Week 1
Positioning
What you do, who for, and why you, agreed in one short document and signed off before anything else happens.
Articles and written content · Website and landing copy · Sydney
Website copywriting in Sydney
A website page has one job and most have been given four. The copy that converts is not the cleverest, it is the copy that decided early what the visitor should do next and then removed everything that was not helping.
Grab the snowball. Give it a spin, and watch it grow as you scroll. Just like your conversion rate.
1action per page, never four
4questions every page must answer
Answer firstnot a slow build to the point
Sydneywriters and conversion strategists
The short answer
What is website copywriting, and what makes a page convert?
Website copywriting is writing the words on a homepage, service page or landing page so a visitor understands what you do, believes you can do it, and knows what to do next. A page converts when it answers four questions in order: what is this, is it for me, why you, and what happens if I act.
The commonest failure is not bad writing. It is a page asked to serve four audiences and three actions at once, which produces copy that is accurate about everything and persuasive about nothing. Deciding what a page is not for is most of the work.
We write from what visitors actually search and ask, using the same analytics behind our search work, and pair it with our conversion practice so the words and the layout are one decision. Because our Snowball SEO platform automates the search heavy lifting other agencies bill by the hour, more of your budget goes into the writing. It sits inside our wider content writing service.
The difference
What does a page have to do, and in what order?
Four questions, always the same four, always in this order. A page that answers them out of order loses people at the point it skipped.
What earns its place on the page
- A first line that says what you do without a metaphor
- The reader named plainly, including who this is not for
- Proof a sceptic would accept: numbers, names, specifics
- One action, described so the reader knows what happens after clicking
What usually has to go
- Company history above the fold, which answers a question nobody asked yet
- Three competing calls to action, which is the same as none
- Adjectives doing the work that evidence should do
- A page written for every audience, which persuades none of them
If the layout is fighting the words, that is a conversion job as much as a writing one, and we usually quote them together.
The cost
What drives the price of website copy?
Pages, and how much has to be worked out rather than written. A page whose positioning is settled is quick. A page where nobody agrees what the company does is a strategy job wearing a copywriting brief.
A single page
One page
One homepage, service page or landing page, researched, written and revised. Good for a test, and the most expensive way to buy per page.
A page set
Five to fifteen
The homepage and the service pages together, so the language, the proof and the calls to action are consistent rather than nine different voices.
Full site or rebuild
Whole site
Every page, with the messaging settled first, usually alongside a design or build so the words and the layout are decided in the same room.
We quote per page or per set after a free consult and a look at what is live now. For the national picture, see our guide to copywriting services.
What moves the number, in order
Almost all of it is about how settled the thinking is before anyone writes.
- How many pages, and how different they genuinely are from each other
- Whether the positioning is agreed, or has to be worked out first
- How many stakeholders hold a veto over the words
- Whether there is proof to work with, or it has to be gathered
- Research: customer interviews, sales call reviews, competitor reading
- How many rounds of revision are included
The expensive part is usually agreement
A page can be drafted in a day. What takes six weeks is four people disagreeing about what the company is for, discovered only once there are words to argue with.
So we settle the positioning first, in one short document everyone signs off, before a page is written. It feels like a delay and it is the fastest route available, because every later argument has somewhere to be resolved.
The second saving: name one person who owns the final decision. Copy reviewed by committee converges on the least objectionable sentence, which is rarely the most persuasive one.
The scope
What you receive with website copy
Written to a wireframe or an existing page, not delivered as a wall of text.
The page copy, in place
Every block written to the layout it will live in, labelled so a developer or a designer knows exactly where each piece goes.
Headline options
Two or three genuine alternatives for the lines that carry the most weight, so the decision is a choice rather than a reaction.
Title and meta description
Written for the click rather than stuffed, because the first copy anyone reads is the line in the results page.
The messaging note
What we settled about who this is for and why you, in one page, so the next person to write anything starts from the same place.
Proof gathered
The specifics, numbers and names we found and used, with a note on what is missing and worth collecting.
