Wanna know what absolutely blows my mind? 

How many men flopped down on atop their navy sheets, swiped open their phone, clicked on the App store, downloaded Hinge, scrolled through their camera roll, found the photo of them holding a dead fish, and thought, “yeah, that’s the one—the ladies are gonna LOVE this” and then set it as their primary photo.

They really thought, deep down in their soul, that the partner of their dreams would stumble upon their profile, see the photo of them with a hat and sunglasses on, sitting on the side of their rented boat charter, proudly showcasing their limp bass, and immediately match with them, already half in love. 

Now, I don’t know what you’re into, but I think it’s pretty safe to assume you’re not into that. 

Honestly, though… the dead fish aren’t even the worst part. 

These guys are out here bragging about stats of their mediocre college soccer career, making drinking beers with the boys their entire personality, and describing their perfect Sunday as “gym, football, food.”

And, you know what, that’s great—I’m sure those prompt responses would get them a lot of responses!

…from other guys. 

Because that’s who they’re attracting, by accident. And they’re repelling us girls in the process, one dead fish at a time.  

These dating app dudes aren’t writing the things their potential partners want to read; they’re writing what THEY would want to read. 

I definitely don’t care about your dead fish, but your buddy might. 

I’d personally rather hear about anything other than your soccer career, but there’s probably a mens’ league you can join. 

All of the interest in a beers-with-the-boys type of guy left my body the second I entered my sophomore year of college in 2014, but I’m sure your coworkers are down to grab a cold one with you. 

(I’m seriously considering making a profile on Hinge as an advertisement for my services. These guys need a dating app profile copywriter. $50 per profile. I’d make bank. I’m one “do it, Sara!” away from making it happen.)

Excuse me while I swipe left, onto the next (hopefully better?) option—and please, for the love of God, don’t let his profile be full of one-word answers and fishing trips.

…and the sad part is: these guys have no idea that’s the reason why all their potential partners are saying ‘thanks but no thanks’ within seconds of viewing their profile.

(Often repulsed, and visibly shuddering. It’s a scary place out there.)

The reason I say it’s sad is because it’s such an easy fix. 

All they’d have to do is take an extra minute and think—dare I say care—about the person on the other side of the screen, reading the responses. 

Who is it? What are they hoping to find? What will make them want to learn more about me? What can that initial interest factor be? What can I say that will inspire them to swipe right?

Ya know, similar to what I do when drafting copy for my clients: identify who the target audience is, consider what they want (and need) to hear in order to take the next step, then write that. 

Whether you’re swiping through Hinge looking for someone to date or scrolling through the Internet to find a business to work with, you only care about one thing in the beginning: whether or not your desires are met.

If you don’t immediately see what you’re looking for, you’ll move onto the next option—before even bothering to get to know the guy (or the brand). 

…which is why the getting to know the guy part comes second—there are much more important things that need to come first. 

And while I may not be able to help all of these dating app doofuses dudes figure out what their potential partners care about (hint: not fish), I definitely can help YOU determine what your ideal clients need to know before you share all of the *nice to know* details. 

I’ll be the first to say it: it’s human nature to be selfish. Me, me, me, me. 

As the iconic Demi Lovato says in her self-love anthem, I Love Me, “mine’s the only heart I’m gonna have for life.” So it only makes sense that I should put ME and MY interests first, right?

My Hinge profile website viewers are here to learn about ME, right?

Wrong. 

I’m not the only selfish one—they are, too. They want to know what’s in it for them before anything else, because they don’t want their time to be wasted. 

It’s not about me (yet), it’s about them. 

You want them to hire you, yes? Then you’ll have to put YOUR want-to-says aside, to make room for their need-to-reads.

I’ll explain.

My want-to-say: I have 3 Bachelor’s degrees.

Their need-to-hear: My course launch clients earned $500,000+ in the last 6 months as a direct result of the proven sales-focused storytelling method I use for my sales pages, and I can help you do the same. 

Both have the same effect—I’m cool and smart—but the first one is completely irrelevant; it’s just me bragging about something none of my target audience cares about (especially since my degrees have nothing to do with marketing). 

We have the tendency to completely ignore what our audience actually cares about and get in our heads about our website copy, thinking that “we know best” when it comes to what our readers need to know.

Buuuut we don’t. 

Sure, we know why we’re qualified and worthy of choosing—but that’s not where our reader’s journey starts. 

Our reader’s journey starts way before that; they need to first learn more information about the problems we can solve, the results we can provide, the peace we can bring, the time we can save, the time we can free up… you get where I’m going with this? 

Their needs first, our brags second. 

Listening to the voices of your clients, customers, and community is so, so important to the copywriting process, and it’s a step that shouldn’t be skipped if you want your copy to actually inspire the right people to take action. 

Here are 4 ways you can tune out your own voice, and tune into the voices of your audience:

#1 – Read through your testimonials.

What do people love about working with you? What do they say about the transformation you provide?

[If you want to learn how to get better testimonials from your clients, I’ve got you! Download the 10 questions that get my glowing reviews every time – and the exact email I send to request feedback from my clients!]

#2 – Conduct interviews with your past clients.

Ask them what their situation was like before working with you, then how it improved. Ask them about their experience, about the results you provided, about how much time and effort you saved them. 

(Fun fact: I’ve made past client interviews as a standard part of my process for my 1:1 website copywriting services, because it’s so freaking helpful!)

#3 – Search for FAQs about your industry.

Then answer them—in your website copy, in your blog posts (great for SEO!), in your newsletters, on your socials… anywhere your target audience is bound to see them. 

#4 – Familiarize yourself with the other options your audience may be seeing.

If they’re looking for your services, chances are they’ve also considered what a DIY approach may look like. What’s the narrative surrounding that arm of the solution?

There are tons of other ways you can figure out what your audience wants, too—magazines, books, videos, product reviews, Pinterest searches—but the most valuable of all is good, old-fashioned conversation. 

In other words: ask ’em what they want, then make sure your copy does a good job of ensuring them they’ll get it. (I can help!) 

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you found this post helpful. 🙂 If this is your first time coming across my content…

HI! I’m Sara Noel—website copywriter and marketing mentor for creatives, copywriters, and all-around cool people. If you like my content and you want even more BTL in your life, here are a few ways you can connect with me:

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Check out my services. I write website copy, sales pages, email sequences, blog posts, and brand messaging guides for entrepreneurs of all kinds! Maybe you’re my next favorite client. 😉

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Sign up for my web copy course. Actually, it’s not *only* about website copywriting—I also teach modules on copywriting basics, developing your target audience, search engine optimization, blogging, and email marketing.

Enlist me as your mentor. I have an entire in-depth blog post about my one-on-one consulting process for new and aspiring copywriters, if you’re interested in having a big-sis-style mentor to help you grow your freelance copywriting business & get results.

To get in touch with me directly, send me a DM or email sara@betweenthelinescopy.com. Have a great day!