The Top 6 Mistakes You’re Making With Your Website Copy
When it’s time to create or update your company’s website, you’ll want to make it stand out and convert by avoiding these five mistakes. This can put you a step ahead of your competition.
Using too much “we” and “us” copy.
Nobody cares about how long your company has been in business or how many awards your top salespeople have won. Your readers want to know how you can benefit them and why they should buy from you. It’s all about them, not you.
Leave the “us” copy for the About page, and focus on the benefits (as opposed to features) that your products and services give your clients.
Forgetting to add keywords or meta data.
Visitors can’t find you if your website doesn’t rank in the search engines. Meta data are the keywords, title tags, alt tags and description that the search engines use to find your website. Make sure you have all for each page of your website.
Each page should also have high-ranking keywords in the copy itself. For example, if you’re a dentist in Denver, people are likely to type in “Denver dentist” or “dentist Denver” to find you in the search engines. Any SEO-trained copywriter can write meta data and optimize the pages with keywords, and your web designer may be able to also.
Not being clear about the next step.
Don’t leave your readers hanging-tell them where to go next and what to do when they get there. Each page of your website should have a call to action they can click and take the next step to a sale, appointment, or contact. Spell out what you want them to do, and they’ll do it.
Assuming the copy is grammatically correct.
It’s not correct unless the editor says it is. You may have excellent grammar and spelling skills, but even professional copywriters send their work to an editor. Most editors charge reasonable rates, and you’ll know your copy is top-notch when he or she is finished with it.
Using high-falutin’ words.
If your average visitor doesn’t understand industry jargon, leave it out of your website. If your average visitor doesn’t have a master’s degree or expect million-dollar verbiage, write to a 6th to 9th grade level. Make it easy for them to read your site. Keep it simple.
Trying to give too much information at once.
Don’t dump 20 pages of stuff on your readers. Keeping it simple also means keeping the volume of information down. Focus on the benefits of your product or service. If you offer several services, consider paring down to three for the website, and use the others as upsells later.
Readers will be confused if you offer too much, and confused minds won’t buy.
These five mistakes are so common that at least half of all websites are making at least one of them. Take a look at your own website and make any necessary corrections. You’ll be surprised at how much longer visitors stay and how many move through your sales funnel.