Does your web copy really sound like you?
Be honest with yourself. When you read your website, who’s doing the talking? Is it you? Is it the brand you’ve been working hard to create? Or is it every similar brand on the internet?
Are your ideal customers reading your website and thinking they’ve finally found a brand that speaks to them and understands exactly what they need? Or are they reading it with an eerie sense of deja vous, like they’ve already read it several times before?
Why your website sounds like everyone else’s
Truthfully, there could be a number of reasons.
Let’s look at some of the most common ones. Starting with the thing you know full well I’m going to mention…
You wrote your website with AI
You wrote your site with AI. You didn’t give it a very imaginative set of prompts. And, unsurprisingly, it came back with the same generic, unhuman drivel as every other business that did this.
I would be rolling my eyes at this point, but seeing as you’re here and trying to fix your copy, I won’t.
I get it, okay. AI takes away the fear of the blank page. It stops your cursor winking at you, willing you to write. And when you see your page filled with words, it makes you feel like you’ve achieved something.
To the uninitiated, it sounds… passable. It’s clear, easy to read and sounds professional. But more and more people are starting to notice the signs of AI. Not just em dashes — *yawn* — but formulaic wording, language patterns and tone.
The lack of personality and real-world experience makes it sound generic and inauthentic — and this could be harming your credibility.
In short, it doesn’t sound like you and it never will.
You’re trying too hard to sound “professional”
Too many businesses are still stuck on the idea of wanting to sound impeccably professional. They use formal language, impressive-sounding words and long, plodding sentences. And they end up with copy that sounds stuffy, serious and boring.
First — and I can’t stress this enough — nobody wants to read that.
Second, this will make you sound like every other impeccably professional business.
You want to be universally acceptable
You want to appeal to anyone and everyone who might buy from you.
So you remove all trace of character from your copy and take a neutral standpoint where you don’t stand for anything or have an opinion on anything.
If your copy were a colour, it would be beige. If it had a flavour, it would be vanilla. If it were a personality, you wouldn’t want to be stuck talking to it at a party.
With nothing to make you stand out, you blend in.
Your web copy is full of industry clichés
You’re a logistics company that says “you deliver”. A gifting company that has every occasion “all wrapped up”. A taxi company that’s “driven to do better”.
If there’s an industry cliché to be used, you haven’t been afraid to use it. And that’s why your website sounds like everyone else’s.
You took “inspiration” from your competitors
When you were wondering what to write, you snuck a cheeky peek at your competitors’ websites to see how they’d done it. What they’d said. How they’d said it.
Anything that sounded necessary, safe and credible, you remembered… or wrote down. Like copying your friend’s homework.
And it influenced your copy, so it ended up sounding like a mish-mash of theirs.
We’ve all been there. Comparing ourselves to others we admire. Wanting a piece of their success. And sometimes not even thinking we deserve it for ourselves.
But we do. You do. Which is why you need to do you.
How I create standout copy that actually sounds like you
Your copy sounds generic and the same as everyone else’s. Maybe it comes across as cold, colourless or boring. And it’s making you blend in when you need to stand out.
You may have other problems, too. Like missing out on business opportunities and attracting the kind of bad-fit clients who don’t respect your time, expertise or boundaries.
To counter that, you need to be brave. To show up in your true colours so you’ll attract your kind of people and have a business you enjoy.
Personify your brand
To make your copy shine, we need to add some humanness. We do this by giving your brand a persona and making it personable.
If you’re a solo business owner, this persona will probably be the same as, or close to, your own character. But you can decide where the boundaries are, how much of yourself you want to put into your brand and how much you want to leave out.
Personifying your brand gives it a rounded character and an engaging personality. For example, if your copy feels cold and distant, it can bring warmth, humour and relatability. And, even if your business is formal and serious, making it sound more human will make it more appealing to read.
Express your brand values
Your brand values are what your brand stands for and what you care about as a business.
Your brand values and what they mean to you should be individual to you, so they’re not shared by everyone else. This is why I advise my clients to avoid listing the values that every other business says they have. I’m talking about values like honesty and integrity. These should be a given. Because no business would say they were deceitful or immoral, now, would they?
Some brands list their values on their website, which is weird. Because if they’re genuine and meaningful they should shine through in everything you do. In other words, you shouldn’t need to tell your ideal customers what they are — you show them.
Share your experiences and stories
Your experience is what shows how well you know your industry, your business and your customers.
Your experiences are unique to you. Even if a competitor has had the same experience, it won’t be identical to yours and they won’t tell it in the same way.
You have stories, too. Real world stories that have happened to you and the real people you serve. Maybe they’re success stories that show your competency. Maybe they’re warnings your ideal customers need to know about. Either way, they’re valuable to your audience and help to position you as the expert you are.
Offer an opinion
Real people have opinions. They don’t try to please everyone and they don’t sit on the fence like AI does. I guess bots don’t get splinters, though I really wish they did.
Experts, like you, have expert opinions and can give expert advice your ideal customers will find valuable.
For example, maybe you go against the grain in your industry. Maybe you think everyone else is doing it wrong and your way is better. Maybe you’re advising against the latest trend everyone wants, with good reason. Maybe there are widespread myths in your industry that you’re constantly debunking.
Your opinions come from real world experience, not everyone will have, and this is why you shouldn’t be afraid to share them.
Show how you work
The way you work and the advantages of this for your customers can be a key differentiator for your brand.
Maybe you’ve changed the way you work to make it smoother and more streamlined. Maybe you’re constantly developing better and more efficient ways of working. Maybe experience or customer feedback have shaped and improved your process.
The way you’re working, developing and evolving is unique to you.
Use your voice
Your copy can mirror the language you use in your business.
Maybe you have a particular way of describing things, have a unique turn of phrase or use specific words more regularly. Maybe you have a different way of thinking or see things differently to other people.
We can use these characteristics and quirks to your advantage in your web copy. So it sounds more like you and less like everyone else
Do you need web copy that sounds more like you?
Maybe I can help.
I’m Jenny Lucas, I’ve been a website copywriter since 2011 and I’ve seen every kind of website you can imagine — good, bad and really really ugly.
The good ones are always from brands who’ve thought about their copy. And who haven’t just copied their competitors or used AI. These websites are clear, engaging and have a distinctive voice that really speaks to their ideal customers.
If that’s the kind of thing you want for your website, too, we should talk.
You can learn more about me and the brands I work with on my main website >>
You can read more articles like this one on my blog >>
Or you can get in touch here >>
You might also like…
