Should you write your own copy or hire a copywriter?
If we’re all very honest, I think everybody thinks that they can write their own copy when they start a website.
And some people can.
But some people definitely can’t.
Writing your own copy isn’t that easy, especially if you’re not a copywriter and even if you are a copywriter anyone who does this for a living will tell you that writing your own website is really really hard.
However, I know that for budget reasons you might want to write your own website copy, for control reasons, or just to take on the challenge. Some people prefer to do that one.
And some people are new to business and they just don’t know what to do.
In this blog post I’m gonna breakdown how you can figure out what is the right decision for you whether it’s time for you to hire a copywriter whether it’s better for you to DIY your website and write it yourself how you can do that if that’s the case and also a few extra options that exist that you might not even have thought of
By the end you’ll be able to make an educated decision on whether or not hiring a copywriter is the right decision for you or whether or not you can just run off and write your own website copy and kill it
Hi, I’m Elle…
Website Copywriter, Unapologetic Girls’ Girl, And (According To Clients) An “Absolute Dream.”
What “Good Copy” Actually Means
Let’s stop by talking about what good website copywriting actually is.
It’s not just writing or making words sound good. It is essentially like human psychology and persuasion in words. A good copywriter knows how to structure a website and how to write things in a way that is persuasive and that drives people to conversion.
They also know how to write in a consistent voice. They know how to speak to the ideal client and how to use frameworks that persuade people and where to use that throughout a website.
They should also honestly know how to do things like SEO and wireframe website copy to send it to a designer, which is something that you might not know about when you DIY copy.
Essentially the issue here is that people think that website copywriting is just writing things nicely on the page, making some things sound cute and sound smart, but the reality is the big focus is on brand messaging and using persuasion strategically to bring people through a very intentional journey from start to finish, from landing on the website to being ready to buy from you.
So now that we’ve kind of covered that and talked about how important and how hard copywriting can be, I’m gonna breakdown whether it’s actually possible to write your own copy, which spoiler it is, but also what point it might be smart to hire a copywriter.
I’m also an ambassador for romanticizing business and making it fun, an expert in non-toxic conversion copy, a Miranda Priestley apologist, and my actual job description should really be ‘matchmaker for you and your dream clients“
If you liked reading this blog post – I would love to hang out more with you 🙂
And these, IMO, are the best ways for us to that:
Option 1: Writing Your Own Copy
I might sound biased because I’m a website copywriter, but I will say that you don’t need to hire a website copywriter and sometimes you can write your own copy. However, if you’re gonna do that, there are specific circumstances where it makes sense and sometimes when it doesn’t.
When It Makes Sense
Early-stage business (still testing ideas) – if you’ve just started your business and you’re not clear on your ideal client, your brand messaging, your services, your offers, you’re really just figuring things out, it makes sense for you to invest in a website copywriter because it’s likely that you are going to have to rewrite your copy in 2 to 3 months as everything changes. So if you’re in that situation it actually does make sense for you to maybe just write a very basic first draft and then hire a website copywriter a little bit later when you’re more confident about your messaging and your brand in general.
Tight budget – if you don’t have the money to hire a website copywriter then it’s a no-brainer: don’t do it because website copy from a good copywriter is expensive and I’m gonna say something very shady here but you do get what you pay for and I’ve seen so many people pay for super cheap copywriting and it sucks and it doesn’t do the job and you’ve just wasted money that you could’ve saved by doing it yourself. So if you don’t have the money it’s better to just save it and write your website copy yourself and then maybe hire a website copywriter in the future when you have more time, then you have money then you can do this.
Pros
Low Cost
The main pro of writing your own website copy is you will save a lot of money. Like I said a really good copywriter is an investment and you can write your own website copy for free. It will be time-consuming but if you have more time than you have money then this might make sense.
Full Control Over Voice And Messaging
You get full control of your voice and your messaging. So if you’re someone who’s a bit of a control freak and doesn’t really trust somebody else to write in your tone then this could be a good option for you to make sure that you’re saying stuff in exactly the right way and you’re saying stuff the way that you want to.
