Pond. Jill Pond. :: Copy Strategist

Words That Sell

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Making Your Website Your Secret Weapon

Your industry is crowded – saturated, in fact.

You’re competing with ten tons of hungry entrepreneur for the attention of your target market – it’s imperative you stand out.

How do you do it? How do you claw your way to the top o’ the pile so you can be seen?

Make your website your secret weapon.

Rewind a few months…

I was looking to partner with a marketing and sales funnel strategist for an upcoming project and so I put out the call in a large Facebook group for digital marketers.

“Hi guys – I’m looking for a funnel expert to partner up with. Drop the link to your website and I’ll be in touch.”

Within minutes, I had 80 responses. I started the arduous task of sifting through the comments while mindlessly shoving salt and vinegar chips into my face (I know you just drooled – don’t lie).

There was this one woman who PM’d me and man, she sounded PERFECT! She said all the right things and had the exact set of skills that I wanted. I asked to see her website…

She sent it.

I looked it over.

Red flags. Alarm bells. Sirens abound.

I felt betrayed.

Her website did NOT speak to any of the skills she told me she had AND it showcased an entirely different set of services that were totally unrelated to the funnel expert I was expecting.

Her website f*cked her chances of getting my business because the only thing it inspired in me was suspicion.

This woman is LYING.
She’s a beginner trying to come off as an expert.
She’s not trustworthy.

Moving right along…

I passed her by faster than a cat can vomit on the only square foot of carpet in a 10-mile radius.

When you treat your website like a lure – the most attractive, delicious, and irresistible piece of real
estate on your slice of the internet… it becomes the secret weapon that wins clients and makes you money.

Here’s why the copy and messaging on your website MUST be good.

WHEN I WAS NEW, I WON CLIENTS OVER MORE EXPERIENCED COPYWRITERS BECAUSE MY WEBSITE KICKED ASS.

When I was a copywriting kindergartener, I spent hours writing magical AF copy for my website. I didn’t really know WTF I was doing, and though I was an excellent writer, I lacked any training or experience in the art of writing actual copy.

That didn’t stop me from getting jobs. I’d see someone looking for a copywriter in a Facebook group and BOOM! I was all up in there slapping my website link up for all to see and, whaddyaknow… more often than not, I got the gig.

Why? Because people loved my website and the way it made them feel and they were convinced I could help them make their customers feel that way too.

WHEN YOUR WEBSITE DOESN’T ACCURATELY REFLECT WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE, IT MAKES POTENTIAL CLIENTS SUSPICIOUS OF YOUR EXPERTISE.

Do you show up on your website the same way you show up in person?

Do you have an easygoing confidence that clients love, but have a stick-up-the-ass About Page that’s dryer than burnt toast dipped in the crumbs of more burnt toast?

Or maybe you’re a witty snark-master who everyone jokes with, but the copy on your site has less personality than a dead, bloated worm floating aimlessly in the remains of yesterday’s rain…

Either way, when you claim to be one way and your website copy portrays you as something else, it makes people uneasy about hiring you.

Sumthin’ just ain’t right…

Don’t you want the carpet to match the drapes? Perhaps that’s the (very) wrong acronym, but you get the gist…

WHEN YOUR WEBSITE DOESN’T ACCURATELY REFLECT WHAT YOU SAY YOU DO, IT MAKES POTENTIAL CLIENTS SUSPICIOUS OF YOUR EXPERTISE.

Back to the lady with the shit website – the red flags, the alarm bells, the feeling of deception and betrayal her website inspired in the depths of my soul…

Seriously, nobody takes anybody’s word for ANYTHING these days and if your website is anything less than a glorious storefront for your business, you’re missing out.

Would you go into a store to buy designer heels that displays camping grills, fishing gear, and shotguns in their window?

If so, here’s my therapist’s number…

WHEN YOUR WEBSITE HAS MIXED MESSAGES BECAUSE YOU SKIPPED THE BRAND STRATEGY WORK, IT MAKES POTENTIAL CLIENTS SUSPICIOUS OF YOUR EXPERTISE.

Website copy born from a few janky questionnaires isn’t enough. If you want messaging and copy that tag-teams your cause (getting more clients, making more money), the groundwork must be done and done right.

Did your target market or competition influence your copy, or was it built in a vacuum that reeks of bla neutrality?

Did you consider what makes you different from your competitors and leverage that to position yourself strategically in the crowded market you’re trying to dominate?

These are just the basics, but you’d be surprised at how many people make it ALL ABOUT THEMSELVES and lose the opportunity to win over the customer because the copy misses the mark.

I don’t blame them, though – I didn’t know these things before I became a copywriter. That’s why it’s good to hire an expert – so you don’t have to waste your time with the stuff you’re not paid to do.

WHEN YOUR WEBSITE HAS BAD, SUCKY COPY, IT MAKES POTENTIAL CLIENTS SUSPICIOUS OF YOUR EXPERTISE.

