What does the copy on your home page say? No, not down there. Right up at the top above the fold. Does it tell people that your business is award winning? That your customers will unlock their potential? Perhaps that they’ll save time and money? Yeah? So does everyone else’s.
These days, every market is saturated as fuck. And it’s about time you started standing out. One piece of advice I give to all of my 1:1 freelance clients is this: take your personality and turn it up to 11. I wholeheartedly believe this stands for B2B as well. So many websites have a bland and forgettable tone of voice and don’t say much of anything.
Another common issue I see in B2B website copy is extremely indirect, wide-net style messaging. Because we all know the worst thing your website can possibly do is piss someone off or turn them away, even if they were never a good fit for you anyway. The problem is, when you people please like this, you’re not really drawing anyone in. In your fear of pissing off anyone, you make yourself forgettable.
Your website copy is forgettable
I see so many websites that could belong to anyone. They don’t have a particular point of view, priorities, or values. They are lifeless, only existing to make money for the people who own it. While we all know that almost no business is set up without the aim to profit, you shouldn’t leave your audience feeling that that is your only purpose.
B2B tech in particular is full of bland platitudes and promises of efficiency, potential, or whatever. But here is the golden question. If someone took your copy and put a competitor’s visual branding on it, would it look out of place?
When writing your website copy, it is essential to take some time to develop your messaging and find a balance between your values, your offering, and your customers’ needs. It’s like roleplaying games. In order to build a believable character, you need to know what their point of view is, what motivates them, and what their perfect ending to a campaign would be.
In order to build a believable brand, you need to understand how your company sees the world, what your values are, and what your end goal is for the wider world.
You are offering solutions without solving problems
Ah yes, the classic “solutions” section of a website. It’s one of those corporate jargon terms that has entered the wider business psyche. So sadly I can’t cast it away as esoteric. That said, if your individual solution pages focus solely on features and processes, you’re missing an opportunity for connection.
There are a lot of routes to get to your website. If you’re smashing your SEO, some folks will come directly to your product/service pages. However, a lot of people will also come via social media, your blogs, recommendations, or increasingly from LLMs like ChatGPT. Not to mention, a visit to your website is just one small part of a very busy day or week or month for your audience.
You can’t take for granted that everyone knows who you are. Every page of your website needs to share your messaging. So even when you’ve got a page focused on logistics, you still need to acknowledge the problems you’re solving along the way. Even something as simple as a 2 sentence introduction that focuses solely on your potential customers can be a great way to keep them reading.
Your audience doesn’t feel heard
They’ve landed on your website and see you do this and that. Cool, so do a bunch of other people. If you don’t care about them, why should they care about you?
By casting a wide net with your messaging, you don’t really speak to anyone. While I’m not sure I support the old fashioned approach to ICPs (ideal customer profiles), I think it is helpful to write like you’re speaking to one specific person.
You need to show that you understand where they’re at, what they need, and how they’re feeling. The more relatable your copy is, the more people will trust you. The more they trust you, the more likely they are to convert. Especially if the service/product you provide is an investment piece.
You speak in jargon, not in plain English
This one is important. Speaking down to your audience doesn’t make you seem like an authority. It just makes you look like a dick. Or just really fucking boring. Of course, you need to find the right balance between industry jargon that your customers know and use and the language you use internally.
However, as you may have gathered from my general vibe, unnecessary jargon is not welcome in your website copy. There is full blown science behind jargon and why it’s bad for social relations (and by extension, business). The short version is this: jargon and esoteric language creates an uneven power dynamic, leaving the jargon speaker at a higher level than the other. The more jargon you use, the greater the communication gap and the worse you make the other person feel.
Sure, if you’re some kind of sociopath who gets a kick out of making people feel bad, carry on. But that’s not very good for business. Also, just a bit of a dick move.
People pleasing is harming your business
The unfortunate truth of people pleasing is that the more you try to please everyone the more people you piss them off. Overcommit and don’t follow through? Piss people off. Scared of scaring people off? Become forgettable. Don’t stand for anything in particular? Uninspiring.
I’m not saying you need to swear and be blunt the way I am. This works for me because my “ICP” is a personality type, not a specific type of business. I talk and write the way that I do because I value honesty, transparency, and clarity above all else. I’m very process driven, I tell people exactly what I think, and I ask a shit ton of questions. I’m a nosy fucker, really, because it helps me to provide better work for my clients.
What works for you could be completely different. It could be a laser focus, a whimsical vibe, approachable authority, gothic mystique. There are so many directions you can take things even in the most dry of industries. Just because your industry is dry, it doesn’t mean your marketing has to be.
You might be too close to do your website copy justice
If you’ve spent months or years on your SEO efforts, traffic is good, but conversion is in the shitter, it can be helpful to bring in someone from outside your organisation. Too often, I see folks who are too close to the business and unable to extract which details are necessary, what language doesn’t work, and why the fuck the site isn’t converting.
Most B2B organisations need a fresh take on their website. It’s impossible to tell what a person who knows nothing about your business perceives it when you and everyone who works with you is right there in it. You don’t see it from the customer side.
At some point, it’s time to bring in someone who specialises in websites to be able to separate your customers’ experiences from the ins and outs of your business behind the scenes.
Messaging development, user journey planning, sitemap planning, and wireframes are all part of my website copywriting process. Maybe it’s unfair to just call it website copywriting, but I’m guided by the keyword research on that front.
If your website isn’t converting, let’s talk about what we can do to change that.