5 common website copy mistakes to avoid

Written by Trio Media

 

 

Claudia Mossman, Content Manager at Trio, shares her insights on fixing common mistakes in web copy.

 

Picture this: you’ve just launched your website. The branding is, well, on brand. The website design is *chef’s kiss*. The copy is… not worth talking about.

As a digital marketing agency, we often see businesses take on website copy because writing is a skill everyone can do. “Even AI can do it all for me now”, says the brand with copy that ‘delves into today’s fast-paced digital world of business’.

Have you got my point? I’ll say it once, and only once: not everyone can write copy. It’s not an email to your colleagues or a LinkedIn post on how losing your favourite socks taught you a thing or two about business. Getting web copy right takes specialist skills and time.

But if you’re tight on budget or have the time to write, your website copy doesn’t need to be a disaster. You just need to avoid these all-too-familiar mistakes:

  1. Your tone and messaging is inconsistent
  2. It’s all about you
  3. You neglected SEO
  4. Your copy is riddled with ChatGPT-isms
  5. You forgot to proofread

TL;DR – Copywriting is hard. Bring in a specialist.

Writing website copy is hard work, just like any other skill set. That’s why copywriting services exist. You wouldn’t expect your plumber to write a high-converting landing page, would you?

Sometimes, it’s okay to accept defeat and let the experts take control. This will free up your time to focus on what matters most: your business.

 

 

The 5 biggest mistakes I see in web copy (and how to solve them)

1. Your tone and messaging is inconsistent

Your brand is far more than just visuals. It also includes your tone of voice (ToV), which is the way you communicate with your audience. Your ToV will shape how your customers view you and build a brand identity worth trusting.

When you write website content, it’s easy for your natural writing style to take over your brand’s tone of voice. You might lean on being too casual in one place and then resort back to corporate speak when addressing the next section. This back-and-forth is like James McAvoy in Split: dissociated and hard to follow what’s next.

The same goes for your messaging, like your value proposition. If the reason to buy or partner with you changes every other page, how can you expect to keep users around?

 

Trio’s approach to tone of voice

When we start writing web copy or blogs, our first goal is to understand our client’s tone of voice and messaging. Our process allows us to dig deeper into the nuances of your brand voice so that we can refer back to it when we start writing.

Most businesses won’t have their tone of voice put to paper. And that’s okay if your marketing team knows it inside and out. But, just like your brand guidelines, a tone of voice document will keep everyone consistent. This way, you can identify when someone goes off script.

 

 

2. It’s all about you

Your audience isn’t concerned with your life story or how many awards you’ve won. The moment they land on your website, their first thought is: “What’s in it for me?” This feels cold because, well, it is. Consumerism is a cruel mistress. If you’re not quick to catch attention, you’ll never win over your audience.

Your website copy needs to sell your services or products. Not cover the ins and outs of your business. Instead, keep your website to the point. Say what your audience wants to hear. To know this, you need to build customer personas and conduct keyword research.

 

The “so what” test

When writing copy, ask yourself: “So what?”. This test helps you unpick your product or service’s benefits instead of reciting what it does (the features). The “so what” test also tightens up rambling sentences and unnecessary words that are drowning your chances of success. For example:

“Our project management software has an intuitive interface.”

An intuitive interface is a feature, so how does it benefit the user in the long run? Now apply the ‘so what’ test:

“Save time with project management software your team can master from day one.”

The copy is now benefit-led, which directly addresses a project manager’s need for ease and efficiency. Sometimes, it can be hard to uncover the benefits. We get so caught up in the features that it’s all we end up leading with. If you’re struggling to get to the benefit, use ChatGPT to apply the ‘so what’ test to a list of features and find out what the end benefit is for your customers. Once you know this, you can start writing better, benefit-led copy.

 

 

3. You neglected SEO

Writing copy that search engines and users love is a fine art. Not everyone knows how to do it, and most completely forget that SEO exists.

Once your website is indexed, you have the chance to appear on the search engine results page (SERP). You’re up against high competition, so to be seen, you need to prioritise SEO.

Yes, the website copy needs to be succinct. But it also needs to add value to the user’s experience. SEO writing doesn’t mean keyword stuffing or shoehorning irrelevant content to increase your word count.

Instead, you need to:

  • Optimise copy with keywords: Target your primary and semantic keywords so your page can rank higher and appear more relevant to search engines. This includes adding your keywords to the meta title and description, heading tags (H1/H2/H3/H4) and alt text.
  • Answer ‘People Also Ask’ (PAA) questions: If you have an FAQ block, why not address the questions shown on SERPs? Don’t add pointless FAQs; only add the ones relevant to your product or service.
  • Optimise images: Add descriptive, keyword-rich alt text to images to make them more accessible to search engines and users with screen readers. (Read more about optimising images in our UX guide.)
  • Have a clear visual hierarchy: Organise your web copy into clear sections so users know where to go next. Include headings and subheadings to help users scan and navigate your website.
  • Add internal and external links: Link anchor text to relevant internal pages and authoritative external links so search engines can better understand your content. This will also keep users on for longer.

