Latest / Talk Copy to Me | Content + Copywriting Podcast / Your Website Copy Is Written. Now Here’s How to Edit It

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Your Website Copy Is Written. Now Here’s How to Edit It · Talk Copy to Me | Content + Copywriting Podcast

• 0:04
  Your website is live, and you have read it so many times that you can't really actually see it anymore.
• 0:13
  But somewhere in the back of your mind, there is a voice that's telling you that you know it could be doing more.
• 0:21
  You know, maybe it's that you've noticed inquiries were coming in less, or you're just cringing, like I mentioned in one of the last episodes, when you send someone the link to check, you and your business out.
• 0:32
  So you fix a headline here and maybe swap a sentence there and then get back to work.
• 0:39
  But editing whatever you happen to notice isn't a strategic edit.
• 0:45
  It is a patch.
• 0:47
  It is a reaction.
• 0:49
  Copywriters or copy editors who do this for a living, they don't start with what they notice first.
• 0:56
  They work in passes, and in this episode, I will tell you what that looks like so you can use these passes on your own site or just truly see the value in hiring someone like me for a site edit for your business Okay, so I told you that fixing whatever you happen to notice on your website while it's live isn't really editing it.
• 1:29
  Let me take a moment to explain what I mean by that.
• 1:32
  If you've listened to the last few episodes, you'll know that I recently introduced a service called Site Edit.
• 1:39
  In s- the Site Edit, I edit and rewrite website copy that a business owner already has.
• 1:46
  Last episode, you heard from my very first Site Edit client, kristin about her experience getting a Site Edit.
• 1:55
  This week, I wanna give you something slightly different.
• 1:59
  You see, I am a copy coach in a website design program.
• 2:04
  The people who are in this program are building their websites or redoing their websites, and my job as a coach is to teach them how to write the words that they need for the, their brand-new website or the new pages that they're building.
• 2:22
  And I'm not just training them which words to choose, I'm also helping them understand how to adjust and edit the work that they create before they launch. This morning I was actually teaching my last training in the specific program that I'm thinking of right now, and what we were doing together was talking about the different types of passes that I will do when I am reviewing or editing my client's copy, or actually even my own copy as a done-for-you copywriter.
• 2:52
  And I started thinking after I left the call that so much of what I told them could be just as valuable to my podcast audience, right?
• 3:03
  Because it doesn't need to just be done when you're publishing a, a new site or updating a site with a website designer or a copywriter like that you've hired.
• 3:13
  It's something that you can do on your own for a site that is already live so for this episode, I will talk about the process that I take to edit my client sites or my own copy.
• 3:26
  What I do is go through eight different types of passes over the work.
• 3:32
  And yes, I know that sounds like a lot.
• 3:34
  It is a lot.
• 3:36
  But I will talk through what I'm doing on those eight passes, why they're important, and how you can use them yourself for your website what I wanna drive home right now before we really get going is that I want you to do this work in those passes.
• 3:55
  I do not want you to try to review your website for all of these eight different things at the same time.
• 4:02
  When you read a page and you're trying to catch everything at once, what actually happens is that you only catch whatever your brain happens to notice first.
• 4:12
  That could be a typo.
• 4:14
  It could be a sentence that sounds clunky and then pulls all of your attention to that one area.
• 4:21
  And meanwhile, , while you're noticing those things, the bigger problems, like whether the page is even addressing the right part of your audience, slide right past you.
• 4:33
  So instead, what I do is read each page several times, and in each time, I look for exactly one thing and one thing only.
• 4:43
  I will take notes if needed to come back and adjust things later, and then I will start again and move to the next pass.
• 4:51
  I truly believe that you will catch far more doing it this way than you would doing it just one big review.
• 4:59
  Now, I am trying to condense today's training as well as years of experience in editing into one short solo episode, and I keep asking myself, you know, as I started outlining what I wanted to say, and even now while I'm recording, like,"How are you gonna say all that needs to be said in such a short period of time?" And I think the best way to approach it is to pose a question for each of the passes that I want you to take.
