DIY write your own website

Want to write your own website? Use our website discovery tips to help you uncover the golden information you need to connect with your audience.

What is discovery session?

When a professional copywriter is engaged to write a website, their first job is to get all the right info about your business, usually through a meeting, called a ‘discovery session’.

Copywriters charge a fee for their services, including the discovery session in which they get from you, the information they need to write the brand-driven sales copy that converts your visitors to customers.

Your own website discovery session

Follow these lines of questioning into your own business, answering as objectively as you can. All of your answers won’t feature in the website, but will help you to understand your own business story, brand and what you want to project to the outside world. And, most importantly, focus on what you want your website to achieve.

• The basics
  
  • What’s the name of your company, and any nicknames [internally and externally]? How did you arrive at that name? Is there a story, and if so, what is it?
  • What’s your company tagline or motto?
• Your website project
  
  • What is it you’re doing here? Describe what the website is for, in its broadest terms. What is the objective? 
  • Scope and inclusions:?what’s in scope and what isn’t, for the purposes of this project. 
  • Target audience:?who exactly are you appealing to? Describe a typical ideal customer – their typical wants and how they like to be spoken to. Are there implications for the type of language you’ll use in your website? 
  • Call to action:?what do you want your audience to do after viewing your website? Call you? Email you? Fill in a contact form?  
  • Tone and style:?what’s the vibe of your website to be? Consider the design in answering. Is it informal? Or is it official-sounding? What suits your product/service and your target market?  
• Your business
  
  • Company background and values:?how and why did you get started? What is your company philosophy? What are your brand values? 
  • Brand personality:?describe the personality of your business in five words or fewer. 
  • Customer pain points:?what keeps your clients awake at 2am? What influences their decision to buy? 
  • Barriers to purchase:?what makes it difficult for your clients to decide/buy? 
  • Value proposition:?what do you do to solve your customers difficulties and indecision to buy? What’s the real value in your offer? 
  • Competitors and industry bodies:?where do you feature in the market/industry?  
  • Alternatives:?what are the alternatives to your product or service? 
  • Your USPs (unique selling points) or PODs (points of difference):?how are you different? What makes you special from what else is available on the market? Are there any areas of superiority, either in product or service? 
  • Testimonials:?do you have any quotes or testimonials from clients? 
  • Existing marketing material:?any existing copy that you need your website to be consistent with? 
  • Clubs, industry memberships and awards, qualifications:?how can you validate your expertise in your customers’ eyes? 
• For every website page
  
  • What’s the objective of the page? 
  • What do you want to be the first impression? 
  • What do you want your visitor to do after visiting it? 
  • Include your call to action 
• To sum up 
  If you’ve followed all the above – well done! You’ve effectively briefed yourself on the job of writing your own website. You should have enough info on: 
  
  • Your target market  
  • Your business goals 
  • Your website objectives 

Which are the essential basics of what you need to write a sales-focused website. Good luck!

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