How to Write Website Copy That Doesn't Sound Like a Robot

Here is a line from a client's services page: "For scales that read wrong, read nothing, or read differently every time."

That is Compound Industrial Scale Services in Huffman, describing repair work. It is not clever writing. It is what the customer says on the phone, written down. The industry version would have been "comprehensive diagnostic and repair solutions for your weighing equipment," and it would have told nobody anything.

01Use the Words Your Customers Use

Faded Barber Shop on Main Street in Liberty lists its cuts as guard numbers rather than as a menu of style names, because guard numbers are the language already being used in the chair. The price sits next to them: $39 for thirty minutes, covering the first service. Nobody has to work out which tier they fall into or what a signature experience costs.

02Say the Number

Impressiva Printing in Pasadena names its stocks: 14pt card through 32pt board, 13oz and 18oz vinyl, SBS packaging board. It names the finishes too, soft-touch lamination, spot UV, foil, die-cutting, rounded corners. It says turnaround runs three to five business days, with same-day possible on approved files in before noon.

A print buyer reads that and knows whether to pick up the phone. "Quality printing solutions for every need" makes the same buyer keep scrolling, because it has told them nothing they can act on.

03Write It, Then Read It Out Loud

If you would not say it to a customer standing in front of you, it does not go on the page. Nobody has ever said "we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional customer experiences" out loud to another human being. Contractions are fine. Short sentences are fine. Beginning a sentence with "and" is fine.

04Cut the Throat-Clearing

Delete "Welcome to our website." Delete "we are passionate about." Delete "industry-leading," "one-stop shop," and "solutions" in every sense except the chemical one. None of them says anything, and each one spends a second of the few a visitor was prepared to give you.

Open with what you do and who for. "Scale calibration and repair in Huffman, Texas" beats a paragraph of positioning, and it does the search engine's job at the same time.

05One Idea Per Sentence

Long sentences carrying three clauses and two commas are how people write when they are nervous about being taken seriously. Break them up. A page of short sentences reads faster and sounds more certain, and certainty is most of what a first-time visitor is judging you on.

06The Test

Cover your logo and read the page. If a competitor could put their name at the top without changing a word, you have written nothing yet. The sentences that survive that test are the ones about your business rather than about businesses in general.