Many (most) of us have two voices. The first is our spoken voice. And for most people, this voice is informal, colloquial, friendly, and easy to understand. When people think about how we sound, they think about our spoken voice.

The second is our written voice. Unfortunately, for many people, this voice isn’t so engaging. Often, it’s stilted, formal, overly wordy, and tends to use 10 words when five would do.

Now it isn’t our fault that we have two voices.

If we were left to our own devices, we’d write the way we speak. And that would be fantastic. But that’s not the way the world works. Instead, we’re trained out of using our clear spoken style. At school we get taught to use big words and write proper like. At university we adopt academic writing tropes. Then we get hurled into the world of work and introduced to the abominations of formal report writing. It’s no bloody wonder our written voice gets confused.

To be clear, your conversational voice is always best. The more your writing mirrors your spoken voice the better.

This is for two reasons.

1.     People prefer to read conversational writing. And no wonder, right? It’s easy to understand and more fun to read.  Nobody ever said, gosh I wish this website was harder to read, more formal and boring.

2.     It sounds like you. Formal writing is generic. A formally written website sounds just like every other piece of turgid corporate waffle out there. And that makes it very hard for you to establish a memorable brand. But your conversational voice is uniquely yours. We all have our pet phrases and verbal tics, and when you write conversationally, these come through on the page.

One of the most common pieces of website copy feedback I get is “Lizzie, I don’t know how you did it, but you made my website sound just like me.” And that’s because I use your own words in your conversational voice. (Apart from where we’re talking about the problems you solve and the outcomes you deliver, where I use your clients’ words instead, because their language resonates most).

I’d like to say that I have some brilliant, rare technique. But I don’t. It’s no secret how I nail your voice. I simply record our downloads, pull out the gold and tidy it up to make you sound even more fluent and eloquent than you already are.

Maybe. It depends how modular your website design and content management system is.

As a general rule of thumb, get clear on your website structure, have a content strategy, and write (or get me to write) all your website content BEFORE you approach a website designer.

This is because your website is a sales tool. So, content should always come first because your content makes the sale. It doesn’t matter how beautiful a site is if it doesn’t give your clients the information they need to choose you.

A website designer’s job is to take your content and make it easy to navigate, easy to read, and visually appealing. A good website designer will suggest ways to make your content even more engaging with layout and by layering visual elements like imagery or infographics into the mix.

It’s a bit of a red flag if a website designer doesn’t ask for content before they start work on your site. This indicates they’re purely considering the visual aesthetics of your site, not thinking about how it will serve your customers and grow your business.

Because I’ve studied and written so many successful sites I know what content to include and the order it should appear in. So, when I write website content, I use wireframes to show how the content should be organised on the page. Designers take their lead from me, and I’m also delighted to collaborate with experienced web designers who know their stuff. But I’m not your writer if you simply need someone to plug the gaps in a design with words. That’s just a waste of your money and my time.

If you’ve done client research recently and you know:

1. Why your clients come to you.

2. The problems they want you to solve.

3. Why they choose you.

4. What they value most about your service.

Then nope. We don’t need to do client interviews.

Share all that information with me and we’re away laughing.

But if you’re shaky on any of those four points, then client interviews will give you so much more clarity on your value proposition.

Not only that, but you’ll gather valuable insights in your client’s own words that will help me make your website copy more powerful. The way your clients talk about your services will always be more compelling to prospective clients. You may also find your clients talk about the work you do in a different way to how you do. Client voice is a very powerful tool.

And of course, client interviews also do double duty because they’re a rich source of testimonials and case study content.

Yes. Yes you do. And here are four reasons why putting your prices on your site is a great idea.

1. Your clients want it.

2. You get more qualified leads.

3. Your conversion rate increases.

4. You don’t waste time on bespoke quotes.

Reason 1 should be enough. If your clients want pricing (and they do), give them pricing. Not having pricing on your site is more than a barrier for potential clients. These days, it disqualifies you as an option.

People can’t be bothered to email or call for a price anymore. That’s old school. In this digital age, we want instant gratification. If we’re comparing service providers, we want to benchmark prices and work out if we can afford them. So, if someone doesn’t have a price on their site, we don’t get in touch to check. We just move on and find someone who does. So, if you’re not putting your prices on your website, you’re losing potential clients.

Clear pricing is also a sign of professionalism. If a consultant has priced their services it shows they’ve invested time defining their processes and know how long a service takes to deliver. Working with them is likely to be a smooth, easy process. Conversely, if a consultant doesn’t disclose prices that can ring alarm bells. Will they do the hard sell? Do they really know what they’re doing? Do they charge everyone different prices?

Putting your prices on your site makes your life a lot easier.

I don’t know about you, but I find doing proposals really boring and a waste of time I could be spending eating cake. So, I put my process and price on my website, and send people there first. As a result, I have an 84%+ conversion rate on proposals because people know how I work and how much I cost.

Gonna leave you with this thought. If your price is premium, be unashamedly premium. Put that premium price out there and be proud. Don’t make people fall in love with you, reach out to you, and realise they can’t afford you. That makes people feel bad and wastes everyone’s time.

As long as it needs to be to get the job done.

It can help to think about the four key types of pages you find on most effective consultant’s websites.

It’s important to understand the difference between these pages because each performs a different role. Knowing the difference between these pages also helps you understand how long your copy should be.

The four types of pages on your website are.

1. Hallways.

2. Sitting rooms.

3. Market stalls.

4. Laundries.

1. Hallways

Hallways are pages you pass through on the way to somewhere more specific to your needs.

We’re talking homepages, service pages, and resources sections. These pages tell your ideal clients your business has good gear for them and give them a curated range of options to choose from.

See each option as a doorway in a hallway with its own alluring sign. Keep your copy focused and snappy.

2. Sitting rooms

Sitting rooms are pages you visit, sit, and stay a while.

Think case studies, useful resources, and blog posts. They add value to your ideal client and establish your expertise by answering FAQs, solving problems, and telling stories about how you helped businesses like them achieve their goals.

These are rich, detailed resources, often upwards of 1,500 words, where you go deep into a topic.

3. Market stalls

Market stalls are sales pages. We’re talking service pages, offer pages, or product pages.

These pages show your ideal client that you get their challenges, and you have the perfect solution. They’re personal and persuasive. They also tend to be longer because a strong sales page covers a number of important topics.

4. Laundries

Laundries are pages where people go to accomplish a task. We don’t hang around in laundries. We wash our undies, and we get out.

These are pages like contact pages, e-newsletter sign up pages, and any tools you’ve created to help your clients solve their problems, e.g., currency converters, price comparison tools, etc. Generally, copy on these pages is short and to the point. This doesn’t mean devoid of fun and character.

I write meta data as part of the work I do for you, but SEO is a super specialised area, so you need an expert to help you research keywords and develop an SEO strategy.

I collaborate with SEO experts to layer SEO keywords into the content I create, so I can refer you to SEO experts if you need that support.