Swain-Tech Studio websites for small businesses and independent creatives

Writing the Words Yourself

This is the task that stalls projects. Not design, not development — the moment someone has to sit down and write what the business actually says about itself.

It stalls because it feels like it needs a special voice, and because a blank page invites throat-clearing. It does not need a special voice. It needs answers to questions your customers already ask you. For independent professionals balancing several projects, learn more offers practical ideas for keeping client work organised.

The shortcut: you have already written most of this, in emails to enquirers. Open your sent folder and read the last ten replies to new customers. The words you use when explaining your work to a real person are better than anything you will invent while trying to sound professional.

The method

Start with the questions, not the pages.

Write down every question a customer asks before they commit. Not what you wish they asked — what they actually say. How much is it? How long does it take? Do you do X? Have you worked with someone like me? What happens if I don't like it? Where are you?

Ten to fifteen questions. Then answer each one in three or four sentences, the way you would say it out loud. For an independent reference beyond this site, Mailchimp is a useful place to compare approaches.

That is your site. The pages are just those answers sorted into groups. Homepage gets the ones people ask first, a services page gets the what-and-how-much, an about page gets who-are-you-and-why-you.

The advantage is that you never face a blank page. You face a question, which is easier, and the answer arrives in your own voice because you have given it fifty times.

The four mistakes

Opening with atmosphere. Welcome to our website. We are passionate about delivering quality solutions. This says nothing, and it occupies the position where a visitor decides whether to stay. Start with what you do and for whom, in plain words.

Writing about yourself instead of the reader. We have twenty years of experience and a commitment to excellence. Rewrite as what that means for them: We've done this for twenty years, which usually means we've met your problem before.

Hiding the price entirely. Silence reads as expensive. A range, a starting figure, or even "most projects fall between X and Y" filters out mismatches you did not want and reassures everyone else.

Being vague about what you do not do. Saying you do not take on a certain kind of job makes the rest more credible. Anyone who does everything appears to specialise in nothing.

Practical rules that hold up

Short sentences. Read it aloud; where you run out of breath, add a full stop.

The most important thing first, on every page and in every section. Visitors scan, and the ones who read to the end were already convinced.

One idea per paragraph, two or three sentences each.

Concrete over abstract. Not "bespoke solutions tailored to your needs" but "I'll build the thing you actually need and tell you when you don't need it."

Say the obvious things. Where you are, what hours, whether you travel, what happens after someone gets in touch. For a trade or service business this is most of the site. You know these; your reader does not, and their absence is the most common gap on small business sites.

Cut the last paragraph you wrote. It is usually a summary of what you just said.

How much you need

Less than you think.

A homepage that fits on two screens beats one that scrolls forever. A services page that names three things clearly beats one that lists twelve. An about page of four paragraphs is plenty.

More words are not more persuasive. A visitor who has to hunt for the answer usually leaves instead of hunting.

When to pay someone

Worth being honest about, because "write your own words" is not universal advice.

Pay a writer if writing is genuinely painful for you, if English is not your first language and precision matters to the sale, if your field has specific compliance language, or if you have tried for three weeks and produced nothing. Three weeks of avoidance costs more than a writer.

Do it yourself if you can talk about your work easily to a customer. Then you can write it, and it will sound like you — which is worth more than polish, particularly for a one-person business where the person is what is being bought.

Either way, decide before the project starts so it is quoted rather than assumed. This is one of the two things that actually delays builds.

The short version