The Top 5 B2B Website Copy Mistakes

Connecting with your readers is an essential part of any online marketing strategy. The challenge in connecting with them online is that you’re competing with many different variables that are out of your control. Focusing on what you CAN control will help you develop the relationships with your readers, which leads to conversions.

In B2B marketing, these relationships are key, so ensuring that your content is deepening that relationship at all times is important. This means you need to choose the right content type for your audience , whether that’s the right social media messages, compelling landing pages, videos, podcasts, whitepapers, case studies, etc. All too often however, B2B technology companies neglect the one thing that could tie all of these things together: their website copy.

Your website is usually the first entry point for your B2B prospects, and accordingly, you’re not shy about spending time and money on the design and implementation. You hire the best design firms and web design freelancers to help create an incredible digital asset that you’re proud of. And then you let the most junior member of your Development team write the web copy for it.

The copy on your website is every bit as important as the design and functionality of it, so why do you risk your business by not hiring a professional to take care of it? A copywriter knows exactly how to write copy that aligns with your overall business message, engages your target audience, and can generate leads for you. Whether you hire one in-house or work with a freelancer, an experienced copywriter will elevate your B2B website copy to the right level and make it work for you just like the rest of your marketing assets.

So, how do you know if your website needs an experienced copywriter? Easy, if you’re committing any of these…

The Top 5 list of B2B Technology Website Copy Mistakes

1-It’s all about “We” and “Our”, instead of “You” and “Your”

This is a classic mistake, one that most B2B Technology companies make. You’re too used to talking about your technology products and services, about all the bells and whistles you’ve added to it, and forget that the client wants to know about how you can help them. Here’s a sample from a B2B Technology Services company (names have been changed/omitted):

A rich partnership with ACME and more than a decade of experience in successfully delivering ACME solutions to our clients has been the cornerstone of our ACME Services practice. Generic Tech Co is an ACME Platinum Partner providing full-life cycle services across the ACME Business Applications and Technology solutions. Our expertise spans Tech Product 1, Tech Product 2, ACME’s Business Intelligence Suite, and Agile software development.

Sure, you’re trying to highlight your partnership with some high-profile companies in the industry, however at a certain point prospects want to know what YOU bring to the table. How can YOU help them?

2-Just because your prospects understand your language, it doesn’t mean they understand your jargon

Another classic mistake that many B2B Technology companies make: including too much technical jargon in your website copy. Even if your target audience is a very technical one, it doesn’t mean you have to stuff your copy with all the high-tech words you can find. Explain how your technology can help them solve their pain points in plain English (or French, or Czech, or whatever language your prospects speak.) They can always get into the technical specifics when they talk to a sales person.

3-Having large blocks of text on a web page

This one is gaining more importance as mobile devices get more popular. Ensuring that your website is optimized for mobile viewing is one thing, but making sure the copy is also optimized is important too. Keep your content blocks short and readible.

Tip: Two lines in an MS Word document equals approximately three to four lines on a website (if you’ve got a fixed width website.)

Here’s another example from Generic Tech Co of Mistakes 3 and 4:

Bad B2B Website Copy

This block of text was listed under a “Challenges” heading, and while they may all be true, it’s difficult to read through, isn’t it? It’s long, uses run-on sentences, and has a lot of duplicate words. (Just how many times can you say “setup”?)

Here’s a good example from another B2B Technology company (that I know employs copywriters):

Active sentence construction

4-Passive sentence construction

English is a language full of passive sentence construction, however to create more compelling and engaging copy, use active sentence construction. For example:

  • Your software helps customers remove obstacles instead of Obstacles are removed by your software
  • It saves them time and money instead of Time and money are saved by using your software
  • The dynamic forms guide your managers through the entire process instead of Your managers are guided through the entire process by the dynamic forms

See how the first examples above are more compelling than the second ones? That’s because there’s action and activity in your copy. It’s doing things instead of having things done to it.

5-Using keywords and keyphrases incorrectly

This happens when you either use them too often or not enough. Like Goldilocks, your website copy should be just right when it comes to keywords. Put too many in, and you’ll be penalized by the search engines for being “spammy”. Put too few in, and the search engine spiders won’t index your site properly, and you’ll never show up in the search engine results. An experienced web copywriter can help you strike the right balance, and please both human readers and indexbots alike.

Put as much time into your website copy as the rest of your marketing assets

Remedy these five mistakes and your website will be in great shape. You’ll create better connections with prospects, and convert more of them into leads and sales.

What other mistakes do you see on B2B Technology websites that are hurting their owners? Let me know in the comments.