Why 95% of Web Copy is Crap (and How to Tell if Yours is Too)
A recent article on Inc.com asked “Why is business writing so awful?
The article faulted a growing trend toward diluted language and jargon-filled corporate speak. While I agree, I think the problem goes deeper than that.
Consider: most business owners wouldn’t dream of designing their own web page. They know that good design leads to good first impressions, and good first impressions lead to sales. Graphic design, therefore, is a task they’re happy to leave to professionals.
Not so with web copywriting. When it comes time to fill their web site with words, many business owners act either cheap or controlling.
The Cheap Copywriting Mindset
The cheap business owners think, “We already have copywriting in our company brochure, so why pay for something new? We’ll just use what we have.” They forget that the brochure was written by business owner’s teenage nephew back when the company was started eight years ago.
They also ignore the fact that people read web copywriting with a completely different mindset than they read brochures and other marketing materials. Their eyes tire more easily, for starters, so most people tend to skim rather than reading every word.
As a result, web copywriting has even less time to catch readers’ attention and keep them reading.
The Controlling Copywriting Mindset
The controlling types are so focused on how their business should appear that they forget about the customer’s perspective. They’ve told their story so many times that it’s become their entire identity.
Unfortunately, most of these stories and sales pitches are filled with self-serving fodder. Does anyone really care that you’ve been in business for 36 years? Does anyone really care if you’re an expert in your field? If anything, these should be given. Yet much of web copy is shoving it down people’s throats.
An Example of Bad Web Copywriting
The resulting copy reads something like this:
“ACME provides a total solution to any customer and is thereby able to support all widgets and widget providers. The reputation, integrity and experience of the individuals within the ACME family are the cornerstone of our business. Through the provision of a single source of accountability, each customer benefits from a streamlined process resulting on time and in budget cost savings, thereby allowing focused delivery of high quality, efficient and effective solutions to our client.”
Does that make you excited about hiring ACME? Didn’t think so.
Does it make you want to take a nap? Yeah, me too.
How To Tell if YOUR Copywriting is Crap
By now you may be wondering how your website’s copy rates on the snobby copywriter scale. Here are a few signs that your writing could use improvement:
You can’t define your audience. Who are are writing to? If you can’t answer that question with a short, specific sentence, your writing probably isn’t connecting with your readers. By trying to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.
You use “I” or “we” more than “you.” People don’t want to read about you. They want to know how you can help them. But you can’t explain that if you don’t shut up about yourself. Start by letting readers know you understand their situation. Then and only then should you talk about yourself.
You confuse “it’s” with “its” and “their” with “there,” or make other common grammatical errors. You wouldn’t meet your best client in dirty sweatpants. But so many people allow sloppy copywriting to represent their business online. If nothing else, hire a proofreader to make sure you’re not making yourself look bad.
You have long, uninterrupted blocks of text. You may be the Shakespeare of your generation, but people are still going to skim your web copy. Make it easier for them to pick up your basic message by including short paragraphs, numbered lists, bullet points, bold text and anything else that makes your copy more visually appealing.
You lack proof. People can’t justify purchasing your products or services without proof. Give it to them in the way of customer testimonials, awards, test studies or even a free sample. Without it, your copy will be construed as hype.
You lack a call to action. If you don’t ask for what you want, you’ll never get it. Yet so many web sites leave out this crucial part of the sale. Your web site should have a call to action on every single page, or you’ll miss valuable sales opportunities.
My Copywriting Sucks – Now What?
That’s easy: hire a web copywriter. Copywriters not only write “pretty,” they also understand buying psychology, and how to use that buying psychology to boost your sales.
Can’t afford a copywriter? Buy a copy of How to Write a Good Advertisement
Do you have an example of great web copywriting — or copy that really stinks? Let me know in the comments section below.
12 Responses to Why 95% of Web Copy is Crap (and How to Tell if Yours is Too)
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This is terrible advice! While good points are made about writing copy in general, nothing is specific to web copy as the title states. Web copy should focus on user friendliness (what information can be found and where), ease of navigation (linking to content on other pages within the site), and utilizing keywords that are going to get people to the website in the first place. There are a ton of great resources out there for web copy (known more prevalently as SEO). Just a small sample of reliable sources: http://www.searchmarketingstandard.com/, http://www.webpronews.com, http://www.marketingexperiments.com/, http://www.marketingsherpa.com/, http://www.clickz.com/.
As for hiring a copywriter for web copy, that's a great idea, but ONLY if they have a proven track record of success. By success I don't mean that they can write well and they have clients that say so. They need to write well AND have increased traffic or conversions to sales or subscriptions or whatever metric constitutes success for that website.
Don't just hire a copywriter because they will make your company sound great on the web. What difference does that make if they don't increase your traffic or sales!
