Why Most Business Websites Lose Customers in 7 Seconds
Seven seconds. That's how long a visitor gives your website before they decide to stay or leave. It doesn't matter how good your product is, how long you've been in business, or how much you spent on your website design. If your copy doesn't communicate value immediately, they're gone.
The Real Problem Isn't Design
Most businesses blame design when their website doesn't convert. They redesign. They add new images, pick new colours, get a new logo. Then they're surprised when the results don't change. The problem was never the design. It was the words.
Design gets people to look. Copy gets people to act. If your homepage headline doesn't tell a visitor exactly what you do, who it's for, and why it matters — in under 10 words — you're already losing them.
The 3 Copy Mistakes Costing You Visitors
1. Vague headlines. "We help businesses grow" tells nobody anything. "We write website copy that converts first-time visitors into paying clients" tells them exactly what they get. Be specific.
2. Talking about yourself, not your customer. Count how many times your homepage says "we" vs "you." Most businesses fail this test badly. Your customer doesn't care about your story — they care about their problem.
3. No clear next step. If your page ends and the visitor doesn't know what to do, you've wasted their visit. Every page needs one clear CTA. Not three. One.
What to Do Instead
Start with your headline. Ask yourself: if someone landed on this page with no other context, would they know in 5 seconds what we do and who we do it for? If the answer is no, rewrite it before you change anything else.
Then audit your body copy. Remove every sentence that talks about your company and replace it with a sentence that talks about your customer's problem or outcome. You'll be surprised how much better it reads — and how much better it converts.