Why Rewriting Your Website Copy Never Fixes the Real Problem

Last week I had a call with a woman who’d rewritten her website three times and still couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working.

Twenty minutes in, I realized the copy wasn’t the problem.

When I asked what made her different from others in her field doing the same work, she couldn’t give me a specific answer. The work was good, clients were happy, but nobody had ever helped her figure out what to say about it.

She had a messaging problem. And until that was clear, no amount of rewriting was going to help.

How to Explain What My Business Does (Before You Touch the Copy)

Messaging is knowing who you’re talking to, what they need to solve, and why you’re the right person to help.

Copy is how you put that into words.

Messaging comes first, and when it isn’t clear, rewriting your copy just moves the confusion around.

This is why so many website rewrites don’t land. The words change, but the feeling doesn’t.

The Three Questions Your Website Has to Answer Fast

Your website has one job: help someone decide quickly whether they’re in the right place.

• → What do you do?
• → Who is it for?
• → What do I do next?

Those three things need to be obvious fast.

Get the Message Right and the Rest Gets Easier

Most of that information is on your website somewhere. It ends up tucked into the About page, spread across sections, and by the time a visitor finds it, they’ve already moved on.

Think about what you’d say if someone asked what makes you different from another experienced person in your field. If the answer takes a while to get to, the message is where to start, not the copy.

When that piece is in place, everything else gets easier to write.

Get the message right, and most of the other problems sort themselves out.

 

Clear roads ahead,