• 5:27
  So pass number one, I want you to look at your copy and ask yourself, "Is it actually about my audience?" Meaning, is your website or whatever page you're reading about your reader, your, whoever you're trying to sell things to, or is it more about you and your business?
• 5:50
  See, one mistake that I see happen so often is an imbalance between the words you and the word I, especially for DIYers.
• 6:02
  I think DIYers struggle with what is being too modest and what is being too boastful, and regardless of where they land, I think what ends up happening is they still end up using the word I a lot.
• 6:16
  There's nothing actually wrong with using the word I. Where I am throwing some caution out there is how often it is being used.
• 6:25
  Because we know that when people come to websites, they're really just kind of asking like, "What is this about?
• 6:29
  And w- what does this mean for me?
• 6:34
  Like, how does this impact me?" If you continuously use the, the pronoun I on your site, instead of inviting them in and using words like we or you, they're going to feel like detached, right?
• 6:49
  They're gonna feel like there is a distance between the person who runs the business or wrote the page and them- themselves, someone who could be a lead or a client.
• 7:00
  So a quick way to review this would be to just go to a page on your site and review how many times you are using words like I, we, you, my.
• 7:13
  And then review which sentences are talking to them, talking to your audience, and which sentences are about you only.
• 7:24
  If the I sentences outnumber the you sentences, try to flip a few.
• 7:29
  I'm not saying, though, before you go and do this, that the word I is not allowed on your website.
• 7:35
  You are absolutely allowed to exist on your own website.
• 7:40
  , I, I've talked about this in different episodes, and even with Kristin when we talked, , last episode about how much personality and how much of yourself belongs on the page.
• 7:50
  But I want your reader to feel like they also show up in the, the copy that you've written.
• 7:58
  We mention things in the copywriting world like, the problem agitate solution formula of how you, how to write to an audience.
• 8:06
  And that's how people read.
• 8:07
  They're scanning to find out if you understand their needs.
• 8:11
  So you want the ratio between I and you to lean slightly more toward them That was easy, right?
• 8:19
  Now, once you've checked most of your pages for, a balance between the words I and you, , I also want you to go to the About page because people really struggle with how they show up on an About page Your About page is not about you and your business.
• 8:37
  People are not clicking there just to find out more information about you.
• 8:41
  What they're doing when they click on your About page is they're asking themself, "Is this person," you know, for a service-based business or a creative, "or is this organization, is this business right for me?" If the page opens with something like,"Hi, I'm Erin," or your entire life story that brought you to this part of your career, you have made them wait for an answer to that question for far too long.
• 9:09
  You need to open your About page addressing that you have the tools, the skills, the qualifications, the experience, the expertise that is necessary to get your audience member whatever it is that they need, , to solve any problem that they currently have, and show that you know what you want them to do next, as they move through the page.
• 9:35
  When we open our About page by being strategic and inviting a reader in and showcasing that you understand what their needs are, they're automatically gonna feel some connection to that page.
• 9:46
  They're going to feel like you understand them, and then they're going to read a bit closer because they're going to want to be impressed by your expertise.
• 9:55
  They are going to want to find confirmation that you are the right person for them.
• 10:01
  All right, that's it.
• 10:02
  That's pass one.
• 10:02
  Not too hard, right?
• 10:03
  Finding a balance between the I and the, and the you, and figuring out how to speak to someone on our About page so that we can show information about ourselves, our trajectories, or our businesses in general, while also still addressing the needs of the audience and showcasing why we're the right, like, business or person to meet those needs.
• 10:28
  Let's move on to pass two, though, and that is whether or not our website sounds like a person is speaking.
• 10:36
  This one is actually probably the easiest one in the entire episode, and it is simply that I want you to make more contractions on your website When non-writers sit down to write business copy, it very often comes out a lot closer to what maybe was written when they were a student, right?