Deepens Your Understanding Of Your Offer
It could also be helpful if you write your own website copy for you to get a better understanding of your business, your brand, really have to figure out your offer, understand what you do, who you’re speaking to and get really clear on everything to do with your brand, which then makes it easier for you to explain it in other places like your social media, your newsletters or your elevator pitches.
Cons
Time-Intensive
It takes a long time to write website copy, and specifically, it takes a really long time to write your own.
It takes me way longer to write my own website copy than it would ever copy for a client and that website copy is hard, you overthink everything and you don’t have the privilege of an outside pair of eyes to look at everything and figure out what’s important and what isn’t.
So if you’re someone that has more money than they have time you might want to consider choosing a copywriter as an option.
It’s Hard To Be Objective About Your Own Product
One of the biggest issues is it’s very hard to explain a product or a business to someone who’s not an expert in it when you are an expert in it because what you think is important is not what other people think is important.
For example – what I think is important about website copy is not what my client thinks is important about website copy.
I know everything that I do behind the scenes, they don’t care about that because they don’t know that I need to do it.
So when you’re writing your own website copy sometimes you can miss out on seeing the important things and end up talking about things that are less important, saying the wrong messaging and also struggling to just talk about yourself in a way that resonates with people.
Potentially Weaker Conversion Performance
If you are not a copywriter or someone with copywriting experience there is a chance your website is not going to convert, because you don’t have enough working knowledge of persuasion techniques or frameworks or copywriting strategy.
That could lead to weaker conversions, or a website that’s not performing as well as you wanted it to, or it could if you had help from a professional.
Option 2: Hiring a Copywriter
Again, I don’t wanna be biased but if you have the budget to hire a copywriter, I would always recommend doing it obviously we are trained in what we do and this is my job so I know what I do.
I think there’s a lot of benefits to hiring a website copywriter it can make a huge difference in terms of sales so if someone has a budget this would be my recommendation and I’ll breakdown exactly why I think that this is the better option for more.
When It Makes Sense
You have a validated offer – if you understand your offer, you understand your services, you understand your audience and you want somebody to sell the shit out of that it makes sense to hire a copywriter because you might struggle to explain your offers the way that a copywriter would, or be objective about your offers or to even see the problems or the ways that you might need to rephrase it to sell it even better.
You’re investing in traffic or scaling – if you are scaling, if your business is growing and you want to handle that traffic, you want to keep scaling and you want to be able to charge higher prices, bringing in a professional to make sure that you are presenting yourself the best possible way, that you are saying the exact right things and that you are also getting the most out of traffic that’s coming to your website instead of sending traffic to a website that’s not convincing. It makes sense to work with a professional who can guarantee that for you.
Messaging clarity is limiting conversions – if you’ve got to a point where your messaging is just not keeping up with where you are as a business whether or not that’s because it’s not clear, it’s not converting or because you’re changing as a business or you’re rebranding, bring in somebody who can help you clear up your messaging, create new copy that better reflects what your business has grown into and is going to speak to the new ideal client that you wanna work with because you are maybe targeting higher paying clients or scaling.
Pros
Expertise In Persuasion And Structure
When you work with a copywriter we’re trained in persuasion, we’re trained in structure. We have experience in brand messaging and we understand all the nitty-gritty things like the research and the data mining that goes into writing a really really great website. So rather than learning how to do that yourself you just hand it over and we’ll take care of it for you.
Faster Execution
Time is money and obviously if you hire a copywriter you don’t have to do anything. You just meet them, run onboarding calls, then they take care of everything else and you can focus on doing your job and making money doing that instead of wasting hours that you could spend getting paid writing your website. Instead it totally makes sense to hire a copywriter if you have more money than you have time, you are probably ready to work with a copywriter.
Outside Perspective
Having someone with an outside perspective is so valuable in making sure that you are communicating the messages that matter to your audience, that you are explaining things in a way that makes sense, that you’re saying the right things to the right people, that you are not missing any gaps in your messaging, that you are not overexplaining or underexplaining anything. It just always helps to have a second objective pair of eyes on your business to help make sure that you are communicating effectively.
