Good homepage copy does one job: in the first screen it tells a stranger exactly what you do, who you do it for, plus why enquiring is safe — then it spends the rest of the page removing reasons to leave. Good About copy does the companion job: it turns that stranger's caution into confidence with a real story, named people plus evidence. This guide gives you both, section by section, with a headline formula you can reuse, three before-and-after rewrites, plus the voice rules that keep the finished pages sounding like your business rather than a template.
Most weak business websites do not have a design problem. They have a first-paragraph problem. The homepage opens with the company's history, the About page reads like a certificate frame, plus the visitor — who arrived with a problem, a deadline, often a phone in one hand — finds no sentence that speaks to them, so they return to the search results plus choose the competitor whose first screen answered the question they actually had. Copy is the cheapest part of a website to fix plus the part with the highest return per hour, because the visitors are already arriving: the same traffic, offered clearer words, produces more enquiries. If you are gathering material for a new site, work through this guide alongside our companion on how to prepare content for your new website — the two were written to be used together.
The homepage in reading order: what each block must earn — hover or tap each bar for details.
The Homepage Framework, Section by Section
Think of the homepage as a funnel with five blocks, each earning the next. A visitor who finishes the headline unconvinced never reaches your services; a visitor convinced by services but nervous about the process never reaches the call to action. Write the blocks in the order below, plus judge each by its own job — not by whether it sounds impressive in a meeting.
1. The headline: service, audience, outcome
The formula is plain: [what you do] for [who, or where] — [the outcome or the reassurance]. It works because a stranger self-selects in seconds: yes, this is for me, keep reading; or no, wrong page, no time wasted on either side. Three examples in the wild, invented here as illustrations of the pattern rather than quotations: "Emergency plumbing in Bristol — an engineer today, a fixed price before we start." "Wedding photography in Kent for couples who hate posing." "Accounts for trades: CIS, VAT plus payroll handled, one monthly fee." Notice what none of them contain: the word welcome, the founding year, a slogan about passion, or the phrase "one-stop solution", which promises everything plus specifies nothing.
Under the headline sits one supporting sentence, the sub-headline, whose job is to carry the practical facts the headline had no room for: how fast, how the first step works, what it costs to start. "Call before noon for a same-day visit. No call-out charge inside the city. Fixed quote on arrival, before any work begins." Three short facts beat one long promise every time, because facts can be checked plus promises cannot.
2. The proof block: evidence before adjectives
Immediately after the headline, before any description of services, place the strongest honest evidence you hold. Its forms, in rough order of persuasiveness: named clients the visitor might recognise; a short, dated review quote used with the customer's permission, attributed to a real name plus place; a specific, truthful number from your own records ("214 boilers serviced last winter" — only if it is true, plus round honestly); accreditations plus insurance stated precisely; years in business, which is evidence of survival rather than quality but still settles nerves. The rule that governs the whole block: every claim must survive the question "how would I prove that in court?" If it would not, replace the claim with a fact that would.
3. The services summary: their words, not your departments
List services the way customers ask for them, not the way your business is organised internally. A visitor searches "fix a leaking tap", not "aqueous solutions division". Each service gets two or three lines: what it is, the situation it suits, plus the link to its full page. Resist completeness — the homepage summarises the three to six services that carry the business, plus a "more services" link carries the long tail. Every service you add to the homepage dilutes the ones that pay; the full catalogue has its own page.
4. The process block: what happens after they enquire
More enquiries die from uncertainty about the process than from price. Three or four numbered steps — what you ask, what you send, what it costs to start, when work begins — convert a vague intention into a pictured action. Name the first step's cost honestly, including when it is free: "Step 1: a fifteen-minute call. Free, plus we will tell you on the call if we are not the right firm." That last clause, counterintuitively, increases enquiries: a business willing to refuse work is a business whose acceptance means something.