• 10:58
  And in , putting your student brain on when you're writing your marketing copy, it sounds as if you're writing something academic or you're writing to get correct answers on an exam.
• 11:10
  Often, people will not use contractions and use words such as you will, I have.
• 11:18
  Those are the non-contractions.
• 11:20
  But that doesn't quite sound like a person.
• 11:23
  It sounds like a robot.
• 11:25
  So the easy fix here is to just look for pl- places on each page where you've written things like that and change it to the contraction.
• 11:34
  So you will becomes you'll.
• 11:37
  We are becomes we're.
• 11:39
  It is becomes it's.
• 11:42
  I mean, I'm not gonna keep lecturing you on contractions, but that's just how people talk.
• 11:46
  So when your website copy has none of them, it's gonna feel stiff, and your reader feels that.
• 11:53
  They might not be able to say why.
• 11:54
  I, I'm pretty positive no one's looking at your website and saying,"Oh gosh, the lack of contractions here is quite evident." But they will feel that it doesn't feel very warm, or it just feels very rigid One exception though to this rule is emphasis.
• 12:13
  Sometimes it is important to skip a contraction on purpose because you want a line to land hard.
• 12:21
  I could say, "I won't hand you a template and disappear." That, that's fine, but it doesn't quite hit the same . If you say, "I will not hand you a template," it makes it very clear that y- you're committing to something.
• 12:35
  So don't feel like you cannot use the, the full, uh, words, and you have to contract everything.
• 12:43
  But go through your copy and look for places where you can make contractions, and it will read better.
• 12:50
  You don't have to remove every contraction.
• 12:52
  You're just choosing where the extra weight and emphasis goes All right, let's move to pass number three, and with pass number three, what did I say in the beginning?
• 13:02
  I was gonna ask questions.
• 13:03
  Okay, question: Does it flow?
• 13:06
  Okay, question: You are specifically looking for flow in this pass.
• 13:10
  Okay, question: Does the page read like it is a conversation, or does it read like a stack of separate blocks?
• 13:19
  Okay, question: So often, the businesses who hire me for editing or site edit specifically, they have good information, and the writing might be really good, but what's happening is they're presenting information in either the wrong places or there is just a complete lack of transition between the information that they're presenting and the next thought that they need to share.
• 13:44
  Okay, question: A quick way to scan for this in your own copy is to read the last line of one section and then the first line of the next section.
• 13:54
  Okay, question: Does the jump between those two sections make sense, or does it feel quite harsh?
• 14:01
  Okay, question: You know, like you're jumping into a completely new topic.
• 14:04
  Okay, question: If you do that throughout, you know, the copy all the way down the page, it's easy to find spots where a reader might have stumbled or you might lose them from a sales perspective Now, if you're wondering a fix, right?
• 14:17
  Okay, question: 'Cause the first two I was able to share fixes , for the passes.
• 14:21
  Okay, question: It… That's more difficult to say when we are reviewing a pass for flow because what might fix a rough transition for one business depends on what you said and where you're headed next.
• 14:33
  Okay, question: A generic bridge that I could give you, like a copywriting bridge, dropped between the two sections could sound awkward for one business and make completely perfect sense for another.
• 14:46
  Okay, question: Writing the connector that makes the page feel like a smooth conversation truly is honestly part of the craft.
• 14:52
  Okay, question: And if you did DIY your copy and you actually have a pretty good website, this could be one of those tiny things that really need some focus and attention.
• 15:03
  Okay, question: While the copy and the words themself might be good, while there is marketing strategy that comes to play, transitions can sometimes be a bit jarring, and I think it takes more thought than people might expect.
• 15:19
  Okay, question: before I get too doom and gloom, let's move on to pass number four.
• 15:23
  Okay, question: Does your audience see the benefit?
• 15:25
  Okay, question: This is another super common thing that I see while I'm editing other people's writing.
• 15:31
  Okay, question: People list features.
