As part of being a copywriter, I look at (and write copy for) a lot of websites, and I often see this same copy mistakes time and time again.

Remember: pretty websites alone do not make money. You need to have strong messaging and you need to have compelling copywriting in order to make money.

Why? Because words sell.

Here are five of the most common copy mistakes I see on websites and how you can fix them!

• Mistake number one: you’re focusing too much on yourself. You’ve got too much ‘I’ and not enough ‘you’ in your copy.

You have to remember that in your business, you are not the most important person – your ideal client is. You need to speak to them. You need your messaging to resonate with them, and it’s only going to resonate with them if you’re actually talking to them.

• Mistake number two: you don’t know who you’re talking to. You’re trying to speak to everyone.

Remember: if you try to speak to everyone, you will speak to no one! You need to be niched down enough so that your messaging is compelling and strong. What you don’t want to have is diluted or mixed messaging in your website copy.

• Mistake number three: you aren’t agitating the pain enough. You’re not making your ideal clients problem aware.

You need to tell your ideal clients a story revolving around their problem and pain points so that they become problem aware. This will help them see that if they don’t fix it, it’s going to get a lot worse – and that you are the one who can help them fix it!

• Mistake number four: you’re not showing your ideal client why you specifically are the one who can help them.

You need to think about what makes you different. Why should they pick you out of all the other people who do the same thing you do? Make them see that you are the one for them.

• Mistake number five: you have too much copy on your website!

Having too much copy on a website is not great for anybody. There’s nothing worse than coming onto a website and being faced with a wall of text. This is when people are going to skim, scan and scroll. Your copy needs to be compelling. It needs to be punchy, and it needs to be zingy.

I really dig into the 5 mistakes and how you can go about fixing them in Episode 20 of The Copy Coach podcast. Listen here.