Why Website Tone Really Matters

Your website lingo is the tone of your company. Here are a few common mistakes your web words might be making.

When people land on your website, consider that a warm lead. Think about it, someone saw something somewhere that interested them enough to go that extra step to get to know you more. It's up to you to get them to stay there, and to make sure all is set up for them to actually want to do the next step, which is contact you. The tone of your website's words are going to either help them contact you, or shy them away.

Think about the most legitimate brands, like Google, Apple, Walmart, Amazon, etc. Keep those in mind (and how they speak about themselves through written content to you), while we go over the following sneaky tone mistakes that you might be making on your website:

Mistake No. 1: You're obviously selling something, and it sounds just a little desperate.

It's not easy. You put a lot of work (and money) into providing a product or service you believe is worthy. But remember, nobody likes a car salesman. And just like a car salesman, you rely on other people to buy from you. So, coming off a bit desperate is unfortunately an easy thing to do, especially when it sneaks up while only trying to boast yourself.

How are you boasting yourself on your website? Many fall into an unsuccessful trap of saying how good they are simply by saying how not bad they are. This happens when openly comparing yourself to your competitors, or reiterating how investing in your option is better than whatever the alternative option is. Yes, you're better than your competitor, or your service is better than no service, but you don't actually say that. This tells the reader that you know what you aren't, but not really what you are. So, is your web lingo focused on educating the potential customer on why you're the best because of what you can do? Or is your web lingo just focused on the things your company is not?

Mistake No. 2: You're boasting yourself like crazy without really saying why.

You got it. You're the best of the best for no other reason than being the best. Everywhere on your site, you're just the best. You might have a few testimonials generic in speech published, a lot of sticker awards, magazine mentions, etc. It's a bit bombarding, and can come off a little cheap. Remember, legitimate. Does something legitimate need so much legitimizing? Don't forget to express why you are the best, and not only that, show on your own website what you can do.

• 

• 

Mistake No. 3: Your website is full of negative words.

No. Never. Don't. Quit. Boring. Problem. Bad. You get the idea. Simply from a psychological perspective, these words that are negative in nature create a negative experience in our minds. Again, you don't want to play off the poor experiences of people to gain profit from them. What you do want, is to make people feel good. So even though you can solve a problem, we don't want to remind them of that problem. We want to focus on the feeling of not having that problem. So you are a "no hassle" service? Instead of "no hassle", flip it to what you are. "Efficient service completion rate of 30 minutes". "Don't settle for basic (whatever)", flip it to "We've offered premium service to (whatever community) for seven years".

The good news is, you can see how easily these mistakes tie into one another. Which make it a rather easy fix, once you are aware. Keep objectively looking back at your website, looking through the eyes of a stranger, or even ask an honest stranger for feedback. Look closely at the words your website is using and how they are used. Do you come across as solid, grounded, and secure? Are you excited and knowledgeable? And lastly, does it make you feel good?