Part 2 (of 6) Is Copywriting Worth The Effort?

HERE'S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT COPYWRITING:

Part 1 (of 6) Why Is Writing So Hard?

1. Plenty of biz owners aren’t getting results from their copy (it’s not just you).

2. Many also aren’t getting conversions from a copywriter (and it’s not their fault). 

3. The entrepreneurs who are getting results from their copywriting rolled up their sleeves and did the work

Writing is important to selling, and if you’re not selling, you need to do something.

You’ll just write your own copy. 

Here’s what most people do:

• Take on the daunting work ahead to write your own perfect copy

• Write it in a vacuum with no idea if it’s any good

• Get feedback from randos on the internet 

• Wonder, “What if you go through all this, put it out there, and still hear crickets?” 

• Think, “This is terrifying! Slam your laptop shut.”

Maybe you can find a free guide on a copywriter’s website. 

You could read through all their blog posts and piece it all together for your business. 

This is a lot of work. So you head to a competitor’s website or someone a little ahead of you and use their copy as “inspiration.” As in, cut and paste it from their website and attempt to make it sound like you.

To write the copy yourself, you decide that a course on copywriting will help.

You invest a few thousand bucks, so you’ll be forced to do it. You paid for it so you’ll do the work. 

You take the course and get off to a strong start but burn out three weeks into the weekly lessons. 

Or, there’s no course happening right now, so you sign up for a few waitlists and order three books from Amazon. You flip through them but they’re dry AF — and they don’t relate to your business anyway.

So, you do nothing. Put your gel pen down and go scroll Instagram or binge Netflix.

Months go by and you come across a famous online business owner launching her signature copywriting course. 

Oh, THAT’s the answer! The course you’ve been waiting for is finally open! You promise yourself that this is the last course you’ll take. This one has the answer. This course will have everything you need to get started and finally be able to finish your copy, do it right, publish your website, and put out your first (or even second) blog post. 

Eureka! Swipe copy and templates are the answer!

You download all the free PDFs, follow an expert’s magical formula, and do everything you were supposed to do. Except you’re still not making sales. And even if you’re booking consults, you hop on Zoom and wonder why in the world these people contacted you — they’re not your ideal clients.

And worse, everyone else liked the idea of those copywriting templates, too, so everyone’s website looks the same. 

Barf.

Here’s the thing...

Copywriting is important to selling, and not in the way you might think. 

You need results in your business. Without sales (or the prospect of sales happening at any moment), you have an expensive, self-indulgent hobby. Which is fine — hobbies are essential to your creativity, but you need to decide — hobby or business? Which is it?

And by “results” — know that I’m talking about conversions. Clicks, consults, purchases, dollars, and impact. And NOT likes, comments, and shares. You can’t take those to the bank, but you probably realize this by now.

You’ll get much better results if you learn to write it yourself. 

You can write darn good copy that sells. 

Even if you’ve never taken a copywriting course, read books on copywriting, and listened to every podcast on the topic. 

And, even if you’ve studied copywriting for years and still don’t feel like you’d ever call yourself a “writer,” that’s cool — you don’t have to.

Heck, even if you don’t own an impressive library of downloads from every free PDF from all the copywriters in the world to learn how to write, you already have everything you need.

You can write good copy that sells. Think...

• Sales pages

• Sales letters

• Email nurture sequences

• Launch copy

• Blog posts

• About pages

• Podcast show notes

• Proposals

• Bios

• Personal and business stories

• Social media content

And, your pretty darn good copy can convert too.

Business owners who get the best results (clicks, conversions, sales), write their own copy first. 

But what if your copy isn’t perfect?

First, let me tell you this — NO ONE. I repeat — no one who is further along in their business will shame you, point out your typos, or judge you for imperfect copy. 

There’s no such thing as perfect copywriting.

The only people who judge you are those who don’t feel like they’re as good, smart, or as legit as you. Notice I said “feel like” — they very well may be further along, but that’s not the point.

