One of the biggest questions I get asked from beginner copywriters and small business owners is:
Do I really need someone to build my copywriter website?
The answer is no. You don’t. Building your own copywriter website is easier than you think. It just needs breaking down into manageable chunks.
Everything is a learning curve at first right?
First of all let’s deal with what a web developer and a web designer does.
What is the difference between a web developer and a web designer?
Basically a web designer will create templates of what your website could look like – so layout, fonts, colors, style.
But the web designer will not code this so that it lives online.
This is where a web developer comes into play. Web developers take the web designer’s design and code it so it appears on a website.
So as you can imagine, this can get quite pricey! The good news is that you don’t need a web designer or web developer to create your copywriter website.
prefer to listen to a podcast?
Listen to the episode here (Thursday 12th May 2022)
Benefits of creating your own copywriter from scratch
Control the Budget
By creating your own website you can control your budget, so it doesn’t run away with you. You are probably just starting out and chances are you are paying for a copywriting training program also.
While budget is a consideration, remember that spending in the right areas of your site is so important. I recommend you invest in a fast host, a premium theme for your site and a dedicated Google Workspace email for your site
You can choose fast Hosting so you pass Google core vitals.
Hosting is where your site is loaded online. If your host is good, your site will be up 99% of the time and load faster. This is really important as Google is looking at site speed as a measure of how visible your site is. You really want to be aiming for page 1 of search results, so part of this is ensuring you have a fast copywriter website.
I love Bigscoots. The shared hosting is enough for your copywriter website.
You can invest in a premium theme that is mobile-friendly
Themes are a layer of coding that make your site look and feel how you want them to. They allow you to build your site fast without needing to know how to code. I recommend always purchasing a premium theme that is optimized for mobile. Most people now will browse the internet on their phones, so it is vital that we attract our clients with a beautiful site that displays beautifully on mobile too.
I use WordPress themes because I believe that WordPress is the best platform to create a visible profitable copywriter website yourself.
Choose the right website platform from the start
There are many choices of platform out there. These are the base from where you build your website. Here are some examples of website platform:
- Wix
- Squarespace
- WordPress
- Weebly
- Shopify
- WordPress.com
Wix and Squarespace platforms
Wix and Squarespace are examples of all-in platforms where you can have everything together. You don’t pay for putting your website on their server (hosting). The downside is that you are limited by their offering.
Squarespace has beautiful portfolio template themes as does Wix, but you can’t control things like site speed, downtime. You are also limited to what you can add to your site. You have to use their plugins (easy things to add extra functions without knowing code)
If you want to develop your copywriter brand’s visibility online by writing a blog to build your SEO, Squarespace is marginally better. But you are limited to what they offer you because they essentially own your site. If they decide to take your site down, they can do.
WordPress
WordPress is open source which means you can add and edit pretty much anything to your site whenever you want. You also have separate hosting, which means you are in control of where you choose to put your site on the internet.
This choice is so important because your host can be a big player in how fast your copywriter website is.
The faster your site is, the better your potential clients’ experiences will be. You have more chance of attracting the right kind of clients also. Win, win!
If you want to change up your branding, you have the flexibility to change your theme at any point, and refresh your site.
Shopify
This basically does what it says on the tin and is for e-commerce websites, who want to sell products. It’s best used as a subdomain in my humble opinion, so you still get the benefit of SEO.
Note about the difference between WordPress and WordPress.com
WordPress.com is an example of a platform where you can build a website for free. Please don’t use this setup for your copywriter website, as it doesn’t get any visibility online. Basically you are getting what you pay for. Nothing. 🙂
The other WordPress platform is my go-to platform every time. The platform itself is also free, but you have to pay for the hosting and your domain.
The visible fantastic platform is called WordPress.org
Have more control over your website
By choosing to build your copywriter website from scratch yourself, you have more control over the decision-making from the get-go. It can be overwhelming, but making your website is easier than you think.
Decisions you can make about your website
- Which premium theme you love
- Fonts, colors, photography style – branding
- Messaging (brand voice and tone)
- Crafting a freebie to offer to potential clients
- Email service provider – to build your email list
- How you want your copywriter portfolio to look
- Plugins to add for site speed
Spend less
By creating your copywriter website, you can spend way less. Did you know that the average website build with a junior web developer costs around $3000?
The spend gets real – especially if the results maybe aren’t as good as you wanted. Or the site is nearly how you want it to look, but isn’t quite your vision.
It’s easier than you think
Take a chance on yourself – if I can do it, so can you. I’m willing to share everything I know to help you as well.
Fancy digging in more?
I have a new free training coming up that details everything you need to know about creating your own copywriter website.
How to Create and Launch a Profitable Copywriter Website from Scratch Using WordPress
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