Website copywriting: who writes what, and what to hand over

The short answer

Website copywriting is the planning and writing of every word on a site. The owner usually supplies the facts and decisions, a copywriter or trained staff member writes the page text, and the developer needs approved copy before the layout is final. Keep one style sheet and one final editor so the copy stays consistent.

What website copywriting covers

Website copywriting covers every word a visitor reads on the site, which is far more than the paragraphs on the main pages. Headlines and body text are the obvious part. The less obvious part is the small text: button labels, form field labels, error messages, confirmation pages, menu names, image descriptions, page titles and the lines that appear when something goes wrong. Visitors judge a business by all of it.

It helps to split the work into three jobs, because they need different skills and are often done by different people. Strategy decides what each page must achieve and what the visitor needs to know. Writing turns that into clear text. Editing checks facts, tone, length and consistency. Many small projects go wrong because nobody was given the third job.

Who should write your website copy?

There is no single right answer. It depends on your budget, the time you have and how technical the subject is. The table compares the usual options.

A split that works for many small businesses is simple. The owner supplies the facts, proof and decisions as rough notes, a writer shapes them into page text, and the owner approves the result. The owner should not skip the facts step. A writer cannot invent your delivery area, your qualifications or the reason customers choose you.

What to give a developer or designer

Developers and designers need the words before they can finish the layout. A heading that fits on one line in a mock-up with placeholder text may run to three lines with the real text, and a menu built around short labels breaks when the real labels are long. Pass the copy over in a form that can be pasted straight in.

A useful hand-over pack contains the following.

• One document with a section for each page, in the order of the agreed site structure. If you have not planned that yet, start with planning website structure and page hierarchy.
• For each page, the page title, the main heading, subheadings marked as such, body text, and the exact wording and destination of each button or link.
• The text for the first screen of the home page. It sets the tone for the whole site, so give it extra attention; see what to put above the fold.
• Form details: the fields you want, which are required, the message shown after sending and the address that receives the notification.
• A list of images with one sentence describing each, which becomes the alt text, and a note of where each belongs.
• Legal pages and contact details, confirmed as accurate and final.
• Any limits you already know about, such as text that must fit a template or a maximum length for product names.

Avoid sending copy as screenshots, scattered emails or slide decks, and avoid approving anything that still contains "lorem ipsum" filler text. If some copy is still being written, tell the developer which pages are waiting, so the structure can be built around the words that are final.

The words nobody is assigned: microcopy

Short interface text is the most commonly forgotten part of website copywriting. If nobody owns it, the developer writes it as the site is built, and the result is whatever the software defaults to: "Submit", "Invalid input", "Error 404". Decide in advance who writes it and in what voice.

List the places where it appears: buttons, form hints, validation messages, the thank-you page, the page shown when an address does not exist, cookie notices, automatic emails such as enquiry or order confirmations, and the text in the footer. One row in your copy document for each of these is quick to fill in and removes many small mismatches.

A sensible order of work

1. Agree the page list and what each page must achieve, before any writing starts.
2. Collect the facts: services, areas served, how the work is done, proof, and answers to the questions customers ask most.
3. Write an outline for each page, with the headings and the point under each one.
4. Draft the text, beginning with the pages that bring in enquiries.
5. Edit for facts, tone, length and consistency, ideally by one person.
6. Place the text in the design and read it in context, on a phone as well as on a desktop screen.
7. Approve once, with a cut-off date for further changes.

Writing in a document first and placing the text later tends to work better than writing inside the site builder, because the whole structure of a page is easier to see and fix on one screen.

How to keep the copy consistent

Consistency comes from decisions written down once, not from good memory. Create a one-page style sheet before the first draft and give it to every writer. It should settle the following.

• Spelling variant. Choose British or American spelling for each language version and keep to it. A site for the USA and a site for the UK may reasonably differ, but a single site should not mix them.
• Names. Decide how the business, products and services are written, including capital letters and abbreviations, and which word you use for the people you serve, such as clients, members or guests.
• Tone. Write three or four plain statements, for example "direct, no jargon, no exclamation marks", with a sample sentence for each.
• Formats for dates, times, numbers, units and contact details, since these differ between countries.
• Heading style, meaning sentence case or title case, and whether headings are statements or questions.
• Words to avoid, including any claim you cannot prove.

Keep one person as the final editor even if several people write. Before launch, search the finished text for old product names, outdated details and the other spelling variant. The same sheet helps later, when someone adds a page and has to match the existing voice. The page about the business itself is the hardest to keep consistent because many people want a say in it, so a separate guide to writing an About us page is worth reading.

Check that the copy works on the page

Copy can read well in a document and fail on the page. Read every page on a real phone: long paragraphs that look fine on a computer become walls of text on a narrow screen. The guide to mobile-friendly websites lists what to check.

Then ask a few people who have not seen the site to find a specific answer, or to describe in their own words what the business does after looking at the home page for a few seconds. Small, low-cost sessions are described in website user testing on a small budget. If they describe the business wrongly, the headline is the problem, not the visitor.

Whoever builds the site, agree in writing who supplies the copy and by when. The website development service page describes the build work that comes after the words are ready.

Related guides

• Website development
• How to plan website structure and page hierarchy
• How to write an about us page
• Mobile friendly website what it means and how to check
• Website user testing how to do it on a small budget
• Website hero section what to put above the fold

Questions and answers

Who should write my website copy?

The owner should supply the facts and approve the result, but the page text is usually better written by someone who writes for customers every day: a trained staff member or a freelance copywriter. A developer can write copy if it is part of the agreed scope. Whoever writes it, one person should edit the whole site.

What should I give a developer or designer?

Give one document with a section for every page, in site order, showing the page title, headings, body text, button wording and link destinations. Add form details, image descriptions, legal pages and contact details. Final text is better than placeholder text, because real wording changes how a layout fits.

How do I keep the copy consistent?

Write a one-page style sheet before drafting. It should cover spelling variant, how names and products are written, tone, formats for dates and numbers, and heading style. Give it to every writer, name one final editor, and search the finished text for old names and mixed spellings before launch.

Should the copy be written before the design?

Ideally the outline and headings come first, and the final text before the layout is locked. Real text affects line breaks, menu width and button size. If time is short, a developer can build flexible templates and place the text later, but late copy then needs a full read on every screen size.

What is microcopy and who writes it?

Microcopy is the short text that guides people through the site: button labels, form hints, error messages, confirmation pages and automatic emails. It is often left to the developer by default. Assign it to the copy owner, list every place it appears, and write it in the same voice as the pages.

Is it fine to leave placeholder text in until later?

It is risky. Placeholder text is easy to forget, and it can end up published. If you must use it, mark every instance in a list, make launch conditional on replacing it, and search the live site for leftover filler words before announcing the site.