Cons
Can Be Expensive
Depending on who you work with different copywriters charge different things and so what one person might find expensive another might not. But if you are on a budget and you wanna work with a good copywriter it is an investment, it’s not gonna be dirt cheap and that can be hard for some people. But again if you work with a good copywriter they should make that investment back by improving your conversion so that’s definitely something to think about.
The Real Cost Comparison
one of the main differences honestly is cost and I do think that’s the main reason that a lot of people choose DIY versus working with a copywriter, as they feel like they can’t afford it.
Cost is basically weighing up time, as in, can you afford to lose the time it’s gonna take you to write a website? If that is the case then you can DIY your website.
Your time is valuable and if you’re working a lot and you can’t afford to lose that time, you need to figure out whether what you would pay a copywriter is more or less than you would lose by working those hours on your website.
But the other thing to think about is long-term cost.
If you DIY your copy or have copy that you don’t feel confident in and it loses you a lot of clients or potential traffic in the future, then that is also a sunk cost.
So that is something to consider when you’re deciding whether or not it’s time to hire a copywriter or just DIY and do it yourself.
The other thing I think about is the stress of writing your own website copy.
It can be really stressful and really hard on your mental health.
It can also be a fun challenge if you love writing and you feel like you would have fun with it.
You need to figure out whether or not you think it would be extremely stressful and upset you, or whether you think it would be fun and creative, and decide whether or not that is also worth anything to you.
So - Should You DIY Copy Or Should You Hire A Copywriter?
Basically, if you are brand new to business or you are broke, DIY your copy because there’s not really anything else that you can do and it’s not gonna be worth it for you to pay for the service because your business is just not developed enough for it to be worth your money and you don’t wanna have to pay for it again in six months because you’ve changed everything about your business.
If you are clear on your messaging, clear on your offer, clear on your ideal client, and you’ve either been in business for a while and you know that you want to revamp your website, relaunch it or do something a bit different and increase your traffic, increase your conversions, and you’re willing to invest in that because you have the money to invest, then that definitely makes sense to hire a copywriter.
It will save you sooooo much time, high stress, and – probably get you better results.
What to Look for in a Copywriter (If You Go That Route)
Let me quickly break down what you should be looking for in a website copywriter if you do hire one, and the mistakes that you should avoid in hiring a website copywriter (because I see these all the time and it hurts me, and I don’t want you to do it!)
What you should look for:
- Someone with a good portfolio that you like
- Someone with testimonials that seem legit that you trust
- Someone who has proven credentials or a process and obviously knows their stuff
- Someone that you vibe with and that you really like, especially their own website which you know ideally they would’ve written as a website copywriter
- Somebody who has maybe experience in your niche or experience with business owners like you or who you feel like has a really good research process that could work with someone like you
- Someone who’s written copy that you admire or that you vibe with, somebody that you like and get on with so make sure that you book a discovery call and have a chat with them to see if you get on with them
What You Should Avoid
Hiring based on price alone.
I’m gonna sound shady when I say this, but I have to say it regardless. If you get what you pay for and if you choose the cheapest option, it’s probably not gonna be the best.
Good copywriters charge a lot of money for a reason.
You can find a wide range of prices within that range, but if you find something that looks too good to be true – it probably is.
And then you might end up paying them and having to redo it yourself or pay someone again to redo it in the future, and that’s just not worth it.
What are the alternatives if you don’t want to DIY your website but you also don’t want to hire a copywriter?
I’m so glad you asked-there’s actually a few different things that you can do.
So the first thing is you can use free resources or free guides to DIY your website. I have a blog post that talks about how to write website copy, and there’s also a lot of other great blog posts out there that help you when you’re doing a DIY draft.