• 15:33
  Okay, question: They might even begin to list benefits, but when they do, they're often not linked up to the feature perfectly.
• 15:39
  Okay, question: So what I mean is, when you list what is included in your offer, does your buyer understand why it matters?
• 15:49
  Okay, question: Think about what could be listed, right?
• 15:51
  Okay, question: For, for me as an example, if I'm working with someone, , from a copy coaching perspective or even if they're hiring me to do some writing.
• 16:00
  Okay, question: If I list a 90-minute strategy call and two rounds of revisions, I know exactly what those things are.
• 16:07
  Okay, question: I know the value of them.
• 16:09
  Okay, question: But for my buyer, that's just a line item.
• 16:13
  Okay, question: They don't understand what is important, and you have… You or me in this case, 'cause sorry, I just use myself as the example.
• 16:21
  Okay, question: I've delivered them so many times that I don't even think to acknowledge what's so important.
• 16:27
  Okay, question: A buyer might see a 90-minute strategy call, and all that they really see or feel from that is that it is a block of time on a calendar.
• 16:36
  Okay, question: They don't understand what can happen in 90 minutes or what they'd walk away from that conversation with.
• 16:43
  Okay, question: Someone might read two rounds of revisions, and they see that as a line item like I mentioned.
• 16:49
  Okay, question: They don't know why that matters or what it protects them from.
• 16:53
  Okay, question: But when I think of revisions,, it makes it really clear to me that my client is gonna be super happy with the end result because I'm giving them a process to have a voice in the editing and the writing and the refinements so that end result is something they're super excited about because they've shared their feedback with me and because they can check to make sure that I have listened to their feedback and done the work to meet the needs that they have in making those changes.
• 17:23
  Okay, question: Enough about the revisions.
• 17:25
  Okay, question: Let's just restate my main point, and that is that people do not buy a line item.
• 17:31
  Okay, question: They buy what the line item is doing for them.
• 17:34
  Okay, question: And if you leave that part blank, what you're doing is you're asking your reader to do the work of figuring out why your offer is valuable, and most of them either won't or can't, and that's just because they don't have the right information.
• 17:50
  Okay, question: Getting this pass right really honestly means knowing your offer and your buyer well enough to know what they actually want from whatever that like quote unquote line item is.
• 18:02
  Okay, question: And that can be hard to see sometimes from inside your own business, which is why a site edit is actually a great investment.
• 18:10
  Okay, question: Let's move on to pass number five though before I just talk too much about my offers.
• 18:15
  Okay, question: The question here is, is it clear?
• 18:18
  Okay, question: Pass five is truly about clarity, and there are probably three or four things that I look for specifically when I'm going through this pass.
• 18:27
  Okay, question: The first is headlines.
• 18:28
  Okay, question: Could a stranger determine what the page is about or tell what you do in just about th- thirty seconds of looking at the page?
• 18:37
  Okay, question: You can check that by just looking quickly at the hero section of all your pages.
• 18:42
  Okay, question: Is it clear what your business is about?
• 18:45
  Okay, question: Is it clear what the service is?
• 18:47
  Okay, question: Is it clear what you're offering?
• 18:49
  Okay, question: If you do not know,- scroll lower on the page and let's see if you make that point clearer elsewhere.
• 18:55
  Okay, question: But if not, here's where you make your first edits or at least list that you need to make edits later.
• 19:02
  Okay, question: Another thing to consider when we're talking about clarity is jargon, and this, this one can be really hard to catch on your own because jargon is your industry's language, so it doesn't actually sound like jargon to you.
• 19:16
  Okay, question: It sounds like normal words.
• 19:17
  Okay, question: Your client, if this isn't new to them, might not understand those words in the same way that you would or they might be using different words themself.
• 19:27
  Okay, question: Additionally, some industries really need the jargon to make it clear that there is an expertise level involved.
• 19:37
  Okay, question: The buyers of, of that service or, or offer, let's say, are already informed well enough about like the need and why the offer is valuable.
