Before we get into my best tips for making your website copy sound more conversational, let’s review:

Website = conversation.

(Not Billboard. Not LinkedIn profile. Not YellowPages listing.)

The kind of conversation you want to make your website feel like = one-on-one.

Enter: every copywriter’s favorite advice.

(Well, after “benefits over features!!!!”, of course.)

Write to one person.

Specifically, this person: your ideal client.

Write to them.

And ONLY to them.

(We’ll talk another time about how writing only to your ideal client isn’t going to screw you out of other potential jobs and how writing to one actually isn’t as polarizing as you think… but for now, just trust me.)

Here’s how to make your copy sound more conversational 👇

#1 – Talk the talk.

Okay, now that you know you’re supposed to be talking to one person, it’s time to take that one step further. You’ll want to ensure that when you’re talking to them, you’re speaking their language.

Use terms that they use.

Don’t use big, weird words that they don’t know.

Use references that they’ll understand (and maybe laugh—or guffaw—at).

Say things that they would actually say out loud.

Knowing your ideal client (aka that one reader) as well as you know your best friend is key to writing the most engaging copy.

Check back in your inbox for this Friday’s email, all about ways to find out how your ideal client actually sounds/how to make sure you’re “talking the talk” + writing copy that lands with your intended audience!

#2 – Ditch (some of) the grammar rules you grew up on.

Don’t tell let the English teachers find out that I’m giving you this advice. (Mrs. Hagenbush, if you saw this, no you didn’t.)

Forget what they told you, and start your sentences with things like “so” and “but” and “and” and “because.”

Because that’s how we talk when we say things out loud.

And the best way to make your copy more conversational is to make it sound like you’re actually having a conversation, in real life.

So, the best way to do that is this: think of how you’d tell them the information that you want to convey if they were standing in front of you, and then put those same words on your site.

We often overcomplicate things on our websites because we think we have to, for the sake of professionalism or something.

But we don’t.

See what I did there?

#3 – Add personality.

Business websites are often boring because they sound like business websites. And not like people.

But we want to read words that sound like they’re written by people, not businesses. So. Here’s how to add some flair:

⭐️  Adding pauses in the middle of sentences to jut in a relevant thought or comment, like you would in a real-life conversation

⭐️  Express feelings with interjection-y phrases like phew! or huh? or wait…what? or ugh.

⭐️  Be yourself. (Cheesy? Yes. True? Also yes.)

Say the things that you would actually say in real life. This builds up your authenticity factor. It really delights people to connect with the type of person who sounds the same on their site/in their marketing copy as they do on calls/in the DMs.

#4 – Make it easy to read.

I should probably tell you that short sentences are the best way to go in terms of making something easy to read. Because, well… that’s the truth. Short sentences, no big blocks of text, visual hierarchy with titles and subheadings and cute little paragraphs… yadda yadda yadda.

That’s easy advice.

I won’t even lie to you, though — I’m low-key bad at short sentences. I love a run-on. And I often have to talk (edit) myself out of writing them.

But sometimes… they work! If you use the right punctuation, and the right emphasis, run-on sentences actually… aren’t that bad?

Don’t forget about all the ways you can make certain words stand out by emphasizing with italics and bold and — my personal favorite — em dashes (for my fellow dramatic-pause lovers).

Using these punctuation and emphasis tools will give your reader a guide for exactly how you want them to interpret the sentence you’ve written – which is SO necessary in making a website (aka an otherwise boring, digital vehicle for information) feel more like a conversation (aka an actual interaction between two human beings).

The right emphasis and punctuation conveys the tone you mean to display. 

Want more help making your copy sound conversational?

I’d love to do it for you — or, I can teach you how, in my website copywriting course for business owners who want their sites to actually sound like them!