5. The FAQ teaser plus the final call to action
Close the page with the four to six questions every prospect asks — price shape, timescale, area covered, what you need from them — answered briefly plus linked to fuller answers where they live. Then the call to action, singular: one action, named concretely ("Book the free fifteen-minute call", "Request your fixed quote"), repeated from the top of the page without inventing new verbs each time. A homepage offering a call, a form, a chat, a download plus a newsletter in equal weight is offering a decision, not a direction — plus strangers decline decisions.
The About Page: Story, Credentials, Team, Values in Action
The About page is the second most visited page on most small-business sites, precisely because it is where a nearly-convinced visitor goes to check whether real people stand behind the promises. Its structure mirrors that check. Open with the story, told as a problem rather than a chronicle: why the business exists, what frustration or gap it was started to fix, what it does differently because of that origin. Three short paragraphs usually carry it; founding dates belong in a fact line, not the opening sentence.
Credentials come next, specific plus verifiable: qualifications named properly, memberships current, insurance stated, plus any regulatory status described in the regulator's own terms. Then the team — real names, real photographs, one human detail each — because visitors are checking whether they will be dealing with people they can picture. Finally, values in action: never a list of abstract nouns ("Integrity. Excellence. Passion."), always a value translated into a behaviour the customer can test. "We send the quote before we start, in writing, plus the price we quote is the price you pay" is a value a visitor can hold you to; "we value transparency" is wallpaper. One practical note: when you brief whoever builds the site, this page's content should arrive as finished text plus real photos — our guide to how to brief a web designer shows how to package it so nothing is lost between your draft plus the published page.
| About page section | What the visitor is checking | What to include | What to leave out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Story | Why you exist, whether you understand my problem | The founding problem, what changed, who you serve now | A year-by-year company chronicle |
| Credentials | Whether you are qualified plus accountable | Named qualifications, memberships, insurance, regulator status | Unverifiable award claims plus logo walls |
| Team | Who will actually turn up or answer | Real names, photos, roles, one human detail each | Stock photos presented as staff |
| Values in action | How you behave when something goes wrong | Testable behaviours: quotes in writing, response times, guarantees you honour | Abstract noun lists |
Before and After: Three Rewrites
| Before (as found on real sites everywhere) | After (same business, rewritten) | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| "Welcome to Smith and Sons. Established in 1998, we are a leading provider of quality solutions, passionate about excellence in everything we do." | "Plumbers in Sheffield for the jobs that cannot wait: leaks, boiler breakdowns plus bathroom refits. Fixed quote before we start, most repairs finished the same day." | History plus slogans replaced by service, place plus two checkable promises — the visitor self-selects in one line. |
| "Our dedicated team of professionals leverages synergies to deliver bespoke end-to-end services tailored to your unique requirements." | "You get one named surveyor from first call to final report — no call centre, no handovers. Reports in plain English within three working days of the visit." | Jargon replaced by the concrete experience: one person, a timescale, a format the client can picture. |
| "Contact us today to discuss your needs and discover how we can help you achieve your goals." | "Book a free fifteen-minute call. Bring your last three months of figures; we will tell you on the call whether we can save you money — plus say so plainly if we cannot." | A vague invitation became a specific, low-risk step with an honest exit — which is why more people take it. |
Read the after versions aloud. Each one could be repeated by a satisfied customer to a neighbour without embarrassment or error. That repeatability is the real test of homepage copy: your best marketing has always been customers describing you accurately, plus the website's job is to give them the words.
Voice and Tone: Sounding Like Your Business
Voice is the personality that stays constant; tone is how it flexes between a headline plus an error message. Three decisions settle most of it. First, sentence length: short sentences read as confidence, so cut any sentence you cannot say in one breath. Second, vocabulary: use the words your customers use on the phone, even when the industry prefers grander ones — the website is for the buyers, not for your competitors. Third, the pronoun discipline: the visitor is "you", the business is "we" (or "I" for a solo practice), plus the ratio between them is diagnostic — in a strong homepage draft, "you" appears roughly twice as often as "we". Count it in your own draft; the result surprises almost everyone, plus the fix — rewriting our-sentences as your-sentences — is mechanical. Finally, read every page aloud before it ships. Copy is heard in the reader's head; if you stumble reading it, they stumble too.
