The Home Page Copy Generator

A 5-Question Formula for Writing or Optimizing Your Home Page

This short document will walk you step-by-step through a five-question process for writing or optimizing home page copy. Type your answers to the questions directly into this editable PDF and you’ll be left with the information needed to generate high-converting home page copy.

 

Question 1: What is your website’s purpose?

Even though this question seems like it could lead to stating the obvious, it often leads to one of two surprising conclusions:

1. The purpose you think your site should have isn’t aligned with the outcome it’s currently getting (for example, you built the website so customers could easily book appointments online, but you’re getting little to no bookings).

2. You’re not sure what the purpose is. You just have a website

because…that’s what a business does, right? Here’s the answer I wrote down when applying this process to my own website, Copygrad.com:

The primary purpose of Copygrad.com is to help me build an email list of entrepreneurial/startup-minded people interested in copywriting

and marketing.

Don’t get it confused—you’re not writing down the primary purpose of your business. You’re describing your website’s chief function in your business. What is the end to which your website is the means? Answering this question will give you a simple way to evaluate each element on your page. For example, look at your headline, or any other element/section. Is it, in some way, serving your site’s ultimate purpose? In Copygrad’s case, I’d ask myself, “Is [Insert Page Element Here] moving entrepreneurial- and startup-minded people closer to signing up for an email list about copywriting and marketing?” If the answer is no, then that element needs to be tweaked or removed.

“But what if my website has more than one purpose?”

Good question! It’s possible your website may exist for more than one main reason. Take Uber, for example. Their website exists to help them sign up both app users and drivers—two very different things, leaving them with a primary and a secondary call to action.

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Even if your website does serve more than one purpose, you should almost always emphasize one over the other. Prioritize the purpose that’s most important to your business’s growth right now.

Type in your answer for Question #1 on the next page now.

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Answer Question #1: What is your website’s purpose? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Question 2: Who is your ideal customer?

In this question, “ideal customer” is defined as someone who:

1. Your products or services can impact the greatest 2. You would love to work with or see using your products 3. Can afford your products or services

To put it simply, picture the type of customer you would most like to attract. This can be based either on past experience, existing customer data, or even just the direction you’d like to take your business (if you find yourself saying things like, “I’d really rather be working with people who are _________,” or, “Customers like _____ are awesome…I want more of them,” that means you). An established company with a lot of customers like Uber would probably look at quantitative data to paint a detailed picture of what their most valuable (or most numerous) customers look like. A much smaller business, like a freelance web designer, might turn to qualitative data instead: “Well, I’ve always enjoyed working with local businesses that obsess over quality. And usually, those kinds of clients have gotten the most value out of my services. That’s what I want to be doing more of.” Your answer to this question is the person you should be imagining as you write every line of copy. Don’t be everything to everyone. Be the business this ideal customer wants.

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Answer Question #2: Who is your ideal customer? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Question 3: How does your ideal customer describe his or her

problem/pain?

You’ll often begin to answer this question while describing your ideal customer for question number two. But setting some time aside to focus specifically on their problems will almost always enable you to address those problems/pains better in your copy. Rather than guessing, the best way to identify these problems and pains is to pull them directly from your customers’ mouths. Not literally, of course—I’m talking about the way they describe their problems in words. If you have email conversations with previous or current customers, look back through them and see if they ever described the issues they were hiring you to fix. Or just think back in your memory actual conversations where their problems may have come up. How did they describe them? What words did they use? If you don’t have any of this information, try asking a few simple questions of your current or prospective customers via email or social media. In the past, I’ve done this with the Copygrad email list by offering free 30-minute consultations. To be eligible, people just had to email me their responses to these questions:

1. What is the key result you’d like your website to produce? 2. What’s your biggest business struggle right now?

I sprinkled words and phrases from actual responses to those questions throughout the Copygrad home page. Often, the best way to connect with your prospects’ problems is to describe them the exact same way they do. Contact your prospects with questions like the two above, or refer back to previous conversations, and write down what they said about their problems on the next page.

