For most small business owners, writing the website is the part that gets put off the longest. You have sorted the design, you know what pages you need, and then someone asks you to "just send over your copy" — and suddenly the whole project stalls for three weeks.
It does not need to be that hard. Writing good website content is not about being a brilliant writer. It is about being clear. Your visitors are not looking for flowery prose. They want to know what you do, whether you can help them, and how to get in touch. If your content answers those three things simply and confidently, it is doing its job.
This guide walks through every section of a typical small business website and shows you exactly what to write, with before and after examples so you can see what good looks like.
Start with your homepage headline
Your homepage headline is the most important sentence on your entire website. It is the first thing visitors read, and it decides whether they stay or leave. Get this right and everything else becomes easier.
A good headline tells visitors three things in one sentence: what you do, who you do it for, and ideally where you are based.
Here is what most business owners write first:
Welcome to Johnson's Plumbing Services. We are a family-run plumbing company with over 15 years of experience.
That tells the visitor nothing useful. They already know it is your homepage. They do not care yet about your family history. What they want to know is whether you can fix their problem.
Here is the same business with a better headline:
Emergency plumber covering Leeds and surrounding areas. Available same day, no call-out fee.
Now the visitor knows immediately whether you are relevant to them. If they are in Leeds with a burst pipe, they are going to read on. That is what your headline needs to do.
Writing your homepage body copy
Below your headline, you need a short paragraph that expands on what you do and why someone should choose you. Keep it to three or four sentences. This is not the place to list every service you offer. It is the place to make a quick, confident case for yourself.
Think about the question a new visitor is asking when they land on your page: "Is this the right person for my job?" Your homepage copy needs to answer yes, and give them a reason to believe it.
A few things that work well here:
- A specific location. "Covering Birmingham and the surrounding areas" is more reassuring than a vague national claim.
- A credibility signal. How long you have been trading, a qualification, or a number of jobs completed.
- One clear next step. Tell them what to do — call you, fill in a form, or get a quote.
You do not need to sell hard on the homepage. People who land on a small business website are usually already interested. Your job is just to confirm you are the right choice and make it easy to get in touch.
How to write your services page
Your services page is where most visitors will go after the homepage. They want to know specifically what you offer. This page has one job: make it completely clear what services you provide, what they include, and how to book or enquire.
List each service clearly
Do not bundle everything together in a wall of text. Give each service its own heading, a short description of what it involves, and ideally a sentence about who it is right for.
Before:
We offer a wide range of cleaning services for homes and offices including regular cleans, deep cleans, end of tenancy, carpet cleaning, and more. Contact us for a quote.
After:
Regular home cleaning — Weekly or fortnightly cleans for busy households. We bring all supplies and work around your schedule.
End of tenancy cleaning — A thorough clean to meet landlord and letting agent standards. Ideal for tenants preparing to move out or landlords turning over a property.
The second version is more useful because it helps the visitor quickly identify which service applies to them. It also tells them something they actually want to know, not just that the service exists.
Include your service area
If you are a local business, mention the areas you cover on your services page. Not just once in a footer, but actually woven into the copy. "We provide end of tenancy cleaning across Sheffield, Rotherham, and Barnsley" is both useful to the visitor and good for your Google rankings.
Writing your About page
Most business owners either skip the About page entirely or write something so generic it could apply to any company in the country. Both are missed opportunities.
Your About page is where potential customers decide whether they like and trust you. For a small business especially, people want to know who they are actually going to be dealing with. A brief, honest, human description of who you are and why you do what you do goes a long way.
You do not need to write your full life story. A short paragraph covering how long you have been in business, what you specialise in, and what you care about doing well is enough. If you have a small team, a couple of sentences about the people who will show up to do the work adds a lot of warmth.
One thing to avoid: the word "passionate." Everyone claims to be passionate about their craft. It has become meaningless. Instead of saying you are passionate about plastering, just show it. Tell them about the standards you hold yourself to, or the thing you notice that other tradespeople miss.
Calls to action: telling visitors what to do next
A call to action is simply the instruction you give a visitor when they are ready to take the next step. "Call us today," "Get a free quote," "Book online" — these are all calls to action.
Most small business websites either have none, or they bury them at the bottom of the page. Both are mistakes.
Every page on your website should have at least one clear call to action. On the homepage, it should be visible without scrolling. On a services page, it should appear after each service description, not just at the very end.
Make your call to action specific to what you want them to do. "Get in touch" is vague. "Call us for a free quote — we usually answer within the hour" tells them what will happen when they do it, which removes friction and makes them more likely to follow through.
Tone of voice: how you should sound
Tone of voice is just the personality that comes through in your writing. You do not need to spend days workshopping it. You just need to make a few decisions and stick to them.