I feel like I shouldn’t even explain this but I will.

The copy on your website is your sales guy or gal. If they’re wearing dirty, wrinkled clothes that smell like onion soup served up in an ashtray, the customer is gonna be like, HELLS NO.

If they show up speaking a language the customer doesn’t understand… Buh-byeEEEE.

If they’re indifferent and not passionate in their sales pitch… Not today, not ever.

Make your website your secret weapon.

Do the work, hire the copywriter (ahem), and suit up to play the game.

You deserve more than a bland, boring, poorly written website that fails to capture leads and help close sales.

Want to know how to write an About Page that doesn’t suck?
Head on over to my site HERE and scroll on down to the bottom to opt dafuq in.

Want to chat about hiring me to do the dirty work for you?
Contact me HERE to get started.

Catch you on the flip side and here’s to kicking website shame to the curb FOREVER!

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How Giving Less F*cks Helps You Give The Right F*cks

“Give Less F*cks.
Be More You.
Sell THAT To The World.”

That  up there? That’s the big, giant, huge, unapologetic headline on the Home Page of my website and it terrifies me daily for a handful of reasons. My fears relate back to life on both a personal basis and a professional one, and if I’m being honest, I’m always afraid.

Yeah, I’m afraid of judgment and meanie-pants people, but I’m mostly worried about chickening out and giving up on who I really am.

That part of me that’s dying to be seen and heard…

That part of me that wants to inspire others and be a catalyst for change…

That part of me that wants to cash in on what makes me authentically me so I can NOT spend my days feeling like a fraud because I’ve shoved myself in a box that doesn’t make sense.

I want to fully step into who I am, free from the chains of other people’s judgment, so I can do what I love and attract my kind of people into my life and my business.

But (there’s always a but) it’s hard and here’s why:

Reason #1: What will people think of me?

Potential clients, peers in my industry, my daughters’ teachers… even my parents, for god’s sake.

The very thing I’m preaching is a daily struggle, because, let’s face it, when you’re the type of person who has trouble seeing your own value, giving less fucks about what others think of you is like asking your car to run without fuel.

It’s human nature to care what others think, but when you start to rely on the thoughts and opinions of external forces to validate you or give you worth, you’re sorta fucked. Not only does it stifle your genius, but it’s 100% disempowering in life and in business.

Reason #2: What if I’m scaring away good clients?

There’s lotsa people out there who vehemently loathe the F word and they sure as shit won’t want me writing their copy (even though I have zero attachment to putting F-Bombs into anybody’s copy but my own).

But guess what? That’s OH-fucking-KAY.

Rule number ONE in marketing is to identify who your ideal client is. OK, I just lied – I’m actually not sure if it’s rule #1, but, dammit, it’s muy importante.

Why?

Because A) when you don’t nail down the type of client you want to attract, your message is diluted, bland, and more watery than a bad bowl of oatmeal,

And

B) You want to be everything to everyone? It’s gonna hurt you more than it helps you because the longer you keep the wrong clients in your life, the longer you keep the right ones out.

You don’t like my vibe? That’s fine – pearl-clutchers aren’t my ideal client so just carry on and pretend this never happened.

Reason #3: What if people misunderstand?

And by this, I mean, what if they jump to the immediate conclusion that I’m saying you should give less fucks about your business.

THIS IS NOT WHAT I’M SAYING.

But people are notorious for jumping to conclusions before they’ve read the whole page or heard the whole story.

I’m saying that when you give less fucks about what you think you SHOULD be doing, and zero in on what you WANT to be doing… life suddenly looks a whole lot brighter.

I’ll do the best I can to clarify my message so people hear what I want them to, but c’mon… we’re humans and I can’t control the filter through which someone interprets my big, bold, unapologetic words.

My solution? Give less fucks about those people and carry on like a badass bitch.

Reason #4: I want to be accepted.

I mean, really… need I say more? One of the basic conditions of being a human is wanting to feel safe. It’s a good feeling when you’re surrounded by people who appreciate you and like you just the way you are.

And on the flip side of that coin, especially when you give too many of the wrong fucks, it feels like shit when you’re an outsider – maybe some people don’t mind it, but me? I like to have a tribe of people who get me (and I get them) and accept me, warts n’ all.

So, when I say, “Give Less F*cks. Be More You. Sell THAT To The World”, what I really mean is when you stop obsessing about all of the things you think you SHOULD be doing to please the masses and focus on what you love, want, and enjoy… the right people will stop and take notice.

You’ll attract your people.

You’ll be happier.

Your professional life will mesh beautifully with your personal life to form a seamless marriage of who you are and what you do.

What’s one less fuck you can give today so you can spend your energy giving all the right fucks?

I feel like I should sign off with a “YAS QUEEN” or some other millennial cliche, but for now, I’ll just say get dafuq out there and do your thang. You got this.

Want to know how a brand strategy session can help you
give all the right fucks?

Set up a call with me and we’ll chat it out.

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