Most business websites open with a sentence nobody asked for: "Founded in 2011, we are a leading company providing integrated solutions to our valued clients."
The visitor arrived with a leaking pipe, a son failing physics or a wedding in six weeks. They read that line and feel what everyone feels at a dinner party when the person beside them talks only about themselves. They smile politely, and look for the exit.
Good website copy does the opposite. It starts where the reader is standing, names what they are worried about, and walks with them, one clear sentence at a time, to the moment they decide.
Start with the reader's problem, not your story
Before writing a word, answer one question: what was this person doing five minutes before they landed on your page?
The parent in Mansoura had just seen a disappointing test result. The restaurant owner in Nasr City had just paid another month of delivery-app commission. The patient in Jeddah had just been told the nearest appointment is in three weeks. None of them came to read about your values.
The right words are already in your pocket. Open WhatsApp and read the last fifty messages from customers: their questions and exact phrases are your first draft. If a dozen people ask "Do you have evening classes?", the answer belongs near the top of the page, in their words.
Headlines that earn the next line
A headline has one job: to make the right person read the next line. It does that by being specific. A reliable structure is what you do, for whom, and the result they care about.
Let the subheadline carry the detail so the headline can stay short. And write headlines last, once you know what the page says.
Clarity beats cleverness
Puns and grand abstractions feel creative while you write them. On a phone screen they cost the reader two seconds of confusion, which is a long time. Three tests will clean up almost any sentence:
- The competitor test. Could a rival paste this line onto their own site unchanged? "High quality and competitive prices" fails. "Same-day repair for most iPhone screens in Maadi" passes.
- The friend test. Would you say this sentence out loud to a friend? Nobody has ever said "we leverage synergies" over tea.
- The number test. Swap an adjective for a fact. "Fast delivery" is a claim. "Delivered within 48 hours inside Cairo" is a promise, so write it only if it is true.
Features, benefits and the bridge between them
A feature is what your product has. A benefit is what changes in the customer's life because of it. Most websites list features and hope the reader translates. Most readers don't.
The bridge is two small words: "which means". Write the feature, add "which means", and finish the sentence from the customer's side.
| Feature | Which means | Benefit the reader feels |
|---|---|---|
| Online booking with a live calendar | They see free slots without calling | Book at midnight, in thirty seconds |
| Recorded lessons with protected video | Students can replay any lesson | Nobody falls behind after missing one class |
| Arabic and English site | Each audience reads in its own language | Customers in Cairo and Riyadh feel it was written for them |
| Monthly maintenance plan | Someone else watches updates and backups | You never find out about a problem from a customer |
Lead with the benefit, then give the feature as the reason to believe it.
Proof: show instead of claim
Every business says it is trusted and professional. Because everyone says it, it no longer counts. Proof does:
- Real testimonials with a name, a role or city, and permission to publish them. Specific ones persuade; "great service!" does not.
- Your actual work. Photos of real projects, a portfolio, before and after.
- Numbers you can back up. Years in business, students taught, orders delivered.
- Faces. A real photo of the team beats any stock image of smiling models.
- Clear policies. Refunds, guarantees, and what happens if something goes wrong.
Calls to action that feel like the next step
The call to action is where many good pages fall apart. Give each page one main action. A quieter second one is fine, but five equal buttons give the reader five chances to do nothing.
Write buttons as what happens next. "Submit" and "Click here" say nothing. "Get my quote" and "Book a free trial class" tell the reader exactly what they are agreeing to. Near the button, answer the fear that stops people: "No payment now", "Reply within one working day", "Cancel anytime", but only if each is true.
Writing Arabic for Egypt and the Gulf
Arabic web copy is not one register. The same page can feel warm in Cairo and oddly casual in Riyadh.
The safe foundation is clear modern standard Arabic in short sentences, which a reader from Alexandria to Muscat understands without effort. On top of it, adjust for your audience:
- Egypt-only audiences. Light Egyptian touches in headlines and buttons add warmth. Keep prices and policies in plain standard Arabic.
- Gulf audiences. Lean more on standard Arabic and a slightly more formal tone. Egyptian colloquial verbs can read as foreign or too casual on a business page.
- Vocabulary. Some everyday words differ. A mobile phone is often «موبايل» in Egypt and «جوال» in Saudi Arabia, and a car is «عربية» in Egyptian speech but «سيارة» across the Gulf. When in doubt, choose the standard word.
- Local details. Show prices in the reader's currency, check working days and hours for each country, and use local phone formats.
Above all, don't translate English line by line. Write each language for its own reader, then have a native reader from the target country read it aloud. Our guide to building an Arabic and English website covers the technical side.
Microcopy: the small words that finish the sale
Microcopy is the small text on buttons, fields, error messages and confirmations. It is easy to ignore, and it decides whether a form is finished or abandoned.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| Submit | Send my booking request |
| Invalid input | This number looks short. Egyptian mobile numbers have 11 digits and start with 01. |
| No results | No lessons match "physics 3rd secondary". Try a shorter search. |
| Success | Booked. We'll confirm on WhatsApp within the hour. |
| Phone number | Phone number, only used to confirm your booking |
Good microcopy is specific, calm and kind. It never blames the user and always says what to do next. For the design side of forms, see UI and UX design explained.
Before a page goes live, check it against this list:
- The first screen says what you do, for whom, and what to do next
- No headline could be pasted onto a competitor's site
- Each feature is followed by what it means for the customer
- There is at least one piece of real, specific proof
- One main call to action per page, written as what happens next
- Arabic was written for its reader, not translated line by line
- Every number and promise on the page is true today
Questions people ask
Should I write my website copy myself or hire a copywriter?
Start by writing the raw facts and your customers' questions yourself; nobody knows them better. A good copywriter then shapes it. The worst option is leaving it to the last week.
How long should a home page be?
As long as it takes to answer the reader's main questions, and no longer. Most visitors scan, so clear headings matter more than word count.
Can I use Egyptian colloquial on my website?
For an audience in Egypt, light touches in headlines and buttons can work well. For the Gulf, or for essential information like prices and terms, clear standard Arabic is safer.
Does good copy help with SEO?
Yes, when it uses the words people actually search for and answers their questions fully. Our SEO guide for Egypt explains how.
Your first draft starts today
You don't need to rewrite the whole site this week. Take your home page, cut the first sentence that talks about you, and replace it with one about your customer's problem. Then read it out loud.
If you are planning a new site and want the words and the design built together from the start, you can book a short meeting with us, or see how our clients' pages read in our work.