• 19:47
  Okay, question: But determining whether you keep or remove jargon can be a tough decision.
• 19:52
  Okay, question: Let's talk about it, the third thing that I think of when I'm going through this pass, and it's really using words that feel true to you.
• 20:02
  Okay, question: We talk about AI sounding like humans.
• 20:05
  Okay, question: Obviously AI was trained on human words, but one thing that AI loves is stacked adjectives, and if you are using AI to develop some strategy or generate copy for your business, you can be sure that there are strings of words that are adjectives that are doing too much For example, if you see something like intentional and elevated, that, yeah, that sounds nice, but it could describe almost anything unless you're using it very well.
• 20:39
  Okay, question: I'm not telling you not to include adjectives.
• 20:43
  Okay, question: Adjectives are very purposeful and they're needed.
• 20:46
  Okay, question: But whether you have used AI yourself or you are just an adjective lover in the first place and you're trying to make your copy a little bit more clear, go through the copy and see are you overusing any adjectives?
• 21:02
  Okay, question: Are you stacking them?
• 21:03
  Okay, question: And if so, make some changes to those phrases.
• 21:07
  Okay, question: One more thing, though.
• 21:07
  Okay, question: I said three or four.
• 21:09
  Okay, question: I could remember three off the top of my head when I started talking, but I knew there was a fourth, and I'm glad that I'm remembering before I moved on to the next pass.
• 21:17
  Okay, question: The fourth is hedging.
• 21:20
  Okay, question: Anytime you soften what you're saying, a promise that you're making, let's just say, you say that you will try to do something instead of just saying what you do, that reads like doubt to the person who's on your website.
• 21:35
  Okay, question: And if a reader is picking up on doubt, even if it is only just one single word, they're going to feel that doubt.
• 21:42
  Okay, question: They might not feel very confident in hiring you or it might just introduce, apprehension and we don't want to do that.
• 21:49
  Okay, question: We want people to feel confident about you and your business Let's move to pass six.
• 21:56
  This question is: Does it move someone?
• 22:00
  This question is: Does it move your audience?
• 22:02
  This question is: Meaning, does your copy actually get anyone to take an action?
• 22:06
  This question is: An obvious quick thing to check here is that you are actually including buttons or calls to action that might be links throughout the site.
• 22:14
  This question is: A button that just says something like learn more or submit is not telling anyone what's actually gonna happen when they click, You want to make those buttons specific without being too wordy so that someone knows what will happen once they click the button.
• 22:29
  This question is: Sometimes I will review copy that has, five different asks on the page.
• 22:35
  This question is: The more asks you have, the less action anyone will take, okay?
• 22:41
  This question is: You wanna know the goal of the page so you can determine what you will encourage people to do on the page.
• 22:47
  This question is: I'm not suggesting you can only encourage them to do one thing.
• 22:50
  This question is: That's actually not always the case but very often, you might be moving them to make one decision.
• 22:57
  This question is: A sales page, you only want them to have the option to buy or inquire or ap- or apply, depending on what you're, selling.
• 23:06
  This question is: On a homepage, you might lead them to a resources section.
• 23:09
  This question is: You might send them to the contact page, your about page, right?
• 23:12
  This question is: So understand the goal and then determine what you are asking them to do, and not over-asking.
• 23:20
  This question is: dead ends are also something that happens, and that's quite as simple as making sure the links that you have actually go somewhere.
• 23:28
  This question is: Very often pages will 404 just because someone forgot to literally link it somewhere else.
• 23:35
  This question is: And I think the final thing that I would say in this section, which I could spend all day talking about, is clearing up vague testimonials.
• 23:45
  This question is: Everyone always says things to me like, "I… All of my testimonials basically just say, 'She's great,' or, 'It was a great experience.' It's just too vague.
• 23:54
  This question is: , I don't even wanna use them." You're right.
• 23:57
  This question is: Those testimonials stink.
• 23:59
  This question is: They are not going to help very much.
