Before you put pen to paper, or digits to keyboard,
There are a few tips to keep in mind when writing your copy:

Just keep writing to preserve your flow

Many people are totally daunted by the task of writing their content and don’t know where to start.
The best advice is:

You’re not writing Shakespeare! Concentrate on basic sentences & paragraphs, and the rest will come later.

Mind Your Tone

You should think about your overall strategy for your copy.
Should it be casual and informal? Or professional and informative?
First-person or third-person?The answer to this depends on your brand and business.
If you’re an edgy woman’s fashion brand then your copy should be bold, casual and confident.
If you’re a chartered accountant then your copy should be formal and professional.
Keep your brand in mind when you’re writing your copy.

Write with Purpose

The second thing to keep in mind is why you are writing in the first place.
Once you get into a flow it’s easy to keep writing and forget what you’re supposed to be saying in the first place.
It’s important to remember what the purpose of your copy is in the first place. Your copy might have a number of different purposes at the same time:

• To educate
• To inform
• To sell
• To convince

In the following steps, you’ll see how to keep yourself on track and avoid waffling.

There are five simple steps to writing your website copy

1. Decide on your pages
2. Split pages into sections
3. Bulletpoint your headings
4. Flesh out your bulletpoints
5. Edit, Edit, Edit!

let’s go through the five steps for the example of a small independent builder, so you can see how it’s done:
We’re going to use a simple bulletpointing system to build up your copy in stages.
Bulletpointing will help you keep the purpose of your copy in mind, and help you to quickly get straight to the point.

If you follow these simple step by step instructions below and your content will practically write itself!

Step 1- Plan your page headings

The first thing we’re going to do is decide what pages you need for your website.
Write these down as a series of bulletpoints, which will start to form a sort of sitemap for your website:

Bob the Builder’s website

HOME
SERVICES
ABOUT
CASE STUDIES
CONTACT

Step 2- Divide each page into sections

Now we have a list of our page headings.
We’re going to expand these bulletpoints with sections on each page.
Think about what essential information you need to communicate to your customers.
We’ll add these as subitems for each bullet point.

Bob the Builder

HOME
Summary About Bob
SERVICES
Extensions
Alterations
Repairs
ABOUT
Experience
Accreditations
CASE STUDIES
CONTACT
Call
Email

Step 3- Create your page headings

This part is about establishing a hierarchy on your page.
This is for two audiences:

• For Users
• For Google

Both are equally important.
There is a very particular style of writing for the web that doesn’t come naturally to most people:
You see, web users are a bit like goldfish.
The average user has an attention span of about 3 seconds

Think short sentences and punchy statements.
Your inner pages will have longer paragraphs of text, but for the homepage, everything is going to be very brief, right to the point and no flowery words.
Users like to skim ready so they need to be able to pick out the structure and important bits on your page. A good hierarchy of headings will help users, and Google, to understand what your page is about.
(image of good copy hierarchy, from Hollybank branding)

It’s important that Google can determine what your page is about, so it can rank you for those search terms.

So, back to our bulletpoints. we’re going to start adding more sub-items to flesh out our content with hierarchical headings:

• HOMEPAGE
  • Summary about Bob
    • How Bob goes above and beyond to make sure the job is done on time, and on budget.
    • Bob has a string of happy clients
    • He works in Glasgow and surrounding areas.
• SERVICES PAGE
  • House Extensions
    • Modern
    • Traditional
    • Single Storey
    • Garage Conversion
    • Save money on moving
  • Commercial
    • New Build
    • Conversions
    • Alterations
  • Industrial
    • Improve Security
    • Add facilities and Infrastructure
  • Alterations
    • Internal layout alterations
    • Adding or removing doors and windows
  • Repairs
    • Refroofing
    • Property Maintenance
    • Emergency Repairs
• ABOUT PAGE
  • Experience
    • 15 years experience
    • Worked at Balfour & Betty before going independent
  • Accreditations
    • HSE Registered
    • Fully insured
    • GasSafe registered
• CASE STUDIES PAGE
  • New house extension Case Study
    • Address 12 Anystreet, Glasgow
    • Budget
    • Description
    • Testimonial
  • Property Maintenance Case study
    • Address 5 The Road, Renfrew
    • Budget
    • Description
    • Testimonial
• CONTACT PAGE
  • • Call 01234 456 789
    • Email [email protected]

Step 4- Flesh out your copy

Now it’s time to start writing your website copy in earnest.
your bulletpoints will keep you on track, and help you get started for each section.
You can use the same process for each section: write a bullet point, then expand it into a sentence.
Try to write at least x200 words for each indented bullet point.
You should also aim for 1 large, high-quality image or video for each bulletpoint.
Don’t worry about mistakes, grammar or even spelling.
It doesn’t matter if your sentences are a bit wonky and stunted at this stage.

