Website content covers every piece of text and every image that ends up on your site, from the homepage copy to service descriptions, team photos, and your about-us story - and it's just as important as design, often more so. In our agency experience, the thing that most often stretches out a website project isn't design, it's waiting on content from the client; a project that could wrap up in 3-4 weeks can drag on for 2-3 months simply because the copy never arrives. In this guide we walk through what to write on each page, how to prepare your images, and what to do if you can't write the copy yourself.
Why Do Website Projects Stall on Content?
Website projects usually run long because content delivery gets delayed - business owners are buried in day-to-day work and keep pushing the writing to next week. In a kickoff conversation, when asked 'will you write the content or should we?', most clients say 'we'll handle it'; but once the design is finished and it's time for copy, weeks can go by without a reply. That leaves the designer stuck - you can't move forward with empty text boxes, so the whole project sits on hold.
The most effective way to avoid this is to set a clear content timeline with a named owner before the project even starts. When a content schedule runs in parallel with the design process, projects generally finish on time. Use the checklist later in this article to get clear on what you already have and what's still missing before the project kicks off.
One thing that works well in practice: assign a single 'content owner' on your team. When several people are loosely involved in writing, sourcing photos, and giving approvals, it quickly becomes unclear who owes what and by when. A single point of contact keeps communication with the agency clean and can track outstanding items with a short weekly checklist.
What Should You Write on Each Page?
Every page has its own job, and copy written without that job in mind either stays too generic or misses what the visitor actually came looking for.
Homepage: Make Your Value Proposition Unmistakable
The homepage's job is to tell a visitor, within three seconds, what you do, who you serve, and why they should pick you. Skip the abstract slogans in your headline and use a concrete benefit statement instead: not 'quality service' but something like 'we've built custom software for SMBs for 15 years.' For the homepage you need: a one-sentence value proposition, a three-to-four-point summary of your services, at least one customer testimonial, and a clear call to action ('get a free quote,' for example).
About Us: A Real Story, Not a Cliché
The most common mistake on an about page is filling it with generic lines like 'our core values are quality, trust, and customer satisfaction' - sentences that could belong to literally any business. Tell your real story instead: when and why did you start? What problem were you trying to solve? Who's on the team, and what's their background? A concrete number helps too - a line like 'we've served over 200 businesses to date' is far more convincing than a vague promise of trustworthiness.
Service Page Structure: Problem, Solution, Proof, Action
Every service page should have four parts: first describe the problem the visitor is dealing with ('are phone bookings a mess?'), then explain how your service solves it, then offer proof (a testimonial, a case example, a number), and close with a clear call to action. Service pages that skip this structure tend to read like plain spec sheets and don't persuade anyone. For how to structure a corporate site's pages as a whole, see our corporate website design and content guide.
What to Prepare for the Contact and FAQ Pages
The contact page doesn't need long copy - accuracy is what matters most. Double-check your phone number, email address, full address, and business hours one by one; an old branch address or a disconnected phone line instantly breaks a visitor's trust. For the FAQ page, don't focus on writing prose - focus on collecting the right questions. Ask your front-of-house staff (or yourself) what customers have asked over the phone in the last month; that list becomes a ready-made FAQ draft.
How Long Should the Content Be?
Page length depends on the page's job: a homepage is usually fine at 150-300 words, while a service page should run 400-700 words so it both persuades the visitor and signals to search engines that the topic is covered in depth. An about page typically needs 250-450 words to tell a proper story for most businesses. Treat these numbers as a reference point, not a rule - the real test is whether you've fully answered the visitor's question. A service page that's too short leaves gaps; one that's needlessly padded tires the reader and buries the actual message.
Preparing Images: Phone Camera or Professional Shoot?
Phone photos, taken in good light and composed with care, are perfectly adequate for most small-business sites; a professional shoot makes a real difference for product photography, e-commerce, and higher-budget services (clinics, hotels, restaurants). Ask yourself: is the visitor making a purchase decision based on this image? A poorly lit phone photo on an e-commerce product page will directly hurt sales; but a team photo on a service page taken with a phone works fine as long as it's well framed and shot in natural light.