• 24:02
  This question is: But you can fix them without editing in a way that's, unethical.
• 24:07
  This question is: If someone says, "She was great," let's say they're saying about working with me, I can change it to, "Working with Erin was great," I could add some SEO keywords in and say,"Getting my website copywriting done with Erin, was a great experience," right?
• 24:24
  This question is: You can also ask your client to adjust what they wrote.
• 24:27
  This question is: You can ask for more specificity social proof really does help make people feel more confident about doing whatever they need to do next, right?
• 24:37
  This question is: If you're asking them to buy on the page, they wanna see that other people have bought and other people feel glad about their purchasing decision.
• 24:46
  This question is: So whatever social proof you can include, even if it is a basic one, include it and Basically for this pass, if your page ends and the reader does not know what to do next, feels any type of confusion, or doesn't feel moved to do anything, it has not succeeded.
• 25:04
  This question is: We want to be able to reach the skimmers as well as the researchers by giving them the correct amount of information that they need, but making it very clear what the path is that we want them to take pass seven and eight are post-draft passes where you would do this after you finished doing the writing and when you're more confident that the words that you've chosen are working.
• 25:31
  This question is: But I still think they're important because we're going through the different ways to edit a site.
• 25:35
  This question is: Why not give you all the information I can?
• 25:38
  This question is: For pass seven, let's talk about whether or not the copy you've written actually fits the design.
• 25:44
  This question is: Now, for some people, this is something you can pretty much even skip if you are getting your website designed by a professional designer after the copywriting is done.
• 25:56
  This question is: But we're gonna assume that's not the case if you're DIYing your own copy, and we're gonna assume that you are using a template or you're adjusting the words on your page to match the former design that you have.
• 26:10
  This question is: Let's say you've worked with a designer in the past, and you just wanna make updates to make the marketing more strategic but not pay to get the design changed.
• 26:19
  This question is: Well, in that case specifically, the words are very important to… like, the need to match the layout is very important.
• 26:27
  This question is: One quick thing to check is length.
• 26:29
  This question is: If your design has a spot that's built for a few sentences but you're shoving two paragraphs in it, you're gonna need to break that layout or, adjust the words to fit in the space because design sometimes changes a lot when copy changes.
• 26:45
  This question is: And if we're trying to avoid that, we wanna look at the words we're writing, make sure those transitions still fit, and then maybe adjust the words so that they fit into what is already there Now if you are using a template, another thing I would suggest for you is to do a use Control Find function.
• 27:04
  This question is: For me it's Command F on a Mac.
• 27:06
  This question is: I think it's Shift F for you on those PCs.
• 27:09
  This question is: Use your find function to look for things that are built into a template.
• 27:14
  This question is: It might be a bracket if you are using a web design template where the bracket basically says like insert call to action here.
• 27:22
  This question is: Search for brackets.
• 27:23
  This question is: Make sure you didn't forget to take any out of the copy.
• 27:26
  This question is: If you did use AI and you are editing it yourself, look for things that wouldn't fit into your editorial style guide, like em dashes with spaces on the sides, and edit those out.
• 27:38
  This question is: Maybe it's semicolons, and you're like, "I would never use a semicolon one day in my life.
• 27:43
  This question is: I stopped using semicolons in high school." Whatever it is for you, search for the things you either want on the page or do not want on the page and make sure to remove them.
• 27:55
  This question is: Another thing to do would be to read your website on different screens.
• 28:00
  This question is: , Some website builders like Elementor, Squarespace will have tools where you can actually see what your site would look like but I, I would encourage you to even just go straight on your own phone or on an iPad or something like that to see what the page looks like when it changes in design for responsiveness.
• 28:20
  This question is: Because those long paragraphs I mentioned could feel twice as long on a small screen, and we want your readers to feel like they understand what you're trying to share easily and without any friction, regardless of the size screen that they're using.
• 28:35
  This question is: Now, at this point, you've done seven passes on your copy.