What’s the difference between SEO content and website copy?

SEO content writing educates users on a topic. This content, such as blogs, helps you rank for keywords and queries your audience is searching for. The goal is to appear in SERPs, such as a featured snippet or AI overview. When your website ranks here, your visibility improves and traffic increases.

Website copy aims to inspire, encourage action and convert. It’s a proven tactic that’s been around for centuries. Think of your words as a sales tool that convinces your audience that your product or service is right for them. While the purpose is to sell rather than to educate, copywriting still needs to be optimised for SEO.

When I update web copy for a client, I ensure it covers the primary, semantic and long-tail keywords relevant to the page. I also optimise the metadata, heading tags, alt text and FAQ section.

Our top SEO resource recommendations:

 

 

4. Your copy is riddled with ChatGPT-isms

These days, brands rely on generative AI tools like ChatGPT as though it’s their in-house copywriter. ChatGPT can write a blog, whip up landing page copy and compile a whitepaper in seconds.

While this ticks all the boxes, the quality is nowhere near as skilled as a copywriter. By now, you’ve probably seen the same run-of-the-mill content generated by brands everywhere. Hint: it’s all ChatGPT’s work.

Yes, ChatGPT is brilliant for brainstorming, editing and summarising, but when it comes to writing, it’s just scratching the surface. Prompts are essential here as they impact the quality of AI output.

Whatever you’ve prompted into ChatGPT, there are clear giveaway signs AI wrote it. These include:

  • Generic content: AI writes content that’s dull and generic. Quite often, the copy produced could apply to any business or sector. There is no personality, emotion or specificity.
  • Implausible statements: Most generative AI tools are known to fabricate facts. ChatGPT doesn’t know much about events that happened after 2021, so whatever it produces about current events could be inaccurate or implausible.
  • Overused words and phrases: ChatGPT has a habit of repeating itself. There’s a whole collection of ChatGPT words and phrases that’ll make your copy sound mechanical and vague. My favourites are ‘embark, landscape, delve, ever-evolving and leveraging’.
  • Overly complex language: ChatGPT will use unnecessarily long sentences that leave readers scratching their heads. From dangling participle phrases to an unusually formal tone, ChatGPT is not winning awards for conciseness anytime soon.
  • American spellings: ChatGPT writes in American English. Don’t forget your British roots now! You can easily replace those pesky American spellings with the right prompt.

AI tools are great for when you need a starting point but not to write content. A copywriter retains your tone of voice, value proposition and messaging when writing content. AI will never encompass a human voice or tone. Let’s leave the creative stuff to the experts, shall we?

 

 

5. You forgot to proofread

If you’ve avoided these four mistakes, you can easily slip up on the final hurdle: proofreading. These days, there are hundreds of tools you can use to check the accuracy of your copy. Think Grammarly, the Hemingway App and most accessible of all: your word processor’s spell check.

Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors will make your business appear unprofessional. If you can’t get your ‘their’ and ‘there’s right, how do you expect customers to trust you in processing their bank details?

A copywriter’s specialism is writing, so they, more than anyone, know how essential grammar and spelling are for a website. At Trio, we live up to our name by reviewing every piece of content three times. It’s how we get things right the first time.

Not sure what to look out for? Here’s my bugbears:

  • Switching between first and third person: When you say your brand’s name in a sentence, you’re talking about yourself in the third person. When you switch to ‘we’, it’s first person. Going between the two can get confusing, so try to stick to one. (Hint: the first person is always more inviting).
  • Using the wrong homophone: A homophone refers to words that sound the same but mean different things. The worst thing? The English language has hundreds of them. When reviewing your copy, look out for mix-ups like ‘then/than’, ‘your/you’re’, ‘there/their/they’re’ and ‘affect/effect’.
  • Misusing commas: A misplaced comma can alter the meaning and tone of a sentence. You should only use them in a series of words, independent clauses connected by a conjunction or within an introductory phrase. Confused? Read Lynee Truss’ ‘Eats Shoots & Leaves’ manual on punctuation.
  • Misusing semi-colons: These punctuation marks are not for amateurs. I won’t explain how to use them – because you shouldn’t. If you don’t know what they do, don’t use them. Simple.
  • Writing over-complex language: Your copy needs to be simple for your audience to understand. That doesn’t mean it has to be ‘idiot proof’, though. You need to gauge your audience’s level of understanding and work from there.

If you follow my tips, you’ll be in a much better position to write your own copy. You may want to give up, and that’s okay. There’s always tomorrow. (Or there’s always Trio – I’d be remiss not to mention us!)

 

Looking for copywriting services?

If you need help​​ creating engaging, people-first content, let’s get to work. Just fill out a contact form, and we’ll be in touch.