From personal experience, the process of updating your site can feel overwhelming. Yes, even copywriters struggle with their own copy and content. 

You’re trying to decide which service providers to bring on for your project while trying to decide which parts you’re safe doing on your own (read: saving money where you can).

Yes, updating your website is a significant investment, but it’s also a huge time investment, too. You want to make sure that the time and energy and resources you’re putting into this thing can last you a few years until it’s time for another shift. 

So here’s the thing – there’s a time and place for outsourcing your message altogether. Hi, hello, what I do for a living. 👋

⁠But when you have a strong handle on your message and would love to collaborate with an expert to make it even stronger, I believe you deserve support in that scenario too.⁠ You know, instead of braving it on your own. ⁠

⁠Swiftly enter: Done-With-You Website Copywriting (aka copy coaching)⁠.

What is website copy and why do you need it? 

Quick aside, but if you hire a web designer to overhaul your website they will ask you to provide the “content” or “copy” so they can design around it. 

If you didn’t know, that’s okay. When I first started out in business 3+ years ago as a social media manager, I didn’t know either. Now you do! You’re welcome 🙂 

“Copy” or “content” refers to all the words that go on your site. Headlines, subheadlines, body paragraphs, that kind of stuff. 

Your designer will either give you two options: write it yourself (DIY) or hire a copywriter to write it for you (DFY). 

DO-IT-YOURSELF (DIY) WEBSITE COPYWRITING

Writing it yourself is cost-effective, but it’s a double-edged sword. As a business owner, time is your biggest currency. Do you have the time and energy capacity to do this at the quality you’d want it to be at? If not, your next option would be to outsource copy altogether.

DONE-FOR-YOU FULL-SERVICE WEBSITE COPYWRITING

Done for you (DFY) copy is a significant investment. It’s typically the same investment you would pay for a web designer, if not more. When your business is operating at a certain level and you need to stay focused solely on your zone of genius to move the needle forward, outsourcing your message is a great idea. Or maybe you aren’t clear on your message and you need someone to lay it out for you. This process can bring you so much value. 

But rarely is there talk of a third option, which is why I created one myself: Done-with-you website copywriting.

What is Copy Coaching? Or What I Like to Call: Done-With-You Website Copywriting? 

Done-with-you copywriting is a copy coaching container that falls in between DIY and DFY copy. It’s a custom approach that may work well for your business. If you don’t already know what done-with-you website copywriting is, let me explain:

DONE-WITH-YOU WEBSITE COPYWRITING

You may be in a season of business where you already have a strong handle on your message. And you just need to collaborate in a copy coaching experience with an expert to make it even stronger. 

As Jim Rohn says, 

“You can’t hire someone else to do your push ups for you.”

And I believe there are times when you need to strengthen how to communicate in your own voice. 

After all, it is your voice, isn’t it? 

So done-with-you copywriting gives you the structure, guidance, and game plan to write your web copy and finally launch (or relaunch) your site. 

The process still gives you the same love and attention as if we were working together 1:1. But rather than writing your web copy in a void, you have a creative partner look over it, who’s taken the time to understand your business and it’s big-picture vision, so your message hits the mark. It’s like hiring your very own creative copy coach.

Curious about how the process works? I thought so. First things first:

Get Your Story on Paper Through a Questionnaire

I mentioned that copy coaching clients get the same 1:1 love and attention my full-service clients do and it starts with this. 

The great thing about filling out a questionnaire is that it clarifies your thoughts and ideas by putting them down on paper. You’ll answer questions like: 

• “What is your mission?”
• “What makes you stay in business, day in and day out?” 
• “What do you hate about your industry? What breaks your heart about it?” 

What’s great is that a lot of what you write down in this questionnaire can be swiped to use directly as web copy! Shhhh, just don’t tell anyone.

Begin Copy Coaching and Mine for Golden Nuggets on Our Call

Next, I help you determine what I like to call “golden nuggets”. I’ll sift through everything you wrote down in the questionnaire through the lens of, will be captivating to your audience and in line with your vision?

It’s a lot of guidance like, “use the concept around your passion for your industry. You’re probably safe to skip that nugget about how you were a math nerd in the 3rd grade.”

Copy coaching is stringing together big concepts and ideas while helping you see the nuanced details that you probably would have looked over as creative fuel for your web copy. An equal combination of high and low. 

