For a lot of people, the hardest part of getting a website isn't the tech or the money, it's the blank page. What do I even write?
Good news: for a local business, it's simpler than you think. You don't need to be a wordsmith. You need to be clear. Here's what to put where.
The single biggest mistake is going all corporate. "We leverage synergistic solutions to deliver best-in-class outcomes." Nobody talks like that, and nobody trusts it. Write the way you'd explain your business to a mate at the pub. Plain, warm, human. That's what wins people over.
The most important page. In the first few seconds, a visitor needs to know:
That's it for up top. Say the plain thing first; the detail comes lower down.
List what you do, in the words your customers would use, not industry jargon. Under each, a sentence or two on what it involves and who it's for. People want to see themselves in your list.
People buy from people, especially with small local businesses. This page is your chance to be a human, not a logo. A few honest lines:
Skip the fake humility and the stock photos. Just be yourself.
Keep it dead simple. Phone number, a short form, your service area, and roughly when you're reachable. Don't ask for someone's life story in the form, name, contact, and what they need is plenty. Every extra field loses people.
Imagine a customer sitting across from you asking, "So what do you do, who's it for, and why should I go with you?" Record your answer on your phone, or just jot it down. That rambled, honest answer is better raw material than anything you'd force out trying to sound professional. Tidy it up and you're most of the way there.
That's completely fine, plenty of great tradespeople are not writers, and shouldn't have to be. Getting the words right is part of what I do when I build a site. You tell me about your business in plain terms; I turn it into copy that sounds like you and actually pulls people in.
Staring at a blank page? Book a chat, we'll sort the words out together.
12 Bar Digital, Largs North, Adelaide, South Australia. (08) 7077 0985. hello@12bardigital.com.au