9 Signs Your Website Copy Isn’t Actually “Fine” (Even If It Looks Great)
There’s one phrase that always sends a lil’ extra fire coursing through my veins when a potential client says it on a discovery call:
“I mean, my copy is fine, but…”
As a copywriter, I hear some version of that sentence a lot…and the “but” is always the interesting part.
But inquiries are down.
But people who aren’t a great fit keep reaching out.
But I’m not really sure whether it’s actually doing anything for me.
But I just hired a designer for a rebrand, and I’m figuring out whether I want to pay for new copywriting too.
So the “buts,” then, just told on themselves, right? Turns out, your copy isn’t actually fine! Because fine would mean adequate. Doing the job. Getting things done. Actually accomplishing the goal. But it’s not—in some ways you’ve already picked up on, and in a bunch of ways you can’t even see.
(Which, to be clear, makes sense! You’re an expert in your thing, not website copywriting. Nobody can proofread their way into seeing what’s missing.)
Few things send me full-body LEAPING onto my soapbox faster than hearing about someone’s website copy that’s “fine,” because I see how it’s really, seriously not. I see all of the ways that it’s invisibly letting you down, losing you revenue, undermining your visibility, and underselling your expertise. And I hate that for you, because I know exactly how we can fix it.
Look—I so, so rarely go “negative.” I always steer clear of marketing that’s designed to poke the bruise and point out your mistakes. I know you’re a smart, capable business owner doing your best while cycling through your metaphorical collection of allllllll the hats you have to wear.
And yet, I want to give it to you straight here, because once you understand how and why your copy really truly isn’t working hard enough for you right now, your blinders come off. And then, only then, can you fire it all up!
There is a strong dotted line between thoughtful, strategic, rigorous (yet conversational!) website copywriting and more inquiries, more sales, more visibility, more authority, more money.
I know you want more than fine. And you can have more than fine! So let’s get into it.
Your website copy should WORK for you, not just… mildly exist.
“Fine” usually means no typos, a smooth enough read, maybe a bit of personality. But your website is a business tool! Which means there’s a standard for actual performance: your web copy should be working for you, not just sitting there.
When a website isn’t converting (aka doing its job!), it’s usually because visitors can’t tell what you offer, whether it’s for them, how it works and what it costs, or what to do next. Website words that are merely typo-free and sound “personality-packed” just can’t achieve those goals for you, even if they’re pleasant enough to read.
You know how we’ve all heard that line “your website is a salesperson who works 24/7”? (Yes, that is totally overused by this point, but stay with me. 😆)
Imagine that you have a brick and mortar store and you’ve hired a literal, actual human salesperson. Now imagine that your salesperson typically mumbles the pitch, dodges or only-kinda-sorta answers customers’ questions, never really asks for the sale, and hands interested people a blank form before quietly sidling away. Obviously, you wouldn’t keep them on payroll for long!
But your website is probably doing the same things, and you’re giving it a pass (partially because it’s wearing such a good outfit, and partially because you read your own copy with everything you know filling in the gaps!).
So, it’s time to train up your salesperson. And the first step is learning to see the nine invisible ways that your copy isn’t actually “fine.”
#1. Headlines that don’t do their job
A headline that works communicates something clear and substantive—it answers “what is this?” or “who is this for?” or “what’s good about this?” (And yes, ideally it does that in a conversational way, but you have to nail the substance first!)
Headlines that are all vibes (“where artistry meets intention”), all placeholder (“welcome to my website!”), or all… who even knows what?? (“you’ve arrived”) are not doing any work for you. They’re not helping your reader understand what’s on the page or what’s in it for them. They’re not helping the reader skim and find what they’re looking for. They’re not helping your reader take any kind of next step (especially one that generates an actual inquiry or revenue for you!).
Go to your home page and read only your headlines from top to bottom. Do those phrases tell you what you do, who it’s all for, what’s in it for them, and who you are? Sweet reader, I promise you, your headlines are not “fine.”
(Getting real nerdy for a sec—literal science, and a study in Science, reveal that “general readers heavily prefer, click on, and more deeply engage with linguistically simple headlines.” The study is more focused on news rather than B2B marketing, but it does back up the idea of clear over clever!)
#2. Sections that are leaning on vibe and light on actual information
If you cover up the images on a lot of beautiful sites, most of what’s left consists of a few less-than-useful headings (like “Craft.” or “Hi, I’m [NAME]),” some copy that sounds like a mashup between a perfume ad and a corporate hotel brochure, and lots of “premium”-looking empty space fighting for its life.
But mood isn’t information. On its own, it’s not useful enough. Even if your reader thinks your site looks and feels cool af, it doesn’t help your business at all if they click out of the tab feeling vaguely impressed but understanding nothing.
At the risk of sounding like the party pooper crashing the “but I want it to seem elevated” convention, please allow me to remind you that your website has a job to do! Every page on your site is made up of sections, each comprised of a pair of headlines + body copy + often a button. And each section has a distinct purpose, whether it’s helping a reader feel seen, informing them about a service, conveying your expertise, or inciting them to take action.
