Copy That Converts: How to Write Like You Talk (But Better)

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Have you ever stared at your website or sales page and thought…

“This doesn’t even sound like me”?

You want to sound professional. Polished. Confident.

But somehow… it ends up feeling a little stiff, robotic, or just plain awkward.

Here’s the truth: people don’t connect with perfect.

They connect with real. With warmth. With you.

In today’s episode, I’m going to show you how to write like you talk—but better—so your copy connects faster, builds more trust, and guides your audience to take action.

And stick around, because at the end I’ll share my favorite trick to instantly check if your copy feels “off”—before you ever hit publish.

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Episode Transcript

Carrie Saunders (00:01):
Have you ever stared at your website or a
sales page and thought thisdoesn't even sound like me?
You want to sound professional,polished and confident, but
somehow it ends up feeling alittle stiff, robotic or just
plain awkward.
I know this happens to me allthe time.
Here's the truth.
People don't connect withperfect.
They connect with you.
They connect with the realhuman behind you.
So in today's episode, I'mgoing to show you how to write

(00:27):
like you talk, but better, sothat your copy connects faster,
builds more trust and guidesyour audience to take action and
stick around.
Because at the end I'll sharemy favorite trick to instantly
check if your copy feels offbefore you ever hit publish.
Struggling to turn websitetraffic into real sales.
You're not alone and you don'thave to figure it out all
yourself.
Welcome to Smarter OnlineBusiness, the podcast for course

(00:47):
creators, coaches ande-commerce entrepreneurs who
want their websites to convertvisitors into buyers without the
tech overwhelm.
I'm your host, Saunders, awebsite strategist and
conversion expert with over 20years of experience.
Each episode delivers simple,proven strategies to help you
generate more revenue and makeyour website your smartest sales
tool.

(01:08):
Welcome back to the show.
Today we're talking about how toimprove our copy now.
I'm obviously not aprofessional copywriter, but
I've been doing this for quite awhile in writing copy for our
own website as well as all ofour clients, and there can be a
trick or a balance to creatingthat professional but friendly
and relatable text that peoplewill read on your website and I

(01:31):
know this is something thatsometimes I have to go back to
my own website and be like, ooh,I was a little too stiff on
that.
I need to change this up a bit.
It doesn't quite sound like meand I'm actually thinking of
some pages on some of ourwebsites right now.
I need to go look at again tomake sure that they're in
alignment.
But let's first start with amindset shift.
You don't need to sound like afancy copywriter to be effective

(01:54):
, and this is sometimes where weget hung up and we get in our
heads thinking we need to besuper professional and a super
you know well-written copywriter.
In fact, when you're trying toohard to sound polished, it can
actually push people away.
So I want you to be reallycareful on trying to over-polish
your stuff.
There's been so many websitesthat I've seen where branding is

(02:14):
beautiful but the words feelvague, stuffy or totally generic
, and the problem is that thevoice has been stripped out in
these cases, and your voice,your real voice, is one of your
biggest assets.
This is what draws people toyou, especially service
providers and really even thosewho also are traditional

(02:35):
e-commerce and sell products.
It helps create that humanconnection and that trust that
we talk about a lot on thispodcast, and when you write like
you talk, but with just alittle bit cleaned up, you'll
build trust so much faster andpeople feel like you're talking
to them rather than at them, andthat creates a stronger
emotional connection, whichleads to action much better.

(02:56):
And then there's a difference,though, between casual and
cluttered, so we want to makesure that we have clarity and
not chaos on our page too.
So we're going to walk throughthis and how to do this well
today.
So we want to, first off, startwith voice, not vocabulary.
This is one of the biggestmistakes I see trying to sound
like somebody else.

(03:16):
Maybe you saw a competitor'swebsite that seemed really slick
, really cool.
It resonated with you, so youtry to imitate that tone, but
now your copy sounds like astranger because it's not you.
There's a better way to do thisand something I actually need
to be doing a lot more often istalking it out.
Literally record yourselfexplaining what you do, who you

(03:38):
help and what your offer is.
Then transcribe that into wordsand shape it into the copy on
your website.
That's how you sound natural,because it is your natural tone.
Use contractions, use ones likeyou're and we're that's kind of
hard to say by itself when it'snot a sentence.
Break long sentences into short, punchy lines too.

(04:00):
Don't worry about perfectgrammar and focus on clear
communication.
We obviously don't want to havea grammar that might stumble
somebody and make them stopreading, because it's really
improper grammar.
But you can be casual, likewe're talking here right now in
the podcast to you, and justreally talk it through and talk

(04:21):
through what you do and who youserve and how you serve them,
because it's going to feel morehuman and your clients don't
want an English essay.
They want to feel understood.
It's something that I know,that is a technical person, it's
something I struggle with manytimes, and so some of this
episode is just actually for meto remember and relearn.

