As website copywriters, our team scours the Internet on a daily basis. We see all sorts of websites in a variety of industries. While we each have our personal preferences on what we like, one thing we can all agree on is a poorly written website.
Unfortunately, there are too many of them out there.
Before I continue, let me make one distinction: by poorly written, I don’t mean to say that they aren’t well written. Most business websites I see are written in coherent sentences and are free of grammatical errors. But flowery language and great spelling will only take you so far.
What constitutes inadequately written website copy is the diluted and often hidden message. And if you cannot clearly show what your business offers and to whom, visitors will leave your site and never return.
Your website copy (and all your marketing copy, for that matter) has the power to bring you new customers and retain current ones. It connects you with your clients. Entices them to buy. Drives them to call you. Website copy makes or breaks the sale.
It’s often difficult to look at our own marketing message and see what’s really being communicated. When you’re too close to a project, it’s easy to get caught up in what you think needs to be said, rather than what prospects want to hear.
You may think you’ve clearly described what products / services you offer, but how clear are you? Businesses evolve. Services change. And so does the market. Often, what happens is companies add information to their websites over a period of time. The result is a smorgasbord of information that can easily confuse prospects.
If you aren’t specific about the product / services you offer and how they benefit your target market, it is extremely difficult for you to convert prospects into customers. Similarly, if you don’t follow shifting markets, how can you expect to sell products to a customer you no longer know?
While many businesses have the intention of trying to stand out from the competition, all they end up doing is stringing together a bunch of fancy words that have no meaning. It’s nearly impossible to express your uniqueness when you say that your “creative services are unique.” (What does that even mean?)
The key is not about saying you’re different in your website copy, but rather, it’s about showing your prospective clients that you offer something different from the competition. This is expressed in a clear brand message. When you become clear on your brand message and exactly what you offer your customers, your target audience becomes clear on what you sell.
Go back over your website copy, and answer these two questions:
- Do prospects understand what you offer?
- Do prospects understand how your company will help them fill a need and solve their problems?
Be honest with yourself. If you can, ask a third party to read your website copy, and listen to how they answer these questions. Of course, the smart choice is to hire a website copywriter who understands SEO, the changes in search, and understands the website copy must drive people to take action.
If you like this post, you might also like:
- Take Website Visitors through an Experience, Not a Torture Chamber
- Think It’s All About Driving Traffic to Your Website? Think again.
- Make a Stellar First Impression: Tips on Editing Your Marketing Copy
- How I Love Lucy Can Help You Write Better Marketing Copy
- 10 Questions to Ask Yourself before Hiring a Copywriter
