Making Your Website Work: 100 Copy & Design Tweaks for Smart Business Owners

I bought the printed book. It’s very very useful. Small gems of ideas that will help web developers who are more technical and need to become more conversion/UX oriented like myself. I’m glad she took the time to put it all together in one easy way to refer to. I followed a few ideas in the book to develop a website project and was able to improve on bounce rates for the website overall by using one CTA per page (leading the user from page to page on a path), improving navigation, eliminating dropdown menu, etc. Thanks the author for the initiative. My husband is a book author too I know how much work it is to get ideas on paper. All the best to you. Adriana Thieme

If you have a small online business, you need this book! Since venturing to launch my own e-commerce website, I've read many books that claim to have "secrets" to make a site rank and convert. Most of them are full of fluff, want to sell you online courses to reveal "the real insights" or assume that you have different I.T, marketing departments, and web developers to help you implement changes (along with a large budget) This book stands alone in that it gives you concise, actionable steps that you can take as a self-employed, small business owner who is trying to fill all the roles. Optimizing a website for conversion takes a lot of work. And a lot of self-employed website owners see the process as an insurmountable task. The author recognizes this and breaks down the most common mistakes people make into micro chapters and gives detailed steps on how to fix or avoid these pitfalls. Implementing these changes will take some time. But now I have a clear roadmap to follow.

This book is full of sound, actionable advice. My site had been getting very little conversions (emails through my site) until I started talking more about the benefits of working for me, instead of just about me and my services. After I made that change, I got three emails from creditable, prospective customers. Now I've decided to go through my entire site and restructure it based on the rest of her advice. I'm also using Gill's advice for all my clients' websites and have decided to purchase the book for each new customer to use when creating their content. It's one of the most valuable, useful books I have ever purchased and I'd love to see more books written by her.

There is no other book available like this one, at least to my knowledge and I read a lot. It actually teaches you how to write web copy. NOT sales pages and direct sales tactics repackaged for the web. Don't get me wrong; new copywriters need to learn from direct mail. It has its place. But it can be hard to bridge the gap between the smarmy direct sales pages and the sleek web copy found on sites like Apple or Hubspot or Basecamp. And this book teaches you how! I will say there were some minor issues. For instance, there was a page where two examples seem to have been mixed up in the editing process and they were each placed under the wrong explainer. But really that's just a nitpicking thing. Its full of actionable advice so you can make improvements right away. And it's a quick read. I read the whole thing in just a few hours. Despite the quick read time, I have tons of notes and highlights. I got a LOT out of this book.

It was a no-brainer for me to buy Gill's book, having followed her posts and read her email messages for some time. Not only does she present great tips in her book, but I especially like that I don't have to wade through verbose chapters in an effort to find something I.can.use.right.now. One can jump around to whatever topic is of immediate interest, each tip being very concisely presented. All of this at a right price point, too.

This book was so valuable to me as a copywriter! While I knew most of the copywriting tips, it was useful to have all of them focused in one book, and I loved the addition of the design and strategy tips too. If you’re not hiring a professional to design and write your site, I highly recommend you get this book. Each tip is just one or two pages, and there are loads of concrete examples so you can figure out how to apply them to your business.

I just finished reading Gill's book and I must say it was wonderful. It's packed with useful advice and tips to make your website more customer-oriented. Really makes you go and check your own website and see if you applied already any of the advice in the book. It's a really helpful read for freelancers managing their own website.

I love this book! I bought it a few days ago because I'm working on my website and want it to be as effective as possible. Gill Andrews has done a superb job in giving 100 actionable shortcut steps to take that are geared for business owners. Best of all, I didn't feel overwhelmed by the info because she organizes it neatly into bite-sized chunks for those of us who aren't skilled in copywriting and design. I've already spread the word about this book to some other small business owners I know who are struggling with their web content and layout.

I work in SEO for 20 years. I think I buy all the website advice published because you never know where you'll find a great tidbit of information. That said... this book is now my standard go to book. I love using the 100 design tweaks as a guide when I start working on a new site.

As I'm building out my new website, I was looking for tips to help conversions. I found the perfect advice in this book, it's full of very useful and proven tips. It's a quick read and I found myself highlighting frequently as I went through it, noting what I needed to think about in my own copy and design. If you're looking to create or update your site, look no further, this book will make it very easy for you.

