If you’ve stumbled upon this post looking for easy tips and tricks, I’m sorry to inform you that this isn’t your corner of the Internet.  Why?  Because creating a website is easy.  Creating a killer website is hard.

But hard work produces things you’re proud of.  If you’re ready to feel excited and stoked to share your future website, let’s chat!

This is the start of a three-part series, so be sure to join me on this journey to enhance your web presence!

The best thing you can do when designing a website is divide your work.  Creating a website can feel daunting (okay, and totally overwhelming), but I’m here to help.  When I start the design process, I start with the most difficult aspects first.  For me, that’s writing.

Writing the copy for your site is THE MOST IMPORTANT part.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a photographer, a barber, or a soap maker.  Your words are the things that help differentiate your business amongst thousands of competitors.  If you believe you offer amazing products/services, then the best thing you can do for your business is explain why.

In order to know what needs to be written, you must determine the following: how many sections will the website have.  My graphic designer (and awesome friend) Promise Tangeman of GoLiveHQ suggests no more than six sections.  If you have more than six sections, consider creating subsections under main sections, so it looks visually appealing.

Once you outline your sections, you must determine what should be written in each one.  Here’s a look at a few of my websites:

Under each of these sections, I outline what needs to be written.  For example, on JasmineStar.com:

Now that you’ve outlined what you need, you must simply set aside a few hours to write everything down.  Then you need to ask a trusted friend and/or peer to proofread it for you.  Remember, your copy needs to sell your products/services, so getting it critiqued is the best thing you can do.

How long does copywriting for your website take?  Well, it usually takes me three full days to write for a website.  That sounds like a long time, but I’m not a quick writer.  It takes me a while, then I get it proofed, then I make revisions, then everything is ready.

You’re probably sitting here thinking: Jasmine, I thought you were gonna tell me about how to create a killer website…why are you talking about WRITING?!

I get it.  That part is coming, but hold your horses because we wanna get the heavy lifting out of the way before we can play with the visual branding identity.  I often see creative entrepreneurs working on the “fun” part of website creation (choosing photos, choosing colors, choosing font, etc.), but by the time they get to writing the content for their website, they're tired and burnt out. Don't let that happen to you.  Your mind is a creative muscle, so use it to create words that'll sell what you provide.

THIS is how you grow a business with a killer website.

I’m excited to talk more about how my graphic designer, Promise Tangeman, created all four of my websites using Showit, a business owners DREAM website builder.  I love changing the design on my own, whenever I want without having to know coding.  More on visual website branding coming up, so get ready for Part Two coming soon!