What are your pronouns?
Not those pronouns, but the pronouns you use when talking about your product or service on your website. It’s easy to use “we,” “us” and “our” instead of “you,” “’your” and “yours” when creating content—especially if you’re growing your business and want to highlight your successes. But should you?
Are your customers interested in you, personally? Or are they interested in what you can do for them?
It’s a common misconception that when someone arrives at your site, especially on your homepage, they’re interested in the fact that you’ve been around for 75 years or that you’re the biggest in the industry. The truth is people don’t really care about you—and that’s okay! When it comes to web marketing, what really matters is what you can do for them, their startup, small business or large corporation.
That’s why it’s so important to ensure your website and it’s functionality is focused on your audience and their needs.
If your website describes all the great things about your company but doesn’t address the needs of your customers, then you might have an issue. In fact, many of our clients come to us – through a web browser or social media – because they realize they’ve made this mistake: They’ve used “we” and “our” over and over again on their sites instead of using “you” and “your.”
A good way to fix this issue is to add a customer-focused tone to your existing copy. Try reading through each sentence on your website out loud. Every time you come across a sentence with the word “we,” reword it, so it reads “you.” Then ask yourself: Is this new sentence better than the original? Can I make it even better? Consider search engine optimization (SEO) when writing copy to attract even more users to your web page.
Website content is not about you or your business
Visitors are looking for a product or service to meet their needs or solve their problems – not a WordPress site full of “us” and “our.”
If you’re spending time and energy on your website or even creating a new website, you want to be sure your efforts are bringing you results. Visiting a website is an active step, and it means that visitors are actively looking for something.
If you’re the one offering it—whether it’s a product or a service to help them solve their problem—you need to make sure that when they land on your page, they find exactly what they’re looking for. A landing-page-specific pop-up may add additional information to your page while making it easy for the website visitor to find exactly what they need.
When visitors arrive at your site, they’re not there to learn about you or your company—they’re there because they have needs or problems, and they expect you to help solve them. Keep this in mind when writing content for your site.
Use “you” instead of “we” to really show the visitor that their needs are important to you. Website owners should remember this isn’t “my site”; it’s “their site.”
When someone types your website into the address bar or submits a Google search, show them what you can do for THEM. You’ve got the goods or services that people need—now let them know how excited you are to help them get it.
In addition, website visitors want to feel like their personal data, such as credit cards, is protected, so invest in website security and an up-to-date SSL certificate. There is nothing that will turn a potential customer away quicker than a “not secure” warning on a supposedly “secure website.” While a secure connection and hackers may be somewhat out of your control, take action to ensure website visitors feel comfortable using your site.
Talk about how you can solve your customers’ problems—not your business
It’s crucial to remember that your website is not about you. Your business is not about you. Your business is all about the people who come to your site, buy from you and share their experiences with others.
So many businesses make this mistake—they create websites that are all about themselves.
They tell visitors what they do, what they’ve done in the past, who they serve and how awesome their company culture is. While this information isn’t necessarily bad for your site, it shouldn’t be the primary focus.
The focus of your website should be on how you're helping customers solve problems or improve their lives. That's where you need to put most of your attention—on them and their needs, wants, desires and motivations.
How to ensure your website focuses on the customer
In marketing, there are a lot of ways to make your website more appealing to your readers. But 1 of the easiest changes you can make is to switch out “we” for “you.”
When you use the word “we,” you are talking about yourself and what you offer. This makes your writing seem more like an advertisement than a piece of content that helps readers with their problems.
For example: "We have a new product that can help you lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks."
Yuck.
This is better: “You can lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks using this product!”
When you use the word “you,” you are talking about what benefits the reader will get from your product or service. This makes your writing feel more like a conversation than an advertisement, which helps readers connect with what you have to say.
Customer-focus tools
You can find tools and plugins online that will help you figure out how customer-focused your website is. One is called the Customer Focus Calculator.
This tool asks that you enter your web address and company name. Then it scours your website for every occurrence of the words “we,” “us,” “our,” “you” and “yours.”
The results page shows you a percentage of your customer focus and self-focus – a key aspect of user experience.
Improve your website by focusing on your ideal client
Finally, remember that your goal should be to write conversationally without being too informal. Use “you,” and your visitor is more likely to feel like you are talking directly to them.
When you write better content and make the copy on your website more personal, visitors are more likely to trust your company and contact you for business. If a visitor reads a document on your website and finds it engaging, they will be more likely to read other articles and buy your product or service.