I bought the printed book. It’s very very useful. Small gems of ideas that will help web developers who are more technical and need to become more conversion/UX oriented like myself. I’m glad she took the time to put it all together in one easy way to refer to. I followed a few ideas in the book to develop a website project and was able to improve on bounce rates for the website overall by using one CTA per page (leading the user from page to page on a path), improving navigation, eliminating dropdown menu, etc. Thanks the author for the initiative. My husband is a book author too I know how much work it is to get ideas on paper. All the best to you. Adriana Thieme

If you have a small online business, you need this book! Since venturing to launch my own e-commerce website, I've read many books that claim to have "secrets" to make a site rank and convert. Most of them are full of fluff, want to sell you online courses to reveal "the real insights" or assume that you have different I.T, marketing departments, and web developers to help you implement changes (along with a large budget) This book stands alone in that it gives you concise, actionable steps that you can take as a self-employed, small business owner who is trying to fill all the roles. Optimizing a website for conversion takes a lot of work. And a lot of self-employed website owners see the process as an insurmountable task. The author recognizes this and breaks down the most common mistakes people make into micro chapters and gives detailed steps on how to fix or avoid these pitfalls. Implementing these changes will take some time. But now I have a clear roadmap to follow.

This book is full of sound, actionable advice. My site had been getting very little conversions (emails through my site) until I started talking more about the benefits of working for me, instead of just about me and my services. After I made that change, I got three emails from creditable, prospective customers. Now I've decided to go through my entire site and restructure it based on the rest of her advice. I'm also using Gill's advice for all my clients' websites and have decided to purchase the book for each new customer to use when creating their content. It's one of the most valuable, useful books I have ever purchased and I'd love to see more books written by her.

There is no other book available like this one, at least to my knowledge and I read a lot. It actually teaches you how to write web copy. NOT sales pages and direct sales tactics repackaged for the web. Don't get me wrong; new copywriters need to learn from direct mail. It has its place. But it can be hard to bridge the gap between the smarmy direct sales pages and the sleek web copy found on sites like Apple or Hubspot or Basecamp. And this book teaches you how! I will say there were some minor issues. For instance, there was a page where two examples seem to have been mixed up in the editing process and they were each placed under the wrong explainer. But really that's just a nitpicking thing. Its full of actionable advice so you can make improvements right away. And it's a quick read. I read the whole thing in just a few hours. Despite the quick read time, I have tons of notes and highlights. I got a LOT out of this book.

It was a no-brainer for me to buy Gill's book, having followed her posts and read her email messages for some time. Not only does she present great tips in her book, but I especially like that I don't have to wade through verbose chapters in an effort to find something I.can.use.right.now. One can jump around to whatever topic is of immediate interest, each tip being very concisely presented. All of this at a right price point, too.

This book was so valuable to me as a copywriter! While I knew most of the copywriting tips, it was useful to have all of them focused in one book, and I loved the addition of the design and strategy tips too. If you’re not hiring a professional to design and write your site, I highly recommend you get this book. Each tip is just one or two pages, and there are loads of concrete examples so you can figure out how to apply them to your business.

I just finished reading Gill's book and I must say it was wonderful. It's packed with useful advice and tips to make your website more customer-oriented. Really makes you go and check your own website and see if you applied already any of the advice in the book. It's a really helpful read for freelancers managing their own website.

I love this book! I bought it a few days ago because I'm working on my website and want it to be as effective as possible. Gill Andrews has done a superb job in giving 100 actionable shortcut steps to take that are geared for business owners. Best of all, I didn't feel overwhelmed by the info because she organizes it neatly into bite-sized chunks for those of us who aren't skilled in copywriting and design. I've already spread the word about this book to some other small business owners I know who are struggling with their web content and layout.

I work in SEO for 20 years. I think I buy all the website advice published because you never know where you'll find a great tidbit of information. That said... this book is now my standard go to book. I love using the 100 design tweaks as a guide when I start working on a new site.

As I'm building out my new website, I was looking for tips to help conversions. I found the perfect advice in this book, it's full of very useful and proven tips. It's a quick read and I found myself highlighting frequently as I went through it, noting what I needed to think about in my own copy and design. If you're looking to create or update your site, look no further, this book will make it very easy for you.

This book is exactly what I've been searching for! Practical, tactical, no-fluff advice for how to design and fix every web page on your site. I reference Making Your Website Work daily and appreciate how each tip is coded with the category(ies) it fits into. It's VERY easy to read, especially with bold headings. I can't thank Gill enough for compiling her best-practices into one handy reference!

Gill has done an amazing job of picking the right items, creating positive stories, good humor, and extremely practical 100 steps to improve a website. It addresses copy issues and overall website challenges. It is easy to read this book AND implement!

