Common Copywriting Mistakes & How To Avoid Them

Inquiries in cricket mode? Clients giving Budget Betty? Having to explain the same things over and over on discovery calls? If your copy isn’t converting like you want it to, you might be making some common copywriting mistakes.

Whether you’re writing website copy, emails, or social posts, these common copywriting pitfalls could be costing you sales. Let’s dive into what they are and how to fix them!

Talking to more than one person

This is a recipe for disaster, because if you try to talk to everybody you will end up appealing to nobody. Figure out the one person you really want to sell to, and only speak to them. Create detailed personas for them with available research insights online, consumer surveys and interviews. You can also use this prompt in whatever AI tool you prefer:

I’m a [job title] who helps [target audience] [achieve goal] with [how you do it]. Teaching them how to [achieve objective] and [achieve win]. Can you please provide an in-depth description for this target audience? Everything from their demographic and psychographic information to buying behaviours and how they consume content.

Having too many chunks of copy

Nobody likes to read swaths of copy without giving their eyes a break. So always try to break up copy with some kind of visual aid — pictures, videos, graphics, etc. Like this:

Focusing too much on the brand

Another one of the common copywriting mistakes — “me me me” syndrome. People are inherently selfish creatures and want to know what they get out of things. Whether that’s reading your copy or buying your product. So put the spotlight on them; e.g., “Catapult your click-through rate” vs. “We’ll show you how to increase your click-through rate with our award-winning process”. For example:

Focusing on the negative

People are always saying “pick at their pain points”, but copy with a positive message is more memorable. So focus instead on the benefits they can enjoy and the dreams they can achieve with your product. It’s the difference between “Don’t Miss Out” and “Clear Your Breakouts Today”.

Unclear CTAs

There’s a difference between a call to action (CTA) and a call to value (CTV). When you use a CTA, you want it to truly inspire action. It’s one of the most important assets on your web page. And that means using verbs like “Register” and power words like “Secret”. It’s how you have powerful CTAs like “Register Now to Unlock the Secret to Our Successful Email Campaigns”.

p.s. You can download my free CTA & CTV Master List for 115 copy options for your buttons!

Stuffing your copy with keywords

Search engines hate it and people hate it. It doesn’t sound human, and it’ll only signal search engines like Google that you’re pandering to try and rank (which they’ll just take as a sign to not have your page rank). It’s recommended to use 1-2 keywords for every 100 words of copy, so make that your benchmark.

Being cringe with the hard sell

No one likes a “Buy My Course Now!” kind of relationship. They want to enjoy a good story, connect with your values, feel seen and heard, truly understand the benefit they get from giving you their hard-earned money, and THEN buy your product. So don’t sell without doing all these things first.

In this example, we do some storytelling by using some truths from a day in their target audience’s lives — and connecting it to how they can help them.

Conclusion:

Now that you know these common copywriting mistakes, you can start fixing them one by one. Remember, great copy isn’t about being perfect – it’s about being authentic, clear, and focused on your audience’s needs.

Ready to level up your copy game? Start by auditing your current content for these mistakes. And if you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry — I’ve got solutions to help you out, babes. Because sometimes you need a pro to help you make your words work harder.

#1: Book a free 20-minute Pick My Brain Session for a quickie consult

#2: Schedule a 90-minute Copy with the Quickness Intensive

#3: Hit me up for 1:1 done-for-you copywriting