If there’s something high-quality, high-paying clients hate from the bottom of their guts, it’s sleazy copywriting.
You know: “Are you ready to change the world—or do you want to be left behind?” or “You can manifest wealth and health in just 20 days” and other over-the-top copy, so popular in coaching and consulting.
Writing this type of website copy is actually very easy, but writing copy that sells your services with dignity and that still manages to be intriguing for clients who don’t buy because of FOMO or desperation.
Quality clients who really need your service will buy it when they want to, not because you “forced” them to.
Ahead, check out my 5 tips for writing ethical and non-sleazy website copy.
1) Research carefully what kind of change the client wants to achieve and how your service can help them achieve it.
Before you launch a new service, throw yourself into research, testing, and conversations with people who best fit the profile of your ideal client.
The outside world will be the best way to confirm whether your service makes sense. Assumptions are, as a Balkan saying goes, the mother of all fuck-ups. (yup, swear words are a part of Balkan folklore ;D)
2) Don’t take too long to convince
Classic copywriting teaches that you must provide evidence in your sales content.
But constantly. 😢
Even if you have already provided at least ten proofs that show why your ideal client could buy your service.
That way you can become a burden to readers, and some may even suspect you.
So you don’t have to list all 100 proofs or reasons.
Choose and highlight the five or six strongest that leave no room for doubt.
3) Don’t promise the moon
There is a great business saying that saved my neck a lot of times: “underpromise and overdeliver.”
It is better to promise less and surprise the client with results than to promise great results and in the end give him a metaphorical pomegranate (and he will not be delighted with the literal one either).
Otherwise, I do not recommend guaranteeing specific (especially numerical) results, because each client, especially if you work with people from different professions, is a story in itself. The more you work with people, the more you realize how each client has something special about them.
4) Don’t manipulate your reader’s emotions
Try not to make your potential client feel like a bag of rotten eggs with your website copy. Being aggressive and condescending will never attract your ideal clients – unless you’re one of those who want to because they don’t want to choose your service.
You know those phrases, “If you really care about your business…” or “Do you want to watch sadly as your competition achieves everything you could have achieved?”
Focus instead on the positive transformation that the client can get from your service.
For example, if you are a psychotherapist, clients get a sense of security and emotional support because you strictly protect their privacy and do not judge them. Maybe you also make them tea when they come in from the cold 😉
5) Be honest
This one is difficult, but it’ll be worth it—especially in the long run.
Present your service and yourself briefly and clearly, without exaggeration. If you are in an industry that overlaps with someone else, clearly state which services you offer and which you do not offer.