This is now an essential resource that sits on my desk. Packed full with great tips and advice. I learned a lot and constantly reference it for all the websites I build.

Poor content

I am a longtime fan of Gill's work and an avid reader of her blog because she knows her stuff (copywriting, content marketing, SEO and websites) and always over-delivers. I love everything about this book! Clearly written and divided into easy to digest chapters, it's perfect for the DIY small business owner who wants their website to work for them. I have applied the recommendations in her book for all my websites and have already benefited from numerous inquiries. This is an exceptional resource!

'Some people don't have a website. They have a painting.' There is a lot you need to learn when you start an online business - webdesign, usability ánd copywriting - and if you have to read a book about it, it better make you grin. As a teacher of copywriting with a keen interest in design and usability, I scooped up this book to see if I could recommend it to my students. It covers basic usability and design - declutter, make text on your images readable for goodness sake, and unless you're an amusement park, don't put caroussels on your website - all of it well substantiated. The author adds clear visuals where necessary (see picture). Gill Andrews also offers basic copywriting tips - eliminate self-centered copy, use assertive language and make prospects trust you by being specific - giving succinct examples. She even hands out a few marketing tips. Such as: three ways to identify your target audience and how to earn more from your most profitable audience segment. All of it useful and practical and very down to earth. I think Andrews's tip hit the mark. They are easily consumed because of her witty, cynical style. I would have preferred a more hierarchichal organisation of the contents, though. The 100 tips are mixed up, even though they fall into three main categories. The best way to approach the book is therefore to read it all in one sitting and then pick the topics you want to work with. Nonetheless, Andrews covers a lot of important ánd tiny aspects - from the irritation a one page website may cause because it does not work the way you expext, to the importance of giving the footer a different color for clarity, to why good copy is so important: 'It's a bridge between the place your prospects are in now and the place where they need to be to convert.' Practical, sensible, fun.

This 100-tip guide is great for anyone planning to create her own website, as well as those who are using professional web designers and need to be able to evaluate their work. You'll learn how to write more compelling content, how to avoid design gaffes, and how to minimize distractions in steering the reader to the call to action. There are many "Do this not that" sample images that illuminate the points. Very highly recommended.

This book is pure unadulterated gold if your goal is to improve conversion on your website. It breaks down 100 actionable tips to improve design, copy and user experience--everything that influences someone's decision to take action on your site (or not). There is no fluff in this book. Each tip gets straight down to business so you understand the problem, the context and the solution. And it tackles topics I didn't even consider when I set up my website, like how to organize a navigation bar. Every person and business with a website will benefit from reading this. Even 5 minutes will put your website on the path to higher conversion and more leads.

As the title says, this book is like a recipe book. You just find the page you want to optimize, or topic, and lo and behold, you instantly have tips on what to change and how. Instant results that increase your traffic or conversion rate! This book is awesome because you don't need dozens of page-filler background knowledge. On just one page you can figure out if you have a problem and how to fix it. If you are not getting the results you want or need from your website, this book is your penicillin! GET. IT. NOW!

I love the way Gill communicates a vast amount of information in such a user-friendly way. This book will help you create an effective, productive business web site. A real gem of a resource!

If you're like me, you have 100 articles bookmarked about how to design your website and I'll never get around to reading them all. That's where Gill's book comes in. One book, that is a quick read too, with everything you need to know about websites summarized. It's an excellent read, clear, concise, no fluff. BTW : You should follow Gill on Twitter, she posts so much good information on a very regular basis.

This is an exceptionally helpful resource for anyone who is looking to develop a website that actually achieves business goals. The examples and direction are very well thought out, the directions are easy to follow, and the writer clearly understands the topic at hand. I’ve enjoyed this book and I’m using it in redevelopment of my companies website right now.

As a software developer, I know the tech part creating a website, but afterwards, my clients didn't have so much response on their sites, and now I know why. It takes you from images and design to blog posts and content. 100% recommend

I loved this book. Covered everything needed in clear, consice examples. This author is awesome.

Tips are very useful. I quickly applied some changes and improvements to my own site-in-progress. Plus the author’s sense of humor and the thoughtful layout make it highly readable.

Gill's book is a treasury of tips that work. Full disclosure: I've been working with Gill for the past several months, and the reviews she did for my pages have been more enlightening to me than full-length online courses. Thanks to her advice my home page and a number of sales pages bring in clients, not just passive onlookers. Her book is like a detailed review where she takes everything that isn't working on your website and tells you what you can tweak to improve it. It's a treasure chest and I'm so happy her expertise is now accessible to anyone who wants to improve their website and is overwhelmed with the magnitude of all the tasks.