(04:41):
Some of the things that I usedto be good at and need to be
doing again a bit better is thatwe want to make sure me or you
you know your copy needs to comethrough.
And then we talk about clarityover cleverness a lot on this
podcast and this is so true whenit comes to your copy as well.
It's so easy to fall into thetrap of trying to sound like

(05:05):
you're super smart or supercreative, but clever really
rarely ever works.
Clear, simple, specificlanguage is what works.
So instead of saying, empoweryour business with scalable
solutions, which sounds verygeneric and clever and super
fluffy, you can say we help youget more clients with less

(05:26):
stress.
Oh, my goodness, how much morerelatable is we help you get
more clients with less stress?
Than I'll read the first oneagain empower your business with
scalable solutions.
Like that first one just reallysounds super stuffy, right?
So we want to really connect.
I'm actually already connectedto that, you know.
We hope you get more clientswith less stress.

(05:48):
Sure, yes, I would love that.
Who wouldn't right?
So you want to kind of avoidfilter phrases like we offer a
variety of services.
Our goal is to help you reachyour full potential.
These are easy ones to fall intoand as I'm reviewing these for
this podcast episode, I'm tryingto think my brain automatically
goes to my website copy andwhere I might have fallen into

(06:09):
this trap as well, because whatdoes that really mean?
You really want wanna getspecific.
So another test you can do isread your copy out loud.
If it sounds weird coming outof your mouth, change it If it's
hard to say.
It's probably hard to read andhard to understand.
We want to make this aboutthird to fifth grade level when
they're reading it.
And then great copy isn'twritten, it's rewritten, and

(06:34):
this is something that we tendto struggle with as business
owners is trying to get itperfect that first time and your
first draft should feel messy.
It's very normal.
Just let it all out completelymessy, and then I want you to
clean it up after you've let itall out.
Maybe you've dictated it tosome recording device or you've

(06:54):
typed as you would speak in yourhead, as if you're good at
doing that, but then I want youto come back and clean it up.
Just remove some repetitivephrases, shorten any long
sentences, maybe break them intomultiple sentences.
Sometimes I find that I couldbreak a sentence into two or
three sentences and then addclarity where it feels a little
bit unclear, and then go backand punch it up a little bit if

(07:16):
you feel like you need to, andlook at your call to actions.
We talk about that a lot inthis podcast.
Is it passive, like submit, orcould it be stronger, like get
my free guide, or book my spot,or book a discovery call?
Small changes in wording canreally lead to big jumps in
conversion.
Small changes in wording canreally lead to big jumps in

(07:38):
conversion.
So if you've ever felt like yourwebsite or email sound a little
off, or if writing leaves yousecond guessing everything which
I know it can for me, being aperfectionist this is your
reminder.
You don't have to sound likesomeone else.
The most effective copy is theone that sounds like you, just a
little more focused and alittle more confident.
And if you love weeklybite-sized tips to help you

(07:58):
improve your website messaging,make sure to come join our email
list.
I send one quick, helpful emaileach week to make your site a
bit smarter, converting betterand without the tech overwhelm.
So just go ahead and head overto smarteronlinebusinesscom
forward slash newsletter to signup, or you can click the link
in the show notes.
And then here's my bonus tip,and it's the best friend test

(08:22):
Before you publish anything, trythis Read your copy out loud
like you're talking to your bestfriend.
Would you actually say thosewords to them?
So this is not just talking itout loud, this is talking out
loud to someone you know reallywell.
And if not, then adjust it,tweak it, because if it doesn't
sound natural, doesn't soundlike how you would speak to your

(08:43):
best friend, it won't soundnatural to your reader either.
Your best friend wouldn'trespond to.
Our purpose is to deliverscalable business solutions.
They would probably look at youand be like what are you
talking about?
So talk to your audience theway you talk to someone you care
about, and they'll feel it too.
So let's do a quick recap.
Start with your real voice,then polish it, and I want you

(09:05):
to prioritize clarity overcleverness and I want you to
edit your copy in stages Flowfirst and then add a little bit
of punch behind it.
And don't forget your bestfriend testing before hitting
publish.
Or if you're going back torevise the copy you already have
, use your best friend test onit.
Thanks so much for listening toSmarter Online Business and if

(09:26):
you love this episode, hit,follow or share it with a
business friend who struggleswith their website.
Copy too, and be sure to joinour newsletter to keep getting
smarter with your website everyweek, and I'll see you next.