Why your copy doesn’t have to look perfect to get clicks, clients + customers
I love my sister for a lot of reasons – one of them being all the hilarious 90s and 2000s movies she’s introduced me to.
One of the bangers? Zoolander.
(It came out in 2001 and has a lot of crunchy-looking hair, outdated jokes, and cameos of now irrelevant people – like Paris Hilton, WOW throwback – but in my opinion, it still totally slaps.)
I love the part where the main character, a dumbass male model named Derek, is asked to share his high-fashion-pouty-stare look, Magnum – which he’s worked on for “at least 8 or 9 years.”
His response:
“Are you kidding? It’s nowhere near ready.”
It’s only made 5x funnier by the fact that all of his “looks” already “look” exactly the same. Who the f*ck is going to be able to tell the difference?
Dumbass. Right?
And yet…
People get so stuck writing for their business by doing exactly that.
No, not being a dumbass.
Not this ↑
We block ourselves by being absurdly perfectionistic on things that most people are not going to give a shit about or even actually notice.
Ya know, we –
Keep putting off launches or offers because the copy doesn’t exactly match the structure you were told to use
Stress over the perfect or catchy title, tagline or domain name
Spent countless days or WEEKS aimlessly “tweaking”each page
Maybe never even get started because oh god, the pressure
Oof
I’m so guilty of this. I recently spent an entire day analyzing my services page to death.
(Did it change a lot? NO, OF COURSE IT DIDN’T. THAT’S THE POINT.)
As a copywriter, I’ve learned that it. does. not. have. to. be. perfect.
And guess what? In my experience – the most successful people are the ones who accept that.
They nail down something pretty good, and then they adjust as they go.
Hell, I personally know an 8-figure CEO who is NOT good at copywriting, practically throws together sales pages, writes in big non-readable chunks … and still sells offers like Girl Scout Cookies outside a Rebelution concert.
Then they celebrate. Jeep, Alexander Skarsgård, and orange frappuccino optional
This is a hard wall for most of us to break through. So if you immediately just came up with a bunch of BUTs, like:
“But they say no one will buy if I don’t nail this!”
“But what if people see the ‘beta’ version and don’t want to work with me?”
“But what if people think I’m sloppy or boring??”
Yes, yes. I hear you
If you’re still stuck on this, here’s some awesome news:
Your clients aren’t even looking for perfection.
They’re just looking for a clear explanation of what you do, how you can help them, and your overall vibe. Oh! And your energy matters a lot, too.
People make a lot of money without their site being perfect, or anywhere close to it.
I could name some names here but don’t want to be an asshole. Just suffice to say that I’ve read HORRENDOUS writing by people who constantly have people