If you've got a website for your business, but you're not particularly web-savvy (like me), then this book will give you all the help you need on making your site look great and read even better. Or as Gill puts it "your shortcut to a website that works". This is a genuinely helpful resource which you can refer to again and again. Consisting of 100 easy to read chapters, each one is full of hints, tips, and actionable tweaks you can make yourself to give you a website that offers genuine value for your customers and visitors. No experience necessary. Looking at areas including copywriting, blogging, web design, strategy, and user experience, Gill effortlessly explains what you can do to make your website work. Highly recommended. Buy it and keep it on your desk.

I bought Gill's book to help me to create and design my first website by myself over the last couple of weeks. My site far from finished yet but I know clearly what it will contain and how it will work by following the advice. The 100 micro chapter format works very well and each one wastes no time to make and justify each piece of advice with images and super clear, amusing do's and don't. It gave me peace of mind and clear, fully reasoned advice to know that what I was doing was going to work - something that I was really struggling with. It's probably the best value book I've bought for my albeit fledgling solo language coaching business in its first year. I just downloaded the free templates too and they tie all the best advice in the book together . so I can now get on with building out my site with real confidence. Highly recommended.

I've had good results within two weeks of implementing the guidance in this book. Well, this book in combination with Rank Math. My new site went live two weeks ago and, as of today, I'm ranking for three of my keywords on page 1, two on page 2, four on page 3 and a few others further back. I'm working in photography so not niche by a long chalk. I do realise I need to keep producing content or it's going to drop but I'm delighted with the success it's given me so far.

I've been a regular reader of Gill's website tips through her blog and emails for the last couple of years. When I saw that Gill was going to publish a book I was keen to get a copy. Gill has a laser-like focus on how to improve your website design and copy. The 100 tips are concise, practical and effective. Each of them is clear and easy to follow. And they're packed with examples, images and bonus tips too. Throughout the book, Gill explains the 'why' behind each tip. This turns the tips from a 'to do' list into a powerful learning tool on website design and copywriting. There's also a slice of humour which runs through the book which makes it a joy to read. I usually read on my Kindle, but I bought the paperback version of this book. This makes it easy to use alongside my laptop. And it's a physical reminder to apply the many tweaks and fixes to my website! If you're a freelancer or small business owner, Gill's tips are invaluable for making your website or your customers' websites work.

This is THE number one most useful book I have bought since starting my business. After building a very poor first website back in 2018, and then absorbing some of Gill's tips shared on LinkedIn, I couldn't wait to get my teeth into redoing my website this year. I am more than delighted to have this book by my side as a reference. Gill's tips and her way of explaining the why behind them is just perfect, short and sweet. What has been most valuable for me is that Gill not only gives great copywriting advice but she also gives valuable advice on UX, website strategy and then web design tips that are important to knit all these areas together to make a website that WORKS! I consider this the real value of the book because, in my experience to date, it is so difficult to find someone who is so experienced in ALL of these areas. The book is very well laid out, there is no time-wasting having to read paragraphs upon paragraphs before finally getting to the tips. There is also a super handy index so that you can quickly find her advice on specific areas. This all makes this book a great reference not just for an initial website build or one large revamp of a site, but also makes it a great go-to for when you want to add something to the site at a later point or simply update one aspect or page of the site that you know is just not working. Well done on this book Gill! It's a masterpiece :)

If you've got a small business website, I recommend you buy this book too. It's full of usable tips and I believe its well worth the price. It's a simple but comprehensive guide to the content you need for your website. It also explains the most common website mistakes you'll want to avoid. To apply many of the tips you just need to change the text you use. When describing your services for instance. Other tips help you change text you place in buttons or links etc. The book also provides tips about web design and user experience. To use these more advanced tips you'll need a bit more technical skill. If you work through the book one tip at a time you're sure to improve your website. With 100 Copy & Design Tips and Tweaks this book is bound to pay for itself quickly. Gill gives away a lot of useful information on her website. If you join her mailing list you get even more of her best tips week by week. But if you want her most important advice packaged neatly and in one place, this book is more than worth the price. My advice is, the sooner you buy and use this book, the sooner you'll start bringing in more clients or customers. What are you waiting for? Buy it now before you get sidetracked.