In addition to storytelling ideas, we also go through your business goals. What offers do you want to lean into? What offers are you weaning away from? How can we create a website structure that you can grow into, not one that you’ll grow out of in the next 6 months? 

Is this the same process I do with my 1:1 clients? Yup, you guessed it!

Create a Web Copy Wireframe Template Tailored to Your Business Goals

At this point, we’ve spent a lot of time deciding the aspects of your brand story we want to lean into (and sifted through details that are safe to leave out).

Keeping all your business goals and brand story concepts in mind, I start to map out which pages your website will need, and the overall flow of each page. 

You’re then handed a Web Copy Wireframe Template with prompts to guide you, custom-tailored to you and your brand.

Wondering what is a sitemap and how to create one? It’s actually the key to writing copy and giving you a framework to riff off (making the copywriting process x10 easier). 

You can read more about it here. 

Essentially, your Web Copy Wireframe Template gives you the plan to write your copy and it’s where you’ll be writing your copy too. Now, let me share a little more about what writing your copy will look like.

Write to the Best of Your Ability with the Web Copy Wireframe Template

What’s most daunting about writing your site (at least when attempting to do it by yourself) is starting from an empty Google Doc or a scattered list of ideas at best. All of that is mitigated when you get the support of copy coaching inside the Web Copy Wireframe Template. 

For example: in the template, I’ll go so far as to tell you which “About Me” fun facts you’ll want to consider and which ones you’re safe to leave out! Like, for example, if you were a math nerd in the 3rd grade.

I’ll also share headline ideas and segues. Take them or leave them, but the point is you have them.

The Web Copy Wireframe Template gives you a jumping-off point to marinate over and take action on. It’s similar to the process of a cow chewing on cud. First, a cow savors grass in its mouth before swallowing it whole.

But then, a cow will quietly regurgitate the grass (which at this point, is now cud) and rechews in its mouth before swallowing whole again. Sound gross, I know, but did you know that’s how grass turns into rich, creamy milk?

Through the Web Copy Wireframe Template, you get plenty of ideas, angles, and perspectives you can chew like cud and regurgitate in your brain, so you have more than enough to get a strong first draft going.

Which, for you, means less indecision, wasting time, perfectionism, and more words on the page.

I’ll Refine You Message Until it’s Just Right

What’s the greatest part about the copy coaching process? All that’s required of you is a strong first draft. I take care of the rest by making the already strong copy you wrote, even stronger.

I’ll make …

• Headlines more poignant
• Shift messages to different parts of the page
• Make your writing smooth like salted butter

… all as if you wrote it yourself — because you pretty much did!

Just like with my 1:1 clients, we go back and forth to confirm that the changes in the Google Doc I made still reflect your voice and overall goals. By the end of the process, you’ve got copy that’s ready for the world to see.

Who Is Copy Coaching For? 

Copy coaching is for when you’re in an experimentation/testing/transitional phase of business. 

By outsourcing your copy too early, you run the risk of that message going obsolete if you haven’t had the chance to vet out your process, offers, or overall mission. 

The reality is, your site will constantly evolve as your business evolves. Because as business owners we’re constantly evolving, whether in drastic or subtle ways.

Done-with-you copywriting is great for when you know you’re set apart in your industry, but need some collaboration on how to put that into words as you’re nailing down offers and deciding how to show up in your space. 

If you’ve been in the game for a while, you know WHAT to say, but just aren’t sure how to say it.

If this is you, you’ve most likely DIY’d the first version of your website. And that’s a great start because it helps you become a recognized expert in your space. 

You may also have attempted to do it on your own and wasted a lot of time. Done-with-you copy is the perfect blend of letting your own personality shine through, but also giving you a framework to do that within. 

This was the case with Better Screen Time, an online educator who teaches parents about how to create a tech-friendly environment with kids. 

Read up about Better Screen Time and how Done-With-You Website Copy (copy coaching) was the exact thing she needed. 

Copy Coaching Could Be Exactly What You Need

Writing your own website is hard, especially when you’re making transitions between your offers and your business. But you shouldn’t let perfectionism, decision fatigue, or “getting it right” stop you from launching (or relaunching) a new iteration of your site. 

As I mentioned before, your site will constantly evolve as your business evolves. So might as well go into your next season of business confident that your website reflects the work you’re doing from the start. Ready to learn more about copy coaching? Click here.