If any of your pages got constructed with sections that “seemed aesthetic” rather than having an explicit purpose behind them, do not pass go and collect $200—that’s not “fine”! You’ve gotta identify the job that each one is supposed to be performing, and then deliver on it.
#3. Core pages with too little copy
Pop quiz: How do you know when a page has enough copy?
A. When it “looks right”
B. When it’s between 750-1500 words
C. When it’s done answering what the reader is silently asking: Is this for someone like me? Does this person GET me and my problem and my hopes and my worries? What would working together involve? Why should I trust them? Roughly what does this cost and what should I expect? What happens if I reach out?
When I put it this way… we see how the answer is C, right?
Core web pages that are too thin is probably the most common issue I spot right away on websites.
I get that you’re worried about being too wordy, and you’re convinced that nobody reads anymore, and that there’s not actually enough room for copy on your website template, and that somebody told you that a sparse webpage looks more “elevated.”
And yet! People who are considering making an investment with you do read, provided that the copy that’s there is useful, engaging, and answering their explicit and implicit questions.
There’s no hard and fast rule about word count for any page of a website, but I can tell you right now that your 300 word home page ain’t it. It may look ~minimal and editorial~ but it’s not actually fine, because it doesn’t have the opportunity to do any work for your business. You haven’t given yourself enough words in order to communicate everything you need to communicate! (Same goes for a Services page, sales page, even your About page!)
Let your reader’s needs and questions dictate the length of the page. (That’s primary source info straight from Google itself!)
#4. Copy that’s all about you instead of your reader
As a copywriter who easily writes hundreds of thousands of words as other businesses each year but gets tied up in knots when writing about her own business—trust me, I get it.
Writing about your own business is a challenge for so many reasons, and writing about who you are + what you do + why it matters in a way that doesn’t make it all about you offers a meta-layer level of difficulty.
But—it must be done! Because readers arrive on a page wanting to see themselves there.
Reader-centric copy opens by acknowledging your understanding of their situation, who they are and what they’re looking for, and then brings you in as the guide.
A lot of pages do the opposite, and the tell is in the number of “I”s/”we”s that are present. The business is talking about itself while the reader waits on the sidelines, not fully confident they’re in the right place or that they’re being invited in.
If your copy is structured around “I do XYZ,” “I’m a [role],” “I help you accomplish…”, “My process involves…,” it’s not fine.
When it’s working, it primarily leads with the YOUs: “It makes total sense that you feel that way…,” “When you’re dealing with ABC, it’s only natural to…”, “Throughout the process, you’ll gain so much confidence…”.
Remember, you’re the guide, not the main character.
#5. Practical info is missing, like pricing and process
A page that makes someone feel safe and excited to take action has to engage with some practical matters: what’s included, roughly how much it costs, generally how the process works, and what they can expect from the whole experience.
Too many sites hold a lot of that back (either purposefully, because someone taught you to bury pricing in your “Investment Guide” lead magnet, or just by accident) and lean on a contact form or scheduler. As if “How can I get on your calendar?” is the visitor’s first question and not their twentieth, only after figuring out if your thing is for them in the first place.
Vagueness doesn’t build trust or convey expertise, and uncertainty feels like risk. And risk is what people want to avoid when they’re considering making an investment!
So if your site is missing or holding back practical, nuts-and-bolts, here’s-what’s-included-and-here’s-the-rate-range info, your copy is not fine. On the plus side, you might just be shocked at just how. many. more. inquiries (from qualified people!) you get once you’ve fixed this issue!
#6. Glowing testimonials that don’t SAY anything
It is genuinely great that you have clients who are willing to sing your praises, but it doesn’t really DO much for you unless those testimonials are specific. “She was amazing to work with!” could kinda be about anyone, you know?
Useful testimonials (useful to your business, AND useful to future clients!) are kind of like a short story. They connect the dots between “here’s what was going on,” “here’s what happened,” and “here’s what things are like now.”
Like this one, from my client Julian at Althea Floral Design:
“When I first reached out, I felt like my DIY web copy was doing nothing to sell what I actually wanted to the people I wanted to reach. Although I had an idea of who my ideal clients were and a good sense of my brand already, Theresa helped me set that all in stone and feel confident about who I was as a business owner and how I wanted to grow!
Since I implemented the copy on my website, the floral budgets that potential clients are inquiring about have DOUBLED. It honestly feels like magic. I have far fewer inquiries from price shoppers, and just booked my dream client with my biggest project ever!! Theresa's copy not only made my website feel more authentic to me and my brand, but is a literal magnet to the exact type of people I want to be working with.”
See? Transformation!
It’s hard to get these kinds of testimonials without a bit of structured prompting, because left to their own devices, people mostly think of nonspecific praise! But it’s so, so worth it to draw out those details, *and also* highlight them in the formatting of your testimonials.
Which are, of course, integrated across the pages of your website and not quarantined on a “Kind Words” page that nobody ever clicks on, right…? RIGHT.