This is the book you need to write or design an effective website. I'm a professional copywriter and I've used it to write checklists for each page I'll need to write for my own new website - i.e. one list for Home, one for About etc. Invaluable guidance throughout, and all based on experience and hard evidence. I learnt such a lot about design too, and even though I'm a writer, a few days after reading it I was able to spot a 'false bottom' on one of my client's web pages. This will be affecting the promotion of a service they're launching and we're now rectifying it. So glad I bought this. Buy the book. See her live or on recording if you can. Gill Andrews is superb value.

This is a useful book - easy to dip into, with lots of really good advice. Congratulations to the author. With a few more real rather than fictional examples I would have given it Five Stars. Also, some better formatting maybe, and a higher quality cover that didn't immediately bend and curl up within 24 hours - that was less than what I expected for a £10 book. Small grumble.

This is a great book for anyone who runs or owns a website and wants to make it better. There's no fluff. There's no jargon. When someone uses lots of technical jargon and long words to describe something that's usually a sign that they don't actually understand the topic very well. Or I guess they could just be bad at communicating with other humans. That's not the case here. It's so clearly and well laid out. There are tips here useful for the beginner and experienced pro alike. She really just "gets" what makes a site pleasant and clear to use for your visitors, and how to go about getting the most from the site for you. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this. Great book.

Very effective, informative and full of oh-yeah common sense content (and I don't mean that disrespectfully). Seems there aren't that many books on this topic that are this "on the money". Makes me excited to think how this content can be applied to my own site. Congratulations, Ms Andrews!

This book is chock full of practical tips to help you make sure your website works as hard as it can. It's great if you're a business owner looking to improve your online presence, and just as useful if you're a designer, copywriter, or marketing consultant who wants to sharpen their game and give clients better advice on optimising their websites. Buy this, read it cover to cover, then keep it close and refer to it as you work. It's a must have.

I’m a UX designer with a web design agency background, but making a website for yourself is a completely different experience. It’s been really valuable for me to hear wisdom I might know intuitively, played back to me. It’s given me confidence that I know what I’m doing, and also some things that I need to ensure I don’t forget to do!

This is a real stand out book for me. The format makes it very readable, and the author makes the topic fun, interesting and relatable. Her writing style is no-nonsense and to the point, but in a smart and funny way. She clearly is a master of her craft! I genuinely found every single page useful. I really recommend this to any business owner wrestling with their website.

I really enjoyed MYWW. It’s all accessible, comprehensive, no-nonsense advice. Andrews has put hours of research and reflection into this, and evidently has years of experience in the field. This is the perfect primer for small business owners. In short, copylicking good.

As a newbie to the field, I gained a world of wisdom from this book, it should be on every web designers bookshelf! The ultimate website building book :)

...and anyone else responsible for their business website. Actionable, reader-friendly and fun - if you like working on your website but you need help, start with this book before you hire anyone to help you.

Gill Andrew's book is a 'must-have' for business owners who do their own copy and create and maintain their website. I've found it invaluable in helping me see my website through different eyes and the easy-to-read practical tips really work. I highly recommend this book.

I bought this book from a recommendation from a business friend and it was great! Just what I needed to revamp my website into something clearer and more appealing. Very easy to read with lots of tips that you can apply immediately.

Some very useful tips. Many of which I had not seen before. Really useful. A really useful checklist for any new website.

Gill has a great knack of getting the obvious into your head. Most of the things in this book seem such a no-brainer, but so many people/sites just don’t apply them!

Gill explains her reasoning behind every tip and provides clear steps you can follow to implement each of the improvements on your own site. She also discusses unique contexts that may allow for exceptions to certain rules. At the end of the day, you'll be able to decide with confidence whether or not a specific change should be made to your website. Each of the 100 tips is categorized into one or two of the following categories: Blogging, Copywriting, Web Design, Strategy, and User Experience. I personally purchased the book for the Copywriting tips, but I have found every tip to be incredibly insightful. I will be re-reading this book and keeping it by my desk for reference until I have the content memorized!

I find Gill’s advice invaluable while I write the copy and build my freelance website. It’s like having someone explaining how you should write and design something in a no-nonsense way, AND telling you what to do instead. As a bonus, she has a sense of humour 😊 So, keep this book close to you to avoid unclear content, labyrinthic navigation, and design disasters while you are turning your website in your most powerful lead generation tool.

When issues crop up in my copywriting writing, I often think 'I wonder what Gill would say about this'. Of course, Gill and I have never met... but I'm a freelance copywriter and this book is definitely something I refer to most days. The blend of copy, web design, strategy and UX tips are totally invaluable BUT it's the way the book is set out which really sets it apart form other 'how to' books. It's accessible and digestible (even for non-copywriters) and best of all, full of personality. It's a FUN read as well as a useful one.