Five Copy Mistakes That Quietly Cost Enquiries
- Opening with the company's history. The founding year is a fact for the footer. The first screen belongs to the visitor's problem, stated in their words.
- Adjectives where evidence belongs. "Trusted", "leading" plus "passionate" are claims anyone can type. Names, numbers you can defend plus dated quotes are proof only you can show.
- Services named as internal departments. Customers search for their problem, not your org chart. Rename the list in customer language plus watch the enquiries change.
- Five competing calls to action. Call, chat, download, subscribe plus follow — a stranger offered five doors takes none. One action, repeated, named concretely.
- An About page with nobody on it. No names, no faces, no story — the page whose entire job is trust, emptied of everything trustworthy.
A One-Afternoon Rewrite Plan
You do not need a free month to fix the two pages. One afternoon, in this order: list the ten questions customers actually ask before buying (from memory plus your inbox); draft the headline from the formula, three versions, pick by reading aloud; assemble the proof block from real material only; rewrite each service summary in customer words; write the three process steps; then draft the About story as the founding problem, in four short paragraphs, plus photograph the team properly — our phone-photography habits from the content-preparation work apply here too. Before the pages go live, run them against the go-live checks in our website launch checklist: broken links, stale prices plus wrong phone numbers undo good copy faster than weak copy ever did. Then schedule the twice-yearly review in the same sitting, because copy drifts exactly as fast as the business changes.
Homepage reading like a brochure from 2015 while competitors take the enquiries your traffic should produce? Book a free consultation with Asad Webs — bring your current homepage plus your three commonest customer questions, and we will show you the rewrite framework applied to your own first screen, plus a straight answer on whether the rest of the site needs words, design, or both.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should homepage copy be?
Long enough to answer the visitor's three questions — do you do what I need, can I trust you, what happens if I enquire — plus not a word more on the homepage itself. Detail belongs on the service pages the homepage links to. A focused homepage most visitors can read fully in two minutes usually outperforms a long one that buries its proof near the footer.
What is the best headline formula for a small business homepage?
Name the service, the audience or place, plus the outcome or the reassurance: 'Bookkeeping for cafés in Leeds — monthly figures you can actually read'. It beats slogans because a stranger can tell in seconds whether the page is for them. Write three versions, read them aloud, plus keep the one a customer would repeat accurately to a friend.
Should my About page be written in first person or third person?
Either can work; consistency matters more. First person ('I started this firm because…') suits solo practitioners plus founder-led businesses and builds direct trust. Third person suits teams that will outgrow one face. Never mix the two on one page, plus never let a solo business hide behind a corporate 'we' it cannot support with named people.
How do I write about my business without sounding boastful?
Replace claims with evidence. 'Trusted by local businesses' is a boast; the names of three real clients, a dated review quote used with permission, plus a specific result you can describe honestly are proof. Where you have no evidence yet, describe your process instead — how carefully you work is a claim a new business can make truthfully.
Can I rewrite my homepage copy myself, or do I need a copywriter?
Most owners can do a strong first rewrite with the framework in this guide, because nobody knows the customers' real questions better. A copywriter earns their fee on polish, structure plus the home page of a business whose enquiry value is high. A practical middle path: draft it yourself from customer questions, then pay for one editing pass rather than a blank-page commission.
What is the single biggest homepage copy mistake?
Writing the first screen about the business instead of the visitor's problem. 'Welcome to our website, established 2009' tells a stranger nothing they came for. Lead with what you do, for whom, plus why it is safe to choose you — the company's story has a whole page of its own, linked in the navigation.
How often should homepage plus About copy be updated?
Review both whenever the offer changes — new services, new areas, a team member joining or leaving — plus at least twice a year otherwise. The commonest failure is quiet drift: prices, team photos plus service lists describing a business that no longer exists. Our linked launch checklist habit — a short scheduled review — prevents it.
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