One revision round
Consolidated, from everyone with an opinion at once, rather than sequential notes over three weeks.
The return
Where do visitors actually stop reading?
Far earlier than anyone writing the page imagines. The useful discipline is to assume most people read the first screen and nothing else, then ask whether that screen alone would do the job.
Write the first screen as if it is the only one
It very nearly is. If the top of the page states what you do, who it is for and what to do next, everything below it is reinforcement for the minority who want more, which is exactly what it should be.
The opposite construction, where the point arrives in the third section after a build-up, is a habit borrowed from writing that people chose to read. Nobody chose to read a service page.
It is the same discipline as the answer-first structure in our content that ranks and gets cited guide, and for the same reason.
The process
How website copy gets written
Three to five weeks for a page set, with the positioning settled before any page is drafted.
Week 1
Research
Customer language from sales calls, reviews and search, because the words that convert are usually already being said by your buyers.
Week 2
Structure
The blocks each page needs and in what order, agreed against the layout before a sentence is written.
Week 3
Drafting
Written to the structure, with real headline alternatives on the lines that matter most.
Week 4
One revision round
Consolidated notes from everyone at once, resolved against the signed-off positioning rather than against taste.
Week 5
Handover
Copy in place, labelled to the layout, with the messaging note and the proof we gathered.
The brief
What to ask before you brief website copy
Copy is bought on taste more than any other service, which is why these four questions are about process rather than style.
Who owns the final decision?
Name one person. Copy approved by committee converges on the least objectionable sentence, which is almost never the most persuasive one.
Is the positioning settled?
If four people would answer what does this company do differently, that has to be resolved first. Discovering it mid-draft is where budgets and timelines go.
What proof do we actually have?
Numbers, named customers, specifics. A page with none of those has to persuade on adjectives, and adjectives do not persuade anyone.
Will the copy be written to the layout?
Words written in a blank document and poured into a design afterwards never fit. Ask for copy written to the blocks it will live in.
We are happy to answer all four before you commit, and to look at what is live now. On the layout side, see our conversion optimisation service.
Start here
Ready to say it plainly?
Send us the page you are least happy with and tell us who it is for. The free consult is a working session, not a sales call, and you leave with three things whether or not you book us.
- A rewrite of your worst first screen, so you can see the difference rather than take it on trust
- The four questions your page currently fails to answer, in order
- A fixed price per page or per set, with the revision rounds written down
Good questions
Website copywriting FAQs
What is website copywriting?
Website copywriting is writing the words on a homepage, service page or landing page so a visitor understands what you do, believes you can do it, and knows what to do next. A page converts when it answers four questions in order: what is this, is it for me, why you, and what happens if I act.
How much does website copywriting cost?
We quote per page or per set rather than per word. What moves the number is how many pages, whether the positioning is already agreed or has to be worked out first, how many people hold a veto, whether there is proof to work with, and how much customer research the job needs. The writing is rarely the expensive part.
How long should a page be?
As long as the decision requires. A considered purchase needs more than an impulse one. The better question is whether the first screen alone would do the job, because that is all most visitors will read.
Do you write for SEO or for conversion?
Both, and they conflict far less than people expect. A page that answers a real question clearly near the top is what a search engine rewards and what a buyer wants. The conflict only appears when someone tries to hit a keyword count.
Can you work with our existing design?
Yes, and we prefer to write to a layout rather than into a blank document. Words written with no idea of the blocks they will sit in never fit, and the compromise always comes out of the copy.
How many revisions are included?
One consolidated round, collected from everyone with an opinion at the same time. Sequential rounds from different people over three weeks is how a short job becomes a long one, and we would rather agree that up front.
What if we cannot agree on what we do?
It happens often and it is not a failure. We settle it first, in one short positioning document that everyone signs off, before a page is written. It feels like a delay and it is the fastest route available.
Do you write the meta title and description?
Yes, and they matter more than they look. It is the first copy anyone reads and the only copy some people ever read, so it is written for the click rather than filled with keywords.