Words that sell

When we take over an existing website, the first thing we read is the old copy. Almost always it says the same things: “We’ve been in business for 20 years”, “We deliver quality”, “We’re your partner”. It’s well meant, often honestly earned, and it still doesn’t work. It misses a simple truth: visitors care about themselves first, not about you. They arrive with a question, a problem, a plan. Your 20 years in business only become interesting once they’ve understood that you can help with exactly that plan.

So good copy flips the perspective. It starts with the reader’s problem and guides them step by step to a solution, so clearly and calmly that nobody feels talked into anything at the end.

Nobody reads your website. Everyone scans it.

Before we talk about wording, a reality check. The Nielsen Norman Group measured how much text visitors actually read on an average web page: around 20 per cent. The rest is skipped, skimmed, ignored. Eye-tracking studies also show that people’s eyes follow an F-shaped pattern: they still read across the first paragraph, then they only skim down the left edge, from heading to heading.

That sounds sobering, but it’s really a set of instructions. It doesn’t mean text doesn’t matter. Quite the opposite: the 20 per cent that does get read decides everything. The art lies in making sure it’s the right 20 per cent. If people scan, your copy has to be scannable:

• Subheadings that stand on their own. Someone who reads only the headings should still get the core message.
• The most important thing first. No preamble, no slow lead-in. The first sentence of a paragraph makes the point, the rest backs it up.
• One paragraph, one idea. Blocks of text longer than eight lines turn into grey walls on a smartphone, and people skip grey walls.

Writing for the web, by the way, doesn’t mean writing worse. If anything, it’s the more demanding discipline: you do the work the reader would otherwise simply refuse to do, and for that, every sentence has to earn its place.

From “we” to “you”

The quickest way to better copy is a change of perspective. Instead of listing what you do, describe what changes for the reader. “We develop bespoke websites” becomes “You get a website that suits you and works for you”. Same statement, a completely different feeling.

The test for this is mechanically simple: count how often “we” and “our” appear on your home page, and how often “you” and “your”. If “we” is clearly ahead, the page is talking to itself. That doesn’t mean you can never talk about yourself. It just means every “we” statement needs translating into something that lands with the reader. “We work with a dedicated point of contact” is still an inside view. “You explain what you need once, not again on every call” is the same information, told from the perspective that counts.

Why specific statements are more credible

Vague promises drift past, specific statements stick. “Fast” is a claim anyone can make. “Loads in under two seconds” is proof anyone could check. And because people think in scenes rather than abstractions, the roofer who writes “After a storm, we’re up on your roof within 24 hours” makes a stronger case than any paragraph about fast and flexible emergency help.

Being specific has a second effect: it’s hard to copy. Any competitor can claim “The highest quality and personal advice” word for word, and most do. “We’ll get back to you within one working day” or “You’ll see the concept before the first invoice” can only be written by someone who actually delivers on it. Readers sense the difference between copy that commits and copy that hedges. The first takes a risk, and that’s exactly why it comes across as credible.

The most honest test for a sentence on your website: would you say it exactly like that to a prospect on the phone?

One word of warning: specific means honestly specific. A made-up number or a polished-up promise gets found out, at the latest in the first conversation. Then the copy has sold something the business can’t deliver, and that costs more than any weak wording.

Objections are your best editor

The most effective copy isn’t written at a desk but on the phone. The questions prospects ask you again and again are the table of contents for your website: roughly how much does it cost? How long does it take? What happens if I don’t like it? Do I have to deal with the technical side?

Each of these questions is an objection in plain clothes. If you only answer them on a sales call, you’ve already lost visitors: the ones who never called because the answer wasn’t on the site. So the answers belong there, visible, honest, without small print.

That applies especially to the topic most websites steer well clear of: price. Of course, not every service can be given a fixed figure. But “from” prices, example projects or an honest frame of reference (“projects like this usually cost between X and Y”) take away the visitor’s biggest uncertainty. Hiding prices completely rarely keeps the wrong clients away. It keeps the cautious ones away, and they’re often the best.

The call to action: say what happens

At the end of every good page there’s an invitation, and this is where precision counts. “Contact” is a word, not an offer. “Learn more” promises work without a result. A good call to action says what happens next and what it costs, which is usually: very little.

“Tell us about your project” works because it names the next step without implying any commitment. “Book an intro call: 20 minutes, free of charge” works because it answers every open question of that moment: what happens, how long it takes, what I’m risking.

The dose matters as much as the wording. Five different prompts on one page don’t lead to five times as many clicks. They overwhelm, and people who are overwhelmed don’t decide anything at all. One main goal per page, visibly repeated, plus at most one quiet side path for those who aren’t quite ready yet.

Microcopy: the small words in the places that matter

Headlines get debated for hours, the text in the contact form not for a minute. Yet the smallest texts sit where the stakes are highest: exactly where the visitor is supposed to do something.

A few examples of where this microcopy makes the difference:

• Form fields. “Message” is an empty stage, and many people don’t know what to say on it. “Briefly describe your plans, two sentences are enough” makes it noticeably easier to start.
• The moment after the click. “Thank you, your message has been sent” is a receipt. “Thanks! We’ll get back to you by tomorrow afternoon” takes the edge off the wait because it gives it an end point.
• Error messages. “Invalid input” sounds like officialdom and puts the blame on the user. “This email address seems to have a typo, could you take a quick look?” solves the same problem without the telling-off.
• Next to the send button. A line like “No marketing emails, and we never share your data” clears away exactly the doubt that’s on someone’s mind at that moment.

Microcopy is the tone your website takes with people when it counts. If you choose your words carefully here, you’re already showing the care clients hope for once they work with you.

How to spot weak copy

To finish, a short checklist. Take your most important page and ask these questions:

• Could the first paragraph appear word for word on a competitor’s website?
• From the headings alone, do you understand what’s on offer and what to do?
• Does “we” appear much more often than “you”?
• Is there at least one specific, verifiable statement on the page? A number, a time frame, a firm promise?
• Does the page answer the questions prospects really ask you on the phone?

Two or more yeses to the first three questions, two noes to the last two: then this page has untapped potential that no design and no advertising campaign can make up for.

What “selling” really means here

Online, selling has a bad ring to it: pressure and tricks. What we mean here is the opposite: a page that accompanies readers through a decision they want to make anyway. It picks up their question, clears away their doubt and makes the next step as easy as possible.

That’s also why manipulative techniques lose out in the long run. Artificial scarcity, dramatised problems, pressure before the click: all of this can lift conversion figures in the short term. But it damages exactly what a service business lives on: the sense that you’re dealing with someone who means it honestly. If you want to win clients over years, write copy that even your best existing client could read without frowning.

That’s why copy and design only work together. The clearest message fizzles out if it gets lost visually, and why design does the work of building trust is a topic of its own. Equally, no layout can rescue copy that talks past the reader. Structure and words are two halves of the same job: guiding people.

When the words do this work, the call to action at the end doesn’t feel like a request but like the logical next step. That’s exactly the goal: a decision that feels right to the reader.

If you suspect your website talks more about you than with your visitors, see how we approach copy. The “we” and “you” count takes two minutes. It’s a good start.