But there are a few really great options that are more cost-effective if you can’t afford to hire a copywriter, but you don’t wanna have to DIY it by yourself, and here are my suggestions:
Write your Own copy and book a VIP day with a copywriter
In this situation you would write your own website copy yourself (or ChatGPT it, no shade) and then you would book a VIP day with a copywriter who would help you rewrite the copy in a one-day period. So they’ll take everything you’ve written and help you rewrite parts of it, and rewrite a lot of it in a way that is going to convert better and follow best practices.
This is kind of the perfect in-between because it’s a lot more cost-effective than hiring a copywriter full-time and it costs a lot less, but it means that you are essentially getting your copy partially written by an expert and you get the same confidence of knowing that it’s going to convert as you would if you had hired somebody else. The only downside is you still have to DIY the copy, but you essentially will get expert-level copy written for a fraction of the price and in a very short period of time, which is great.
(For reference, I do this and a VIP day only costs $999 USD, which is a lot less than what I would charge to do a full website.)
Write your Own copy and Book An Audit
The next step down from this, which is even more cost-effective, is you write the copy yourself, and then you book an audit with a copywriter.
So you would send them your finished website, they would film themselves doing an extended review where they go through everything including SEO keywords, the content, the copy, the structure, and give you changes you could make to improve conversions. Then you would go away and make those changes yourself.
This is also significantly less expensive than hiring a copywriter.
It’s also a lot cheaper than doing a VIP day, so if you really want to get an expert to look over your copy and feel confident that it’s going to convert but you’re really stretched on budget, then this can be the best option for you.
(And yes, I also do this, and I charge $497 for a website audit, which is again much cheaper than what I would charge to write a full website.)
The only other option: DIY with support
The only other option is to DIY your copy with some help, either by using a template or buying a copywriting course.
I do not currently sell either of those things, however my friend Sara from BTL Copy sells an amazing website copywriting course that I would highly, highly recommend that will teach you exactly how to write your website copy from start to finish and show you how to do that and also teach you the basics of copywriting and SEO.
So that is another cost-effective option that means that you will be DIYing your website, but you’ll also be given guidance and you’ll understand exactly how to do it.
If you’re someone where time isn’t a huge issue for you and you have a bit of a budget to spend, this can be a really good option.
In Conclusion
The answer your question – should I DIY my copy or should I borrow a website copywriter (or should I maybe do something that’s in between)? It depends.
It really depends on your budget, how much time you have, and where you act with your business.
Going really well and you wanna expand or improve your messaging or rebrand and you don’t have a lot of time, you have a lot of money to spend, and you have a lot of other things that you could be doing with your time, hiring a website copy writer makes the most sense.
If you have absolutely no money then you probably are gonna have to DIY your copy and that that’s totally fine and you can hire a cop website copyright or book an order in the future if that makes sense for you.
You’re somewhere in between where you really wanna work with an export, you have a little bit of a budget to spend but you can’t say it stretch to hiring a copyright to do everything for you right now, then I would highly consider one of the other options like a VIP day or an order.
That is a really great way to make sure that your copy is Pride for conversions, that you’re following best practices, and then an expert has touched it without you having to spend as much money or commit to hiring a copyright of full-time.
Obviously, I would be remiss not to remind you that I actually do all of those things so I do website copyright thing that I can do for you where you don’t have to do anything. I also offer audits and I offered VIP days.
If you’re not sure which one is right for you in your situation, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram and you can learn about each learn more about each of those services by checking all the pages here.
The Hot Gossip, The 411
More from The Blog
If you loved this post, and you want to get the 411 on more things copy and marketing – here’s your next read, all lined up.
Hi, I’m Elle
Website Copywriter, Unapologetic Girls’ Girl, And (According To Clients) An “Absolute Dream.”
I’m also an ambassador for romanticizing business and making it fun, an expert in non-toxic conversion copy, a Miranda Priestley apologist, and voted most likely to over-deliver and overshare.
But — you know what else I am?
A girl who’s tired of seeing talented, creative women settling for mediocre copy and generic branding because they think they have to do it all themselves, or they’re waiting for permission to step into their It Girl era and become the hot brand they’re supposed to be.
Which is why I’d love for you to finally get copy that reflects your full potential — even if you can’t quite yet put that into words.
