Are You Talking About Yourself Too Much on Your Website?

Let me ask you a quick question: when someone lands on your website, is it mostly about you or about them? 

This is one of the most common issues I see with websites. They look great, sound professional, and list all the right credentials, yet they still struggle to convert visitors into customers. 

The reason is often surprisingly simple. The website is talking about the business owner just a little too much.

In this episode, we’re breaking down why this happens, and it’s probably not for the reason you think. We’ll talk about how this approach quietly hurts your conversions and, more importantly, what you can say instead so your website actually connects with the people visiting it. I’ll also share a simple test you can run on your homepage today to quickly see whether this might be happening on your own site.

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Transcript

The Cost Of Self Focused Copy

Carrie Saunders 0:00

Let me ask you a quick question. When someone lands on your website, is it mostly about you or about them? This is one of the very common things that we tend to do as business owners. Websites look great, they sound professional, list of all the right credentials, and they still don't convert. And the reason is they're talking about themselves a little too much. It's really easy to do. In this episode, we're going to break down why this happens, and it's probably not what you think, how it quietly hurts your conversions, and what to say instead. So your website actually converts. And I'll give you a simple test you can run on your homepage today to see if this is happening on your website. Let's dive in. Struggling to turn website traffic into real sales, you're not alone and you don't have to figure it out all yourself. Welcome to Smarter Online Business, the podcast for course creators, coaches, and e-commerce entrepreneurs who want their websites to convert visitors into buyers without the tech overwhelm. I'm your host, Carrie Saunders, a website strategist and conversion expert with over 20 years of experience. Each episode delivers simple, proven strategies to help you generate more revenue and make your website your smartest sales tool. Welcome back to the show. Today we're talking about are you talking about yourself too much on your website? Something super easy to do. And I don't know if you heard that cat meow in the intro, but yes, that was Mac. He decided he wanted to talk to you about this as well. If you're not familiar, we have two orange office cats that live in our office all the time. And they are so much fun, but they do like to talk when I'm on my podcast episodes or when I'm in Zoom calls. All right, so let's dive in and get back on topic. Do we talk about ourselves too much on a website? How do we tell and what do we do about it? So why does this happen in the first place? You know, that might be the question you might have in your mind. And it's actually so common to do this. And I'm actually thinking of one of my websites. I just looked at the other day and I had somebody else help me design it. I'm like, wow, they really put it all about me too much on the website. So that's going to be on my task list to um fix it. So why did they do that? Or why do you even do that? So you want to build credibility. So when you want to build credibility, you want to talk about, you know, who you are, what you've done, and why you're so great, right? You want to, you've been told to show your expertise on your website, and you might be proud of your experience, and rightfully so. There's nothing wrong with that. But the problem isn't that you're talking about yourself, it's weird and how you're doing it. So we're going to go into some of those nuances here. And your website isn't your resume. It's one thing that I like to remind people it's not your resume, it's not a brochure, it's a decision-making tool for your customers, and it's supposed to be one of your best sales tools. We talk about this a lot on the podcast because I want us to shift our belief that it's this set it and forget it thing. If you use a website correctly, it's going to make you sales while you sleep. Just like other tactics we talk about where we have guest experts on here, like YouTube, that's a great way to make sales while you sleep as well. Ads are a great way to make sales while you sleep. There's several different ways we can make sales while we sleep, and one of the more natural ones, I feel like, and one of the ones that you can control a little bit better is your own website. So then let's talk about what our visitor is actually thinking so we can figure out how to word things on our website. So when someone lands on your website, they're not asking themselves how many years of experience do you have? What certifications do you have, or things like that. At least not at first. What they're probably thinking, especially if they're new to you, is am I in the right place? Can this person help me? Is this for someone like me? So all those questions are center focused, it's focused on themselves. So if they don't get these answers quickly, they will leave. This is that first step in making good um conversions and copy on your website. And this is where talking about yourself can hurt you too much. I alluded to the fact that you, you know, they might be asking those other questions about your credibility, how long you've been in business, but usually that's later. First, they want to see if they should stay and if it's in it for what's in it for them and if this website is the right place. So then let's go into some examples of what talking about yourself too much can actually look like. So it's easier for you to spot. So let's say, for example, your homepage starts with, hi, I'm so and so, and I do blah, blah, blah. So that's a very good red flag that you've talked about yourself a little too much, a little too early. Long paragraphs about your story before mentioning the client. So, like I said, we do want to position ourselves with trust and credibility, but we need to first draw the client in and have them realize that this web page is for you. So those long paragraphs about your story need to go farther down the page. Also, if you just have credentials listed without context, without what it's in, what's in it for them, you know, why is this important to them, um, then that can make it harder for them to want to stay too. And if you focus on process instead of outcome, that is even though that's not quite as obvious, it's still a bit self-centered because you're talking about your processes, you're not talking about the outcome they will receive. So if you hopefully you can understand the difference there is we want to talk about the outcome they are going to receive, not the process you're doing just yet. So I again want to reiterate that these things are not bad necessarily, and they are good things to have on your website. They just probably are in the wrong place or where they're missing context, which is why we want to look at that top of our website and make sure it's client-centered, focused first. And then we'll draw them into our story as well. So if that's what not to do, then what do we say instead? You know, this this can really, you know, pique that curiosity, I'm sure, as you're listening, you know, well, Carrie, what do I say now instead? So we want to shift from here's who I am to here's how I help you. So we want to start with a simple framework. We want to stop start with who you help, what problem do you solve, and what result can they expect. So for example, instead of I have 20 years of experience, this is so easy for me to do, you say I help who solve what problem so they can get what result. So the framework again is I help who solve what problem so they can get the result. And then if you want, you can layer in some credibility into that. But that's the framework we want to start with. We can also layer in some certifications or some story into that, but drawing them in to who you serve, what problem you solve, and what results you're going to give is going to pique their interest more and keep them around longer to want to get to know you more. So credibility works best after that connection, not before. It's really easy to flip this around. So then where do we talk about ourselves on our website? We don't this, you know, what I'm talking about here doesn't mean we don't ever talk about ourselves because we do need to build that trust. But the best places to do this is the about page still needs to be story driven and still needs to draw them in as to why this is important to them. You can also do this on the supporting sections in a web page, whether it's a sales page or home page in the supporting sections. You can talk about this. You can talk about this via case studies. Case studies are a way to really draw them in and picture themselves getting your solution at the same time as not seeing seemingly too heavily focused on a me, me, me. Uh, so it's a really good balance of you know bringing that client in as well as showing credibility at the same time. And testimonials are also great for this as well. So your story builds that trust, but only after someone sees themselves and what you do. So that's very important. We need them to see themselves and what you do first. All right, so here's that quick test I mentioned earlier. I want you to go to your web page and I want you to read the first few lines. Count how many times you say I, we, or our. And then I want you to count how many times you say you or your. If it's heavily weighted towards you, then that might be part of your conversion problem. Just try flipping that first section to be more you and your focus and see what happens. This is one of those small shifts that can really make a big difference. So I challenge you to set aside a time on your calendar to do this after listening to this podcast episode. Because when people feel understood, they're much more likely to take that next step with you. And that's what your website's really there to do. Help them take that next step. Help them be that best salesperson you have. And you can really then start making some great conversion progress on your website and have it work for you. That's all we have for this week's episode of the Smarter Online Business Podcast. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed it. And if you did, please share this episode with a friend, a business friend, so that they can get tips to help their business grow just like yours. And we will see you next week.