Avoid stock photography wherever you can - the same smiling-office-worker images that show up on thousands of sites make visitors wonder 'is this even a real business?' Photos of your actual space, your actual products, and your actual team - however amateur - build more trust than any stock image. At minimum, shoot these ahead of time: an exterior/interior shot of your space, a team or founder photo, your product or service in use, and any finished project examples you have.
How Do You Collect Testimonials and Social Proof?
Customer testimonials are more persuasive than anything you could say about yourself, because visitors trust someone else's experience more than your own claims. The easiest way to collect them is to ask a satisfied customer to write a few sentences about their experience right after you finish the job - wait a few weeks and most customers won't get back to you. You can also pull the star reviews piling up on your Google Business Profile onto your site (with permission) - a verifiable, current source of social proof. When asking for a testimonial, push for a specific comment about the problem you solved rather than a generic 'we were very happy' - it makes a real difference to how convincing it reads on your site.
What If You Can't Write the Copy Yourself?
If you don't have the time or the knack for writing, say so clearly to your agency at the start of the design process and ask for a copywriting service - leaving that decision until the end is what causes weeks of delay. Most web design agencies can produce professional copy from a short conversation covering what services you offer, who your target audience is, and what sets you apart - all you need to supply is the raw information; you don't have to construct the sentences yourself.
Here's a scenario we see constantly in the field: a business owner approves the design, then says 'I'll write the copy myself,' and weeks pass; eventually, in a rush, they fill the page with a few thin, inadequate sentences. Yet if that same person had simply answered five or six questions out loud for the agency (what do you do, what problem do you solve most often, which project are you proudest of), the agency could have turned that into much stronger copy. Talking through your business is far easier for most people than writing to a blank page - recognizing that difference up front saves real time.
Another practical option for businesses that struggle to write: share your existing marketing materials (brochures, business cards, presentations, old proposals) with the agency - these documents often contain raw material that translates directly into web copy. Gathering what you already have scattered around is both less draining for you and gives the agency a richer source to work from.
Request copywriting as a separate line item at the proposal stage and get the price in writing - some agencies bundle it into the design package, others charge separately. If you also want SEO-focused blog content that brings in search traffic, that's a different skill set; our guide on how to write an SEO-friendly blog post is a useful benchmark, whether you're writing it yourself or briefing the agency. If you want to build a longer-term content strategy, our what is content marketing guide is a good starting point too.
Preparation Checklist
Having the following items ready before the project starts keeps the whole process moving smoothly:
- Company details: Legal name, address, phone, email, business hours, social media accounts.
- Service/product list: The name and short description of every service you offer, plus a price range if you have one.
- About-us notes: Founding year, short backstory, team information, standout numbers (customers served, years of experience).
- Images: High-resolution logo, photos of your space/products/team, examples of finished work if you have them.
- Testimonials: Customer reviews, star ratings if available, permission-cleared customer names.
- Legal text: A draft privacy notice (covering data protection law such as GDPR or Türkiye's KVKK), any existing cookie policy.
- Frequently asked questions: The 5-10 questions your customers ask most often, by phone or in person, with short answers.
If you put this list together as a document ahead of time and share it with your agency, the design process can move forward without waiting on content, and your overall project timeline shrinks considerably.
Common Content Mistakes
- Leaving copy for last: Businesses that postpone content until the design is finished are usually the ones who notice, too late, that this is exactly why the project ran long.
- Generic, personality-free copy: Sentences that read like they were lifted from a competitor's site leave no impression at all - use specific details unique to you.
- Hiding price and turnaround completely: Even if you can't give an exact number, a range ('$1,000-3,000,' '2-3 weeks') helps visitors take you seriously.
- Using low-resolution or outdated images: A blurry logo or a team photo taken years ago undermines the sense that your business is current.
- Forgetting legal text: Every form that collects personal data needs a proper privacy notice; this detail gets forgotten at the end of most projects.
Conclusion: Content Preparation Matters as Much as Design
A good website comes from well-planned content far more than from good design alone - visitors get to know you through what they read, not what they see, and that's what decides whether they trust you. Knowing what to write on each page, preparing the right images ahead of time, and getting professional writing support when you need it will get your project finished faster and make it more effective.
At Welda, we plan content preparation together with clients at the start of every project, and we offer copywriting support when it's needed. Take a look at our web design and development service to talk through how to structure your site's content, or get in touch with any questions. The first conversation is free - let's map out your content together.