How can I write better copy for my business?
As a small business, my website budget is tight and I won't be able to hire a copywriter right away. How can I get started writing copy for my business?
Most people really struggle to write about their business. Because you know all the little facets of your business, it can get really hard to narrow down what you want to say and how to say it.
Writing for yourself is also a challenge because you so rarely have the time to write when the motivation strikes—you're too busy working to serve your clients! Once you manage to schedule the time to do your own writing, you might not be filled with that motivation to write that you had a month ago when you were too busy working to write.
Over the years I have formed a system that helps me to write passionately about my business. The system can be a little chaotic, but it has always enabled me to capture my creative copy ideas when I might not have the time to sit down and write.
The super-simple system
The system is simple—every time I have a copy idea, I write it down. You may wish to work in an analog fashion, tracking ideas on slips of paper, post-it notes, or in a notebook and filing them away in a file folder, or you may wish to work digitally in an Evernote note or a Word document.
Whatever method you choose to use, the most important thing is that you are able to keep it readily available. This is important because our brains are usually the most creative when they are relaxed, which means ideas can (and will) strike at completely random times. I can't even begin to tell you how much of my website copy was conceived in the moments right before drifting off to sleep.
Bringing it all together
I usually start collecting ideas a few months before I begin my website redesign. This way, there is some time for my ideas to simmer and for inspiration to strike, and inspired copy is always much more engaging than copy that feels forced.
When I start getting close to working on my website copy, I make some time to go through all of my notes and compile them into a single digital document. Make sure to include all of your ideas to start with—it doesn't necessarily have to make sense yet.
Once I have all of the ideas compiled, I go back through the ideas and start grouping like items together. At this point, I usually have a good idea of what kinds of copy I need to create (i.e. home page copy, bio copy, etc.). If you don’t know what kind of copy you need, you might want to stop and write a list before grouping your copy ideas. That way you know what you are looking for.
After I've grouped related ideas together, I string thoughts together to form cohesive copy. Of course, you will need to add some filler copy in addition to these copy lines, but these initial ideas are likely to hold a lot of passionate thoughts. You will probably only need to add a small amount of additional copy to link them together. Don’t feel you must include everything—it is natural that you will have ideas that don’t fit in or bits that speak with an unfitting voice.
That’s all there is to it!
This process has helped turn website copywriting into a much less painful process by collecting your best ideas slowly and consistently, and I hope it will help make it easier for you too!