They don't believe they are yet. They’re also too busy pointing others’ mistakes on the internet from behind a screen instead of keeping their eyes on their own paper and doing their own freaking work. 

Everyone makes mistakes. 

Yeah, this isn’t just something that sounds fun to say, but we all secretly think in the back of our minds, “Not me; I don’t make mistakes.”

And instead, you spend hours and months picking apart every part of anything you share online so that you can stay safe from the internet psychos.

You worry that your audience will shame and judge you if your copy sucks or you have mistakes.

But you know deep down that you can do it yourself. You’re ready to embrace imperfect action and get something out there.

This isn’t about finding the time, making the time, or some new project or task management plan. 

It has to do with procrastination — as it relates to perfectionism.

If you can’t take perfect action and write your copy, you’ll take no action.

Perfectionism is holding you back. 

I’ve heard this story before, and initially, I never personally identified with it. 

Back in my corporate days, I’d sit up straight and confidently announce that my “weakness” was perfectionism. You know,  making it sound like my obsession with getting things right was a strength, and that’s why they should hire me. 

It worked back then, but it doesn’t work for me anymore. 

And in a conversation with some business friends, I announced, “Oh, I’ve never really been a perfectionist. I write stuff, give it a quick review (sometimes), then publish it.” 

The next day, I had a huge insight when I heard this idea.

Maybe your brand of copywriting perfectionism looks like this:

• Kinda, sorta launching your website in a few days without an actual plan — so if you don’t fill all the spots in your new coaching program, hit your sales goals, or book 10 new clients, you can chalk it up to it being because you didn’t try that hard

• Intentionally choosing low targets so you know you can hit them and avoid failure

• Avoiding your writing like a root canal

• Watering down your words in case you offend someone so much that they sit like wet cardboard on the page

If you set a teensy goal, you get to say you met it and it was a breeze. 

And even more, you get to keep your “perfect” image up.

Like most of us, this started for me in grade school. School came very easily for me. I got straight As, rarely studied, did my homework on the day I got it, listened in class, raised my hand, and did all the things I was supposed to do. In return, I brought home tokens of my enough-ness in the form of pats on the back and good grades.

All in the name of validation and people-pleasing. 

You too?

Here’s what perfection can look like for some business owners: 

• Tweaking website copy for months instead of hitting publish

• Hiring experts only to chalk it up to them not understanding you, so you leave your work in a Google Drive, invisible to the people who need you

• Waiting to publish a newsletter because you’re not sure what to say or if you’ll be bothering people

• Spending hours each day staring at your blog post, email, or sales page tweaking every last thing

I get it. So many of us have our very own brand of perfectionism. Mine (and yours too) just may be a little less obvious.

I’m a work in progress and I’m here with you doing the work. 

It’s why you’ll find a few typos on my website and definitely in my emails and social posts.

And the people who point out your mistakes? I’m going to go out on a limb and say they’re definitely not your ideal clients.

If you’re reading this and wondering if you should email me about a typo you found on this website, please don’t. Maybe you have some writing of your own to do.

Like the one Instagrammer who messaged me after she found a mistake in an Instagram post and said, “...as a writing coach, you don’t want mistakes in your copy!”

I guess she didn’t know what kind of writing coach I am. 

As in, I’m not the kind with a red pen. More like a bottle of chilled champagne ready to pop the cork every time one of my clients finishes their work and hits publish. Yes, we celebrate a lot!

It’s easy to get caught in the perfectionism trap. It keeps us from taking action and moving forward. And there’s only one way to move forward from here.

And it’s not a magic formula, course, guru, or a game-changing book.

Read the next page to discover what to NOT do and redefine what’s “good.”

Next: Part 3 (of 6) Redefining Good Copywriting

SUBTEXT

1. Your website copy will never be perfect enough for you. Aim for good enough.

2. No one is judging your website copy — and if they are, they’re not your people

3. Looking for website copy from your competitors will keep you spinning.