Hey Steph —
You're right that I skimmed the SEO side of web copy. I could have mentioned the importance of keywords and other SEO factors, but the blog post was already getting lengthy.
Not sure what you're calling “terrible advice” besides my recommendation to hire a copywriter, and even you mention that's a great idea … under specific circumstances. Those circumstances would make a great additional blog post, but again — I need to end this somewhere.
You seem to have great experience on the subject. Perhaps you should consider contributing a guest post on the topic. I'm sure many readers would benefit from what you have to say.
It has been brought to my attention by those people who direct such things to my attention that the core substance of your transcribance on communicating through written words projected through Internet web pages might suggest that those providing the words will probably want them to achieve some heretofore undefined desired objectives that would hopefully be beneficial to those in charge of the deliverance of the words in the first place, and to increase the likelihood that the unknown objectives are somehow accomplished that someone, some where might think about engaging the services of word specialists who can clearly craft the right words to fulfill the as not yet understood goals, and these aforementioned word specialists are frequently labeled as web copywriters, as long as the desirable yet heretofore unnamed organizations that organizes web pages, sometimes referred to as Search Engines rate the organization of the words placed on the specific web pages at a comparative level exceeding enough similar web pages that contain written words in the same language that might have been created by others who could cast themselves as web copywriters as well, so that the heretofore untitled web pages will be placed so high on the desired ranking system for the heretofore unstated and naturally unknown most desirable phrases, which are made up of combination of letters used by heretofore unknown and undefined Internet Search Engine users who might want to key in word requests using the chosen search phrases to seek and find information they want to fulfill an objective that might be similar to the type of activities proposed on the initial web pages so that these undefined Internet Search Engine users might be inclined to be directed to the web pages in question.
This is as clear as it gets!
Wow, that took some work! Your obfuscation is impressive
Thanks Kelly,
I learned this form of communication when I was in my government job.
I appreciate your response. And I think that you’re giving great general marketing advice.
However, the post is missing the main goals of web copy and the company’s bottom line: increasing traffic and converting those viewers into sales. How is writing better copy going to do either of that if people aren't searching for the terms that are used in the copy? It’s not. People don't read search results or web pages, they scan them. So web copy should first and foremost focus on incorporating targeted search queries with the answers your product or services provide.
Then focus on making it easy to find the rest of the information the viewer may need (linking within the text and other forms of navigation). And then incorporate the list of advice in the post.
And apply this advice specifically to web copy. For instance, under the “You lack proof” text, you state that the company should be giving the viewer a reason to use them (testimonials, case studies, awards etc.). This is true for any piece of marketing literature, but how does it apply specifically to web copy? If they have testimonials, do they need permission to post to the web? Should they call them testimonials or another term? Which pages should they appear on and where? Can they use the initials of the client or will it not appear credible? I understand you can’t put absolutely everything in the post, but why not include web copy best practices?
As for the guest post, I appreciate the offer and will likely take you up on it a couple of months from now.
Thanks for the great overview, Kelly! Yes, there is so much poor business writing out there. We become painfully aware of that whenever we're on B2B websites… What's especially frustrating is that, even though many otherwise smart, forward-thinking business owners should know better, for some reason, they still like to have those gobbleygook phrases in there! It must be a habit that's hard to break – even when you hire a professional to write your material.
Forgive me for feeling compelled to weigh in here, but I have to say that I thought this blog posting was great. I agree with Kelly that it would have become much too lengthy if she had included another section about how to “fix” bad web copy, and her blog actually acts as an example of one way writers can convert viewers into buyers.
I agree that keyword density and other SEO tactics are important sales tools, but web copy has many other functions, several of which Kelly aptly pointed out. Furthermore, her blog gives readers a quick checklist of dead giveaways of bad web copy so that they can determine for themselves whether they're in need of writing services–most likely, hers. She then offers two solutions, one being for those who are willing and able to make the wise decision to hire a pro, and one for those who would still rather attempt to do it themselves. Those people can buy a book, slog through it, convince themselves they understand it well enough to do it themselves, find the time to do it, and struggle with the frustration of wearing the hat of a writer when they're not actually writers and when they'd rather be doing something else. This alone is a powerful sales tool.
Again, I don't mean to downplay the importance of SEO, but SEO works in conjunction with other features of good web copy, and although there are a few simple things people can do to increase their search engine rankings through key words and metatags, there are also a lot of ways the overuse of these techniques can go horribly wrong. Therefore, I would actually caution against trying to tack a bit more information about SEO onto a blog posting such as this and would instead suggest that copywriters devote an entire blog posting to SEO techniques, complete with a thoroughly researched list of resources that people can then turn to for more information.
Cheers!
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Whoa! I went to my sales page and found the word ‘I’, six times! I think it sounds much better now: http://sheilabocchine.com/blog/boutique-buy-prints/
I love it, Sheila — and you do gorgeous work!