#7. Weak calls to action: they’re missing, confusing, or dueling
Oh, BUTTONS.
I could quite literally write posts and posts and posts all about buttons on websites. There are conversion copywriters and specialists who literally JUST focus on buttons, A/B testing the words on the button (that’s called button copy) as well as their shape, size, color, everything.
But here’s the top-line stuff you need to know:
A call-to-action, aka button, is doing its job if it tells the reader the one thing they should do next and what’s actually going to happen when they click that button. Plenty of sites fumble this in three different ways, sometimes all on the same page.
If you’re missing buttons/don’t have enough buttons/don’t have buttons in useful spots down the page… the reader might be ready to take action but, without a chance to do so, ends up dead-ending in your footer, and nobody’s ever been moved by “All Rights Reserved © 2026.”
If the actual words on your button aren’t clear… nobody clicks because they have no idea what will happen once they press “Yay!” or “Let’s do this!”. I know they seem boringggg but button copy like “Check out photography services” and “Book your free consultation call” will out-perform vague or cute-yet-confusing any day.
If your buttons are competing with each other… your reader clicks the “x” on the tab instead because they’re overwhelmed by your signage pointing them in allll different directions. Your goal on a sales page is to direct your reader to inquire, not link them to your About page and your blog and your portfolio and your freebie. You gotta focus.
If your buttons aren’t supporting one clear, primary action per page… you guessed it, your copy isn’t fine.
#8. A contact page that’s just a form and/or an email address
So your reader arrives on your Contact page—literally ONE STEP away from inquiring with you—and what they get is a boilerplate form and some variation of a “Reach out!” headline.
I’m sorry but GIRL/dude/person! This is your highest-intent page, and it’s greeting people like a vending machine that only has some dry-ass Belvita biscuits in there?!
No. I know the Contact page came like this on your template, or your designer didn’t include it in the scope because for some reason so many pros still treat it like a complete afterthought. (A fully-fledged Contact page is mandatory in every website copywriting project I do, even when clients say they don’t think they need it to be included, because the page is THAT IMPORTANT.)
You would actually not believe how much difference a thoughtfully-constructed Contact page can make on your conversion rate, and therefore on your revenue. The page needs to seed good-fit inquiries, make sure people have actually looked at your Services pages, set expectations for what happens when someone reaches out, pre-emptively answer some key FAQs, and remind people of who the heck you are and what you even do. And more!
When you have a weak Contact page, there are so many people you’ll never hear from. (You’ll never even know they were there in the first place, and got this close to reaching out, unless you look at your page analytics.
If you’re still leaning on a boilerplate Contact page, your copy isn’t fine.
#9. A site that’s not SEO-optimized (at least the basics!)
Look, SEO/AIO is absolutely a big friggin’ puzzle, and there are a ton of different factors that influence it, from copy to design to marketing. It would be impossible to cover everything in this one post, but if your site is missing these four basics…
Properly tagged headlines: Exactly one H1 per page, at the top, with cascading H2s and H3s going down. (Not a line that’s merely styled larger, and not three H1s because the template was vibecoded!) This is a huge part of how Google understands your site and chooses who to show it to.
Strategic, descriptive title tags: This is the text that shows up on Google and in the description of the tab. “Home | Business Name” is your first impression in search results, and that basically says nothing! But something like “Website Copywriter for Small Businesses | Little Flame Creative” does.
Intentional, useful meta descriptions: That’s the blurb under your title in the search results, aka your pitch to someone choosing between this page and any other. Don’t leave it blank or auto-filled with some random line from the page!
One clear topic per page, in words your clients actually use: If you offer wedding photography in Portland but that page is all about “Visual Storytelling,” I love you but please quit doing the most. You can still get poetic about your craft, but you also need to be clear and focused!
.. Then your copy is not fine.
So… is your copy “fine,” or is it actually working to convert?
If any of these nine signs sounded familiar, that means your website is working at a fraction of the level it could.
You also might have noticed that none of these problems are fixed by simply writing better sentences. Headlines, substance, pricing, proof, next steps, and findability are structural decisions about what each page needs to do, which is why you likely need more than “punch up” of what you’ve got.
And that’s where I come in. My website copywriting process is both strategic and intuitive, equal parts art and science, and lets you ground into, “This is who I am, this what I do, this is what I’m FOR, and why.”
I look at your site and your business with expert eyes from the outside, figure out what’s needed, draw out what you actually mean, and write thoughtful, interesting, personality-aligned pages that future clients actually want to read!
Working together doesn’t just leave you with new words—it helps you see your business more clearly, understand the shape of it, and finally have the confident language to articulate what you’re all about and invite people in.
And that is so, so much better than fine.
So if this post hit close to home, check out my website copywriting services for allllll the details on how we can get your site actually working for you.
And if you’re interested in how this all goes even deeper than just the words on the page, this post about Brand Messaging that Attracts Ideal Clients illustrates why the thinking and ideas underneath your words matter just as much.
