Your website looks good and your words sound good—but something is missing. You’ve done “all the things” but for some reason, your website just isn’t converting.
It feels even worse because you know your stuff and you know your offers work (you even have the client testimonials and student results to prove it). But somewhere in between finding you and working with you, leads drop off.
As a sales and website copywriter since 2019, this is the #1 reason I see websites failing to convert—and how to fix it:
You’re Not Telling Your Audience What’s in it For Them
It’s that simple. More often than not you’re over explaining and under-relating to your audience. Somewhere along the way, businesses became obsessed with sounding clever or ‘standing out.’ But that’s not the job of sales copy.
Sales copy is designed to address what it is, what’s in it for them, and what happens next.
And in the case of our websites:
Who you are, what you do, and what happens next.
Your consumer only has one thing on their mind: themselves. Their brains are looking for proof that you (and what you offer) is for them, and if they can’t find it, they won’t waste time looking into it.
If they don’t know exactly what they’re buying or how it impacts them, it signals risk (when you need trust) and tells their brain to keep on going (past you).
How to Improve Your Website’s Conversions
Check your website, your sales pages, your product pages—or all of the above. In the first two sentences, if someone hadn’t consumed any of your content before, would they be able to answer what it is, what’s in it for them, or what comes next?
Not just in the way you would say it as the expert, but in a way your consumer could understand?
For example, “helping entrepreneurs scale with strategic brand alignment” vs “I write web copy that turns visitors into paying clients.” One sounds good, but doesn’t say anything about what is actually being done. The other feels direct, but it says exactly what’s being done and the result you’ll get—and that’s exactly what you need your sales copy to do.
If your audience is left to interpret what you do or what your offer is, start there.
What If Your Copy Still Isn’t Converting?
Just because it’s the #1 mistake I see, doesn’t mean it’s the only reason your copy isn’t converting. If you want to know exactly why you’re losing leads when they land on your sales page, audit your copy.
Or hire someone like me (or me 😉) to do it for you.
There could be multiple points in your funnel—and in your copy—where potential clients are leaving vs. converting. Maybe you don’t have enough social proof, or you’re not building trust in other ways—or connection, clarity, or ease.
Maybe you’re catching your audience’s attention in the wrong way and when they land on your website or sales page they feel like they’ve been catfished (aka they expected one thing and ended up on something completely different).
Or, maybe you’re catching the wrong audience’s attention. Even the best copy wouldn’t convert them.
If you don’t really care about the whys, whats, and hows, but you DO want it fixed—here’s how we can work together to create sales copy that converts.
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