It’s more important to focus on a good flow, and get the words out.

You’ll be going back over everything and rewriting, reordering and correcting during the next stage.

Here’s how Bob’s website bulletpoints turns into fleshed out copy.

Bob the Builder

HOMEPAGE

About Bob

Bob does high-quality building services for residential and commercial clients in the UK. We do big and small budget porch extensions and other services including large house extensions. We work in Glasgow and beyond, with extra special care for our customers. We’re professional and diligent. Remove the stress project management too. We have many happy clients. Contact us now.

Our Building Services

A range of building services to our clients across Glasgow and beyond:

EXTENSIONS

House extensions

Running out of space? Don’t move yet, get an extension instead. Traditional and modern styles. We do both Single story flat roof extensions, or garage conversion and more.

Commercial Units
…

Step 5- Edit, Edit, Edit

This is arguable one of the most important stages of your content.
it’s also the most time-consuming.
Nobody can get it right the first time:

Even famous authors spend most of their time editing and rewriting their copy. Most even have another professional do it, to spot the mistakes they missed!
We’re not just looking for mistakes, with each pass we’re revising our work so that it reads better each time.

You probably don’t have that luxury, but it’s enough to make several passes yourself and revise your copy into something more polished.

Hopefully, you’ll find your copy starts to come to life at this stage.
My copy in the previous stage was full of mistakes, and was very short and stunted in terms of flow.
Now I’m going to rewrite, reorder and change bits so that the whole thing reads much more like a sales pitch.

Bob the Builder

HOMEPAGE

About Bob
Bob the Builder provides high-quality building services for both residential and commercial clients throughout the UK. Our projects range from small budget porch extensions all the way up to large house extensions. Bob the Builders operate from your base in Glasgow, and we handle your project with care and professional diligence at all times, and take the stress out of the process by managing your project from start to finish. Our many happy clients will attest that we go above and beyond to make sure you are satisfied. Contact us now for your free quotation.

Our Building Services
We provide a range of building services to our clients across Glasgow and beyond:

EXTENSIONS

House extensions
Are your growing out of your home? You don’t have to move just yet, with a high-quality house extension you can save money, and gain more space in your home. From traditional to modern, we can provide a house extension for all tastes. Whether you need a single story flat roof extensions, or a budget garage conversion, Bob the Builder can help you grow your home.

Commercial Units
…

You can see the progression, and how the copy now resembles a real website.

Once this has been padded out with media and video, this content will look great!

Using your written content

The 5 steps above should give you at least a great starting point for your website content.
Now we need to get your hard written content onto your website.
I say this to everyone in advance:

Don’t take it personally if I tweak or change some of your content.

I always use as much of it as I can but I will break some of it down, move some of it about, some of it will be on different pages than you expect, and some I will cut or change completely.
Don’t be alarmed when you see the website and your content is a little different!
I will always explain the reasons behind doing everything,
but it all basically comes down to what we call Conversion:
that is making a user on the site send you an enquiry email, or hire equipment online, that’s basically the whole purpose of the website!

Before users will contact you, or buy your services, first they must trust you enough to commit.
That’s where good copywriting shines. Good copywriting establishes trust and inspires action!

Different people will have different experiences with writing the content for their website. Some will hate it, some may enjoy the process of writing.

Everyone is different and has different aptitudes for writing.

Hopefully soon you’ll by tying away and your content will be finished in no time!

If writing really isn’t your thing, don’t worry about it!
You might have a partner or friend who can help you out.

I hope this article and the free download helps you get started with your website copywriting.

If that sounds far too much like hard work…

Design Hero can supply a Copywriter for whatever areas of the site you need, and can complement or adapt any copy you already have.
If you need help with copywriting service just give me a shout!