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Answer Question #3: How does your ideal customer describe his or her problem/pain? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Question 4: What’s the most valuable action, within reason, your

home page visitors can take?

Obviously, the most valuable action one of your website visitors can take is purchasing your highest-priced offering. Hence the inclusion of “within reason” in the question. Think of it this way: what’s the best way for you to close a sale? Possible answers might include:

● Getting a prospect on the phone ● Via an email autoresponder series ● Via a live webinar ● Getting a visitor to click through to your pricing page

Whatever it is for you, your call to action should move visitors closer to it. For most businesses, that will make the call to action one of three things:

1. Opt-in for your email list, webinar, newsletter, etc. 2. Submit a contact or query form 3. Click through to a pricing or sales page

Typically, you’ll get better results if you put this call to action somewhere near the beginning of your page, and somewhere near the end.

On Bryan Harris’s home page for Videofruit.com, he centers every call to action around signing up for free content that teaches visitors how to build their email lists. When visitors click the button, an email opt-in form appears:

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Since Bryan sells in-depth training and tools for email list-building, this is a highly valuable action for his visitors to take. The call to action at the end of his home page offers another package of list-building resources:

Answer the question on the next page to identify the action your visitors should be taking and create your calls to action.

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Answer Question #4: What is the most valuable action your home page visitors can take? Write the copy for the calls to action for that action. Tip: Don’t overcomplicate it—write plain language that tells them specifically what to do, like in the previous examples from Videofruit. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Question 5: How can you prove that you can solve your ideal

customer’s problems?

The space between your calls to action is where you should spend time presenting evidence that you can help your website visitors. Not everyone will be ready to take action right at the beginning of your page, so think of this area as your chance to win them over. I included three elements on the Copygrad home page that aim to accomplish that:

Area 1: Blog Preview

Blogging has created more opportunities for me than anything else I’ve ever tried. Most of the customers I’ve acquired and valuable relationships I’ve built began with someone simply reading a blog post. And that’s exactly why I dedicated the second section of the home page to showcasing my popular posts. If someone’s not going to opt in to my email list, my next preference would be for them to read a blog post since they have a track record of warming people up to me.

I included an image, title, and intriguing lead-in with each post to entice visitors to click. For you, this type of section might be a portfolio of your best work. Or a video.

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Regardless of what it ends up being, you can use it to showcase material that has a proven track record of turning people on to your business.

Area 2: Testimonials

Testimonials help you establish credibility. Earth-shattering news, right? As much as this is nothing new, it’s still important to realize good testimonials (especially ones from people who will be recognizable to your ideal customer) can be powerful. Here, I included testimonials from two people I’ve worked with on a large number of products (Robert D. Smith and John Morgan), as well as an unconventional testimonial from Seth Godin (which is actually just a comment he left on one of my blog posts).

The Godin testimonial serves as a good reminder: your testimonials can be anything positive someone has said about you or your work. They don’t necessarily have to be the product of you asking someone to give you a testimonial. Just make sure that you communicate the context of the quote. For example, I wrote that Seth’s quote came from a comment he left on the very first Copygrad blog post. That way, the testimonial still demonstrates to visitors that a well-known marketer and author said he loved my writing without being disingenuous about how the quote was obtained.

Area 3: About Section

I used this last section before the final call to action to put a face with the business and add a small amount of personal touch.

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Copygrad isn’t the only copywriting/marketing blog out there, just like your business is most likely not the only one of its kind, so a section like this lets you show off your unique side. Together, these three sections deliver a body of work, endorsements from happy clients/readers, and a personal note that further differentiates the site from others in the space.

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Answer Question #5: How can you prove that you can solve your ideal customer’s problems? What testimonials can you use? What work can you showcase? List all of your assets below. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Want a Second Set of Eyes on the Copy You’ve Generated?

I’m always up for a quick review. Shoot me an email at will@copygrad.com and I’ll be happy to take a look!

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