Your website design is flawless.
Your offer itself is, how you say, *french kiss* perfecto.
Your launch is “ready to go to market”, as the professionals say.
Everything feels like it’s coming full circle… and then… all of a sudden… nothing.
One or two people signed up for your offer, or worse, no one signed up.
Crickets. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
“What the actual f*ck is going on?” is what your brain’s screaming inside your head.
You feel confused, frustrated, and may have even channeled that upset feeling straight into a pint of your favorite ice cream. (It happens — you’re only human.)
Do you wanna know the secret to why your marketing efforts haven’t converted in the way you dreamt it would?
Chances are, it’s probably because your copywriting isn’t clear enough.
And that could be for a number of reasons…
Tone/Voice of audience is off...
Spelling/grammar mistakes...
Call to action isn’t clear (or it’s nonexistent)...
You’re not really sure who your ideal audience is…
What you’re offering doesn’t solve any of their problems...
You pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down?
But there’s good news — writing copy that’s clear, succinct, and addictive to your audience is easier to achieve than you think it is.
And if you wanna know how you can quickly improve your copy so it speaks directly to the people you’re wanting to attract, then read on. In this blog we’re going over the top 5 copywriting mistakes small business owners make and what steps you can take TODAY to improve your brand messaging online.
Here are your 5 most common copywriting mistakes and how you can be sure to avoid them
Mistake #1: No call to action (CTA) in your copywriting
A call to action is a piece of content intended to induce a viewer, reader, or listener to perform a specific act, typically taking the form of an instruction or directive.(3)
In other words, a CTA is a button or link that leads people to the direct action you want them to take.
Buttons and hyperlinked text like the ones below are all examples of specific CTAs:
Buy Now
Click Here
Learn More
Sign Up Now
If no action is asked, chances of them taking any are slim to none. 🤷♀️
We live in a world where people need to be told what to do, and they need direct action steps to get them there.(3)
How to fix it: Add buttons to your web pages and emails that direct people to where you want them to go next!
Schedule a call
Read about you
Sign up for a freebie
Take a quiz
Sign up for your newsletter
Whateverrrrr you want them to do next, make sure you create an easy-to-read button for it!
Mistake # 2: Using larger words to sound more intelligent
You think that using larger, more sophisticated language is going to bear a healthy fruit to your business?
Not when the majority of Americans are reading at a 6th grade level.(1)
Yeah, you read that correctly — more than half of the 332,278,200 humans in the US have a literacy rate of a 12 year old.
So, when you go to use your thesaurus to plug in extra fancy instead of simpler ones.. You’re actually doing a major disservice to your reader (and ultimately, your business). If they can’t understand what you’re saying, then you’re going to have to work even harder to establish a know-like-trust factor.
How to fix it: Before you hit publish on your next article or sales page, run your copy through a tool or piece of software that’s made for analyzing things like readability, sentence comprehension, spelling/grammar, etc. HemingwayApp is a great free resource! I personally use that on every single piece of writing I create.
Mistake #3: Not incorporating contractions in your copywriting
Imagine if every time you spoke to someone, you would talk to them exactly like how you wrote in your high school English class.
One of the secret gems of why copywriting has the ability to make your business so successful is it’s writing in the way that people talk to one another.
That means CONTRACTIONS, my friend.
How to fix it: Scan through your copy and notice where you can condense two words into one. Things like “Can not, should not, would not, have not, I am, I will, she will, he will, they will” can all be condensed down into a shorter, more reader-friendly version.
Mistake #4: Not utilizing SEO within your copy
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s how Google and other search engines scan the content on your website and match it to relevant keywords that people are searching for.
If you’re feeling confused about SEO, or like it’s something huge and mysterious that you just can't seem to wrap your head around, don’t worry — you’ve got a copywriter that’s experienced with this! (ahem, hi 🙋♀️)
How to fix it: Sign up for an SEO Audit and I’ll show you step-by-step processes you can take to increase your authority and relevance in the eyes of Google.
I’ll go over everything from what your current rankings are, and create realistic recommendations for each page of your website so the right people are able to find it on Google.
Mistake #5: Speaking about YOURSELF and NOT your customer
It’s a tale as old as time, human beings talking about themselves.
However, when you’re writing a sales email or landing page, this is not the time or place to be bragging about all of your latest accomplishments (trust me, there are places for those things).
Instead, tell them what they’re going to gain from working with you/buying your product.
How will it make their life easier or better?
How will it elevate their lives compared to your competitors?
What’s going to make them stop dead in their tracks and say, “I’ve GOT to have that!”?
How to fix it: When you’re editing your copy, look for places where you’re talking about what you’re doing for them.
Then change it to talk about what they’re benefiting from your product or service or (even better) what they’re going to miss out on if they don’t choose your company.
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, come over to my Instagram…
I made a reel all about these common copywriting mistakes that small business owners make — go check it out! It’s maybe 7 seconds, so you definitely got more bang for your buck with this blog post, but it’ll still make you laugh and provide some value.
Tell me in the comments what copywriting mistakes you’ve been making!
References
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