For most UK small businesses, the right tone is:
- Conversational but professional. Write the way you would speak to a customer who has just walked in. Not sloppy, but not stiff either.
- Direct. Say what you mean. Do not pad sentences with filler phrases like "we pride ourselves on" or "our mission is to." Just say what you do.
- Honest. If you only cover certain areas, say so. If there is a minimum job size, say so. Transparency builds trust far faster than vague claims about being "the best in the area."
One practical test: read your copy out loud. If it sounds like something a human being would actually say, it is probably right. If it sounds like a press release, rewrite it until it does not.
SEO basics for your content
You do not need to be an SEO expert to write content that performs well on Google. The basics are straightforward, and if you get them right, you will be ahead of most local competitors.
Use the words your customers actually search for
Think about how a potential customer describes what they need, not how you would describe your own services. A customer searching for help with their garden is likely typing "gardener in Norwich" or "garden tidy up service," not "horticultural maintenance services." Write like your customers talk.
Put your location in your content
If you want to show up when someone searches "electrician in Cardiff," the phrase "electrician in Cardiff" needs to appear on your website. Not stuffed in unnaturally, just used naturally in your headings and body copy where it makes sense.
Write a proper page title and meta description
Every page has a title (the text in the browser tab) and a meta description (the snippet that appears in Google search results). These do not have to be complicated. Your homepage title might be: "Reliable Electrician in Cardiff | Smith Electrical." Your meta description is a single sentence that would make someone click: "Fully qualified electrician covering Cardiff and the Vale. Domestic and commercial work, free quotes, fast turnaround."
Keep titles under 60 characters and meta descriptions under 160 characters.
Common content mistakes to avoid
After seeing hundreds of small business websites, a few mistakes come up again and again.
Writing about yourself instead of your customer
Most of your website copy should be about what the customer gets, not what you have done. "We have 20 years of experience" is about you. "20 years of experience means we have seen every problem twice" is about what that experience means for the customer. The shift is small but the impact is significant.
Hiding your contact details
Your phone number should be easy to find on every page. Put it in the navigation or header, not just on the contact page. Many visitors decide they want to call you before they have finished reading your homepage. If they have to hunt for your number, some of them will give up.
Vague service descriptions
"We provide high quality services to meet all your needs" tells a visitor absolutely nothing. Be specific. What services? What does the process look like? How long does it take? What does it cost, or how can they get a quote? Specificity builds confidence.
Writing too formally
Small business websites that sound like FTSE 100 companies come across as cold and a bit odd. Your customers chose to look for a local business partly because they want something more personal. Let your personality come through. You do not need to be overly casual, but you should sound like a real person.
No social proof
Testimonials, reviews, or even a mention of how many customers you have served make a significant difference to conversion. If you have happy customers, ask them for a short quote you can use on your site. "Fantastic job, would highly recommend" with a name and location is worth more than any amount of self-praise.
Putting it all together
Writing your website content does not have to be a major production. Start with your homepage headline and get that right. Then write one clear paragraph for each service you offer. Add a short, honest About page. Put your phone number everywhere it should be. Include a couple of real customer quotes.
That is genuinely enough for most small business websites to perform well. You can always add to it over time, but a simple, honest, well-structured site will outperform a complicated one with muddy content every single time.
If you would like help getting your website live with the right content in place, take a look at how PageShift works. We build professional small business websites and we can help you get the words right too.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to hire a copywriter to write my website content?
Not necessarily. Many small business owners write their own website content perfectly well. You know your business better than anyone. The key is to write plainly, focus on what your customer needs, and avoid jargon. A copywriter can help if you are short on time or struggle to get started, but it is not a requirement.
How long should my website copy be?
Long enough to answer the questions your visitors have, and no longer. A homepage needs a clear headline, a short explanation of what you do, and a call to action. A services page needs to describe each service clearly. You do not need essays. Short, clear paragraphs work better than long walls of text for most small business websites.
How do I write content that helps with Google rankings?
Use the words your customers actually search for. If you are a plumber in Bristol, the phrase "plumber in Bristol" should appear naturally in your homepage headline, your page title, and your meta description. Do not stuff keywords in unnaturally — just write clearly about what you do and where you do it. Google is good at understanding plain English.
What is the most important piece of content on my website?
Your homepage headline. It is the first thing visitors read and it decides whether they stay or leave. It should say who you help, what you do, and ideally where you are based — all in one clear sentence. Everything else on the page supports that opening statement.
Should I write in first person or third person on my website?
First person tends to feel warmer and more direct for small businesses. "I build kitchens across West Yorkshire" reads more naturally than "We are a kitchen fitting company based in West Yorkshire." If you have a small team, "we" works fine. The important thing is to be consistent and to sound like a real person, not a corporate press release.