For many B2B businesses, your website is your hardest-working salesperson. Long before a prospect picks up the phone or books a meeting, they’ll visit your website to understand what you do, assess your expertise and decide whether you’re a business they can trust.
Whether they’re researching a problem, comparing suppliers or building a shortlist, your website needs to answer their questions quickly and clearly. If it doesn’t, they’ll simply move on.
Effective website copy isn’t about squeezing in as many keywords as possible. It’s about helping the right people find you, understand your value and feel confident taking the next step.
And, however tempting it may be to cut and paste the company brochure onto your website, to do so is to misunderstand the fundamental nature of web visitors – information hungry, impatient and sceptical of “marketing speak”.
Before deciding what you want to say, it’s important that you know who you are talking to.
The more you know about your prospective customers, the more targeted you can be with your web copy, and the easier it will be to write with them in mind.
However, even after identifying your target audience, you may need to segment further.
There are often many different people involved in a B2B buying decision, each with different priorities, concerns and information needs. By understanding these audiences, you can create content that answers the questions each of them is asking.
As proud as you may be of your business, your visitors are only interested in what you can do for them.
So, rather than talking about your company and what you do, turn this on its head and write in the language of ‘you’.
Focus on their wants, their needs and how you can meet them.
You will, of course, need to provide information about your business to let visitors know what you do, but keep the focus on how you can make them happier, less stressed, more profitable and more productive.
Use a conversational tone and add real personality to your business. This doesn’t mean you should forget all about spelling and grammar, but an honest, passionate and approachable tone of voice goes a long way towards building trust with your readers.
Before you write one word of copy, decide exactly what you want your website to achieve.
While you may have a variety of messages you wish to convey, being everything to everybody rarely works. Decide what the single most important purpose of your website is.
Every page should have a clear purpose. Don’t try to say everything at once. Focus on one objective, then guide visitors naturally towards the next step.
Now you know what you want your audience to do, show them how to do it.
Guide visitors towards the next step with clear, well-placed calls to action. Whether that’s booking a consultation, downloading a guide or getting in touch, every page should make it obvious what you want people to do next.
Think about the questions visitors are likely to ask at each stage of their buying journey, then make the answers easy to find.
No matter how beautiful your website is, or how clever your prose, if visitors can’t find what they want in a matter of seconds, they’re likely to take their business elsewhere.
As well as making sure you use the right words, you also need to put them in the right place. Keep your navigation intuitive and simple and don’t sacrifice usability in favour of creativity.
If you want visitors to return to your site, you have to give them something to come back for. You simply can’t create a website and then forget all about it.
A successful website is never truly finished. Review your content regularly to ensure it’s accurate, up to date and continues to answer your customers’ questions.
Blogs, guides, case studies and thought leadership all help demonstrate expertise while giving people—and search engines—more reasons to visit your website.
Trust is one of the most valuable assets your website can build. So, when you’re trying to convince the reader of your credentials be sure to avoid jargon and exaggeration.
Rather than trying to impress the reader with your extensive vocabulary; get to the point and then stop. Nobody likes waffle.
Today, we are all exposed to hundreds, if not thousands of sales messages every day. Therefore, the last thing people want to read on your website is yet another ad. There is a time and a place for direct offers and promotions, but keep the sales messages to a minimum. Sell the benefits, and the customers will follow.
Word of mouth is the best form of endorsement. Customer testimonials are invaluable when selling benefits and building credibility, and a few words from a satisfied client will have far more authority than anything you can say.
In addition to customer testimonials, the customer case study is one of the most important pieces of marketing collateral you can use. While the testimonial lets visitors know how happy your current clients are, the case study tells them exactly why.
Where possible, include measurable outcomes. Results, statistics, and client success stories are highly persuasive.
Even in B2B, decisions are made by people. Buyers want to feel confident they’re making the right choice.
Use empathy, reassurance and understanding alongside facts and evidence to build stronger connections with your audience.
The best website copy is written for people first and optimised for search second.
Modern SEO isn’t about forcing keywords into every paragraph. It’s about creating useful, well-structured content that answers genuine questions and demonstrates expertise. That approach also helps your content perform in AI-powered search experiences, where clarity and authority matter more than keyword density.
Write naturally. Focus on your audience. Search visibility will follow.
More people are discovering businesses through AI-powered search tools as well as traditional search engines. Clear headings, straightforward language and content that directly answers common customer questions are increasingly important.
Good website copy should be easy for both people and AI to understand.
Your website has just a few seconds to make the right first impression. Clear, engaging copy can help you build trust, demonstrate your expertise and give prospective customers the confidence to take the next step.
From website copy and landing pages to thought leadership, SEO content, and AI editing, I’ll create copy tailored to your audience, brand, and business goals.
No jargon. No fluff. Just words that work.