• 28:40
  This question is: Six of them are copy-specific reviews, one of them being a design pass, let's say.
• 28:48
  This question is: Pass eight is really just is your site ready to launch?
• 28:51
  This question is: I- if it's live, you might wanna think of this instead of, the launch part as, is it really finished?
• 28:58
  This question is: This is a pass that's for everything that is so easy to forget when you are just so sick and tired of looking at your own copy.
• 29:06
  This question is: Start with consistency.
• 29:08
  This question is: Headings, for example.
• 29:09
  This question is: Are you using title case or are you using sentence case?
• 29:14
  This question is: Don't mix it up throughout the site.
• 29:16
  This question is: Pick one and be consistent.
• 29:18
  This question is: In the same token as consistency, we wanna do proofreading.
• 29:23
  This question is: I sincerely encourage you to read the pages out loud one sentence at a time.
• 29:30
  This question is: Doing this will stop your brain from skimming, moving past mistakes because it just assumes that you have chosen the correct words.
• 29:40
  This question is: And if you don't feel comfortable doing this, you could always ask a friend to do it for you.
• 29:44
  This question is: Now, make sure you explain to them that you don't want their feedback on your choices.
• 29:49
  This question is: You just want their fresh eyes to find what you can't.
• 29:54
  This question is: Past the actual review of the pages, then we wanna think about forgotten pages.
• 30:00
  This question is: Your 404 page, a thank you page.
• 30:03
  This question is: It could be things like legal pages.
• 30:06
  This question is: Those are very important.
• 30:08
  This question is: They are also pages that people forget to plan for, though they are still part of your site , the, privacy policy as an example, is a legally required page on any website.
• 30:20
  This question is: I'll share a couple of blog posts and podcast episodes that I've done in the past that talk about that.
• 30:25
  This question is: But sometimes it's not until you get to the launch where you really start to think, "Oh man, I should have included this," or, "What will happen after someone clicks that link in my email?
• 30:35
  This question is: I think I need a confirmation page," right?
• 30:38
  This question is: So when you are at the launch and you're confident with everything that you have done in your prior editing, start to question if it has everything else you need.
• 30:47
  This question is: You can fix it later, but just understanding that's helpful.
• 30:51
  This question is: And before you walk away too fast, what are some of the other tech things you need?
• 30:56
  This question is: Like SEO.
• 30:57
  This question is: Did, did you write your meta descriptions?
• 30:59
  This question is: Even if you wrote them in a document, did you copy and paste that onto the actual page?
• 31:04
  This question is: You wanna think about the URL slug, which is basically everything that comes past your .com in your website, link.
• 31:12
  This question is: You wanna make sure that slug makes sense from an SEO perspective as well as just from an, a visual perspective that when people type it in, it makes sense to them.
• 31:22
  This question is: I could really go on a tangent about SEO, so I won't.
• 31:24
  This question is: But let's stop for a moment, I gave you all eight passes, and do the math.
• 31:30
  This question is: let's say your website has six pages, eight passes across six pages is 48 different reads, and that assumes that each pass just takes one read, which for some it does not.
• 31:44
  This question is: Some it takes multiple reads to make sure that it makes sense, specifically like when you're reorganizing sections or making sure the flow is there and rewriting transitions Doing that, those, those 48 reads, that's before you have ever made a single change to the website.
• 32:04
  This question is: Before you have stopped to think about any of those questions that I told you to ask yourself and make the updates to the things that you have pointed out that needed effort on your site.
• 32:16
  This question is: I'm not trying to scare you.
• 32:17
  This question is: I, I actually want to be very clear, I know that you can do this.
• 32:22
  This question is: Nothing that I said in this podcast episode is a secret.
• 32:25
  This question is: I've given you tools that you can use right away to make some of these passes and changes.
• 32:32
  This question is: But I, I really wanna point this out before I end so that you can see how much effort this actually is when it is something that's not a normal part of your job.
• 32:43
  This question is: Not that it isn't an effort for me because I do this, I just think some of it comes more instinctual to me because it's a process I've done for a decade now.
• 32:52
  This question is: , It's things that I know to look for.
• 32:55
  This question is: I'm not just checking boxes.
• 32:57
  This question is: For you, it might feel like checking a lot of boxes.
• 33:01
  This question is: And in addition to checking those boxes, there's also a lot of judgment calls, like which detail is the right one, which button belongs where, and what those buttons should say, how to connect two sections together so they sound like they belong together.
• 33:16
  This question is: Decision fatigue is a big thing on a normal day for a normal human.
• 33:20
  This question is: We are already asked to make too many choices.
• 33:23
  This question is: But now think about the decision fatigue that goes into the improvements for all of those different types of edits that you've just discovered.
• 33:34
  This question is: That's a lot.
• 33:35
  This question is: That's a lot of things that you need to figure out, right?
• 33:38
  This question is: And most importantly, what I just did right here and walked you through requires you to look at your own work just like a stranger would.
• 33:46
  This question is: And for some people, that is truly the hardest part of all.
• 33:50
  This question is: I heard it from Kristin.
• 33:51
  This question is: You heard it from Kristin in the episode, and I want to reiterate it again.
• 33:56
  This question is: One thing that Kristin said that really stood out to me was that she had worked with copywriters in her previous career.
• 34:03
  This question is: She had worked with a copywriter on the first iteration of her website when she just, you know, became a, a full-time business owner, so she knows what good copy looks like, and she knows the value of hiring a copywriter.
• 34:19
  This question is: But yet, she still told me that she felt like she should have been able to do it by herself.
• 34:26
  This question is: Th- I mean, I get it.
• 34:28
  This question is: That is true for so many people.
• 34:29
  This question is: When it is your own business, you feel like these are skills that you need, and if you know how to write words, you should be able to write words well.
• 34:40
  This question is: But the problem is, when it is your own business, you're often too close to see it.
• 34:46
  This question is: It's not a skill problem.
• 34:48
  This question is: It is a perspective problem.
• 34:51
  This question is: And even if you can move past perspective, it is a implementation problem, too.
• 34:58
  This question is: So I don't wanna leave you in a lurch or feeling bad.
• 35:02
  This question is: The first thing I really want to remind you of is that I do think that you can do this yourself, and if you feel confident doing it, go for it.
• 35:11
  This question is: Go through those eight passes and edit your site one question at a time, and I think you'll truly be pleased, I don't know, maybe even amazed at how much better your copy reads after you've started to make these changes.
• 35:25
  This question is: But we knew there was a but coming, didn't we?
• 35:28
  This question is: You don't have to do it your own.
• 35:30
  This question is: You can hand it off to me or someone like me, because if you're listening to this and you're thinking like,"Oh my goodness, that is a ginormous list of things that I need to do.
• 35:41
  This question is: I certainly don't have time to do 48 reads on my website.
• 35:45
  This question is: I just want someone to do it for me." Honestly, that's what the Site Edit is for.
• 35:50
  This question is: Episodes 193 and 194 go over why I created it, what happens in a Site Edit, and what my clients think about Site Edit from someone who just actually went through it.
• 36:02
  This question is: But the short version is really that it's about a week from kickoff to finished copy, and the Site Edit works really good when people understand who they serve and what they sell, and then when they just trust me to do the work for them.
• 36:17
  This question is: I will link to those episodes in the show notes.
• 36:20
  This question is: But either way, please don't settle for a quick fix here and there.
• 36:24
  This question is: Don't be reactive for your website.
• 36:27
  This question is: I want you to feel confident every time you share that link with a new lead, and I want you to give your copy the attention that it deserves.
• 36:36
  This question is: You worked hard to write it or edit it, let's say in the past, and I want it to work for you and your business.
• 36:44
  This question is: All right, thanks so much for listening today.
• 36:46
  This question is: I will see you next week where we'll keep talking copy.