Website Content Creation: 7 Steps from Structure to Publication

Website content is everything people learn about you from: page copy, photos, video, case studies, reviews, prices, documents. Design and code only present it. That’s why creating content for a website isn’t a finishing touch but a separate part of the project, one worth starting together with development, not after it.

In our experience, what most often pushes a launch back isn’t the code but waiting for copy and photos. Below are seven steps to prepare content so the site launches on time and visitors have what they need to decide whether to contact you.

Step 1. Collect your customers’ questions

Good website copy answers the questions a person would ask a sales rep. So don’t start with “About us”; start with those questions. Ask your sales team to write down the ten questions they hear most often on calls and in emails. Usually they are:

• what exactly you do and for whom;
• how much it costs and what the price depends on;
• how long it takes;
• how the work goes and what’s needed from the customer;
• why they can trust you: experience, case studies, guarantees.

Each of these questions is a future block of your site. If the answer isn’t on the page, the person will either call to ask or leave for a site that has it.

Step 2. Plan the structure: one page, one job

Before writing, decide which pages the site will have and what a visitor should do on each. A service page explains the service and leads to an enquiry. A case study proves you’ve done it before. A contact page lets people reach you in one tap.

When a page has several jobs, the copy sprawls and does none of them well. When two pages cover the same thing, they compete with each other in search too. It’s convenient to fix the structure in the specification; we explain how in our article on how to write a website specification.

Step 3. Gather facts, not adjectives

“Quality, speed, a personal approach”: everyone writes that. What convinces people are facts they can check:

The numbers in the right-hand column are an example of the format, not a recommendation. Use your own. For each page, gather prices or ranges, timelines, project stages, guarantees, examples of work, reviews with names (with customers’ permission) and certificates.

Step 4. Write copy that works on a phone

Most people will open your site on a phone, and they won’t read it, they’ll scan it. So:

• The heading says what it is and who it’s for. “Ventilation installation for warehouses and factories” works better than “Fresh air is our passion”.
• The main point goes in the first paragraph. People should know they’re in the right place before they start scrolling.
• Short paragraphs, subheadings, lists. They’re easy to scan with a thumb on the go.
• One action at the end of each page. Send an enquiry, see case studies, get a price: one clear thing.
• Your customers’ language, not internal jargon. If customers say “small business website”, don’t write “single-page corporate presentation resource”.

Who writes matters too. You and your experts know your business best. A copywriter without knowledge of the niche will write smoothly but generically. A setup that works: the expert provides the facts and the answers from step 1, and an editor or copywriter turns them into copy.

Generative AI can help with drafts and structure, but Google warns explicitly that using AI to mass-produce pages without value for readers may violate its spam policies. The facts, numbers and experience still have to come from a person. How to write so that Google’s AI answers cite your page is covered in our article on AI Overviews and GEO.

Step 5. Photos and video: your own beat stock

Everyone has seen the stock photos of smiling people in headsets, and they prove nothing. A few real photos of your team, office, production or finished work convince people more than a dozen perfect stock shots.

• Shoot horizontally and in good light. A modern phone is enough for a website if you take your time.
• For every photo, agree with the people in it that it can be published.
• Give files clear names and describe what’s in the photo: Google uses file names, captions and alt text to understand images.
• Don’t upload 10 MB photos to the site; they slow the page down. We’ve written separately about how images affect website loading speed.

Step 6. Think about how people will search for you

People don’t search for “about the company”; they search for their problem: “warehouse ventilation installation London”, “how much does a website cost”. Before writing a page, look at the words people use to search for your service. Google’s search suggestions and Keyword Planner will help.

Then the main rule: one page answers one search intent. There’s no need to repeat the key phrase in every sentence. Google assesses how helpful the page is for people, not how many times a word appears in it. It’s enough that the heading and first paragraph make it clear what the page is about. Each page also needs its own search title and a short description.

Step 7. Publish and keep it up to date

A site with two-year-old prices and a latest news item from last year looks like a company that has closed. Agree on who in your team is responsible for the website and how often they check prices, contacts and case studies. For that, the admin panel should make it easy to change content without a developer.

After launch, check in Google Search Console which queries people find you by, and ask your sales team what customers still keep asking. If the same question comes up on every call, the answer belongs on the site. You can estimate which queries bring visitors to your competitors with third-party tools; see our article on how to check a competitor’s website traffic.

What to prepare for the agency before development starts

If you’re commissioning a website, this list will save weeks:

1. Logo and brand identity (colours, fonts), if you have them.
2. Structure: a list of pages and what should be on each.
3. Copy, or at least the facts for it: services, prices, timelines, stages, guarantees.
4. Photos and video, or a decision on who shoots them and when.
5. Case studies and reviews with permission to publish.
6. Legal information: company details, privacy policy, and delivery and payment terms for a store.
7. One person on your side who gathers materials and makes decisions.

Content that isn’t part of the development also costs money and time, so budget for it from the start. How it affects the total is covered in our article on how much a website costs. And if your site is already live but brings few enquiries, start with a UX audit: often the problem is exactly that the pages don’t answer customers’ questions.