Most small business websites don't have a design problem. They have a words problem. The pages look fine, the photos are nice, and then the copy says something like "we deliver bespoke solutions tailored to your unique requirements" — which tells a prospective customer absolutely nothing.
The good news is that fixing this doesn't need a rebuild or a marketing degree. It mostly needs you to write the way you'd actually speak to someone standing in front of you.
Start with how people really read
They don't, mostly. Nielsen Norman Group, who have been running usability research for three decades, found that on an average web page visit people have time to read about 28% of the words — and realistically get through closer to 20%. The rest gets skimmed: headings, first lines, anything bold, and whatever is sitting near a button.
That single fact should change how you write. If someone is only taking in a fifth of your page, the fifth they take in had better be the important part. Which means:
- Put the answer first, not the wind-up. The most useful sentence goes at the top of the section, not at the end of it.
- Write headings that say something. "Our Approach" is a label. "We quote a fixed price before we start" is information — and it still works if that's the only line someone reads.
- Keep paragraphs to two or three sentences. A wall of text reads as effort, and people skip effort.
- Use a list when you're genuinely listing things. Don't use one for everything, or nothing stands out.
The same research group measured this directly: making text concise improved usability by 58%, making it scannable added 47%, and writing plainly rather than promotionally added 27%. Do all three and you roughly double how usable the page is. That's not a design change. That's just editing.
Say what you do in the words customers use
Here's a test worth running on your own home page. Ask someone outside your industry to read it and tell you what your business does. If they hesitate, the copy is doing something other than its job.
The usual culprit is language that made sense inside the business but never made it out. "Integrated brand strategy" is what you call it in a meeting. "We design logos, signage and packaging so everything matches" is what your customer calls it. Neither is wrong — one is just written for a different audience.
Nielsen Norman Group recommend writing for a general audience at around a sixth-to-eighth-grade reading level, with sentences of fifteen to twenty words. That isn't dumbing anything down, and their research is clear that specialists prefer plain language too. Experts are busy. Busy people like sentences that only need reading once.
A practical way to find the right words: go through your last twenty enquiry emails and note the phrases customers used to describe their problem. Those are your headings. If three people wrote "our website looks dated," don't write "digital presence modernisation." Write "Your website looks dated."
Lead with their problem, not your history
A lot of small business copy opens with the founding story. Established in 2011. A passionate team. Committed to excellence. It's all true, and it's all in the wrong order.
Someone landing on your site is carrying a problem. They want to know, quickly, whether you're the sort of business that fixes it. Your history matters — but it matters as reassurance after they've decided you might be relevant, not before.
So try restructuring the top of your main pages like this:
- What you do and who for. One sentence. "We build websites for small businesses in Melbourne."
- The problem you take away. "Most owners we meet have a site they can't update and a host they can't reach."
- What working with you is like. Fixed quotes, a named contact, plain-English updates — whatever is actually true of you.
- Proof. A short client comment, a photo of real work, a number you can stand behind.
- The next step.
The founding story still deserves a home. It just belongs on the About page, where people go specifically to find out who they'd be dealing with.
Make the next step obvious and small
Plenty of decent websites lose people at the last metre because the call to action is either invisible or intimidating.
Be specific about what happens next. "Contact us" is vague and slightly demanding. "Tell us about your project and we'll come back within two business days" tells someone exactly what they're agreeing to, which makes agreeing easier. If a call feels like a big commitment, offer the smaller version — a quick question by email, a rough price range, a fifteen-minute chat.
And make sure the step actually exists everywhere it's needed. A common pattern we see: a great services page with no way to act on it, because the only contact link is in the top navigation. Put an invitation at the bottom of every page that could reasonably end in an enquiry.
Three checks before you publish
Read it out loud. If you'd never say a sentence to a customer's face, don't put it on the page. This catches more bad copy than any other technique, and it takes five minutes.
Ask "so what?" after every claim. "We use the latest technology" — so what? "So your site loads quickly on a phone with patchy reception." The second half is the bit the customer cares about. Most of the time the "so what" answer should simply replace the original sentence.
Cut the first paragraph. Then read what's left. Nine times out of ten the page is stronger, because the first paragraph was you clearing your throat.
None of this requires new pages or a new design. Set aside an hour, open your home page and your main services page, and rewrite the top third of each one the way you'd explain it in a conversation. It's usually the cheapest improvement available to a small business website.
If you'd rather have someone else do the rewriting — or you've read your own copy so many times you can't see it any more — that's fair enough, and it's something we do. Get in touch and we'll take a look at what you've got and tell you honestly what we'd change.