I’m gonna ask you a blunt question. Does your website suck? 

Here’s another blunt question. Would you even be able to tell if it did? 

Good people, let’s dive into the wonderful world of web copy. It’s about to get brutally honest.

Your Website is the Face of Your Business. Slap a Little Lipstick on it

Yeah. I’m already rethinking that heading. I’m actually quite a feminist and I don’t think people should feel like they need makeup to be presentable, pretty, or noticed. Don’t even get me started on the carcinogens in most makeup products, or how they’re damaging our health in ways you wouldn’t even realize. But, I digress. I’m not talking about literal faces. I’m talking about business faces. Business faces absolutely need a little somethin-somethin. That somethin-somethin is strong web copy. 

Reminder. Web copy is all the text you have on your website. Easy peasy. 

So how do you make it good? Let’s dive in.

7 Web Copy Mistakes to Avoid

I’ve been paying extra attention to business sites lately and…yeesh. These mistakes are real ones I’ve come across just in the past week. Here we go. 

1. Speling Mysteaks (see what I did there?)

 Spelling, people. It’s important. No, I’m not saying you need to be a champion at it. There is no prerequisite to have won your third grade Spelling Bee to have a website. Just pay attention to what you’re doing. Have a friend double check your work before you slap that thing up for all the world to see. It is distracting when people come across your site and see erroneous spelling. Maybe even distracting enough for them to miss all the wonderful things your business has to offer. Plus, it’s not exactly professional. 

2. Grammar Nazis are Real and They’ll Come for You

Grammar Nazis are a special kind of fussy. They delight in critiquing every misused apostrophe. Every run on sentence or comma-heavy paragraph is susceptible to their wrath. Don’t even get me started on the Oxford comma. They have opinions. Much like spelling, good grammar keeps your site from being distracting and lends you an air of professionalism. Disclaimer: I am not perfect. When it comes to commas I just go off my gut feeling and a few rules I happen to remember. Yeah. I’m a massive, massive hypocrite. 

3. Know Your Customers

You should have a general idea of who your product/business is for. Let’s say you own a knife and sharp objects shop called Knives and Sharp Objects. Would you market your product to babies? Toddlers? Children between the ages of 3-8? Probably not. Know what type of customer generally likes your dangerously pointy merchandise and write like you’re talking to them. Because you are. 

4. Aesthetics Matter

Ok, this one isn’t technically web copy but I don’t care. This is my blog and I’m putting it in anyway! The way your site looks is important so that readability is a breeze, not a chore. Do you have a pale yellow background and white text? You think that’s easy on the eyes? Is the size of your text so miniscule that people will need a magnifying glass to see what the cupcake flavor of the day is? Is your background color a blinding shade of neon so bright that it causes an instant migraine? These things matter. You want your website to be easy to navigate so readers get important information without distraction. While you’re at it, it’s a very good idea to have alt text for images and other such helpful things for those with vision impairments. 

5. Repetitious Words

I’m incredibly guilty of this. If I like a word it tries to find its way into my copy. Again and again and again. It’s understandable, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok. Repetitious words are distracting, especially if the reader is anal, like me. My suggestion? Read through your web copy aloud a few times. Hearing the words out loud will help you recognize if there’s a recurring phrase that really needs to be eliminated. A thesaurus is your best friend when this happens. I couldn’t live without mine. 

6. Don’t be Vague

If your website basically says, “We’re people who do stuff and things for reasons,” you’ve got problems. You don’t have to write a whole novel, but give readers a little more detail. If you have an “About” section, give us a little background info so we actually care about your “About” section. If you offer a service? Now is not the time to gloss over what you can offer your customers. Give them examples, give them details, give them a bulleted list if you have to. They came to your site to learn more about your business. Tell them everything they need to know right there while still being fairly succinct. If readers have to dig for answers, most of them will just find someone else. 

7. Know Your Strengths

I’m gonna give you an awesome strat, on the house. If you want to know what strengths your business has but you need some help? Look into your reviews. This could be Yelp, this could be Google Reviews, this could just be something someone said to you. Remember these. Study these. Take notes. If you’re a restaurant and reviewers gush that you’re family friendly, emphasize that. If everyone is raving about your mozzarella sticks, emphasize your “famous” mozzarella sticks. Generally, you know your own strengths, but guess what? You may have missed some. Your customer base may latch onto something you never expected. Pay attention to what people like about you and be sure to reflect that in your web copy. 

If at First Your Web Copy Fails, Try and Try Again

The great thing about websites is that they can be changed. You didn’t carve your site in stone, you can update it any time! In fact, I recently did just that with mine. My first version was decent, but it was my first go-around. I realized I was missing graphics, more interesting layouts, and my copy needed to be rearranged. It looks much better now than it did, but guess what? In a few months, I may hate it. I may grow and learn and realize I want to emphasize something else. I may look at my About Me section and wonder why the heck I thought posting a picture of me with a stuffed avocado was a good idea. For the time being, however, Ava-cado stays. Enjoy her while you can. 

As for you, don’t beat yourself up if your website isn’t perfect. It doesn’t need to be. Mine certainly isn’t. It can be pretty dang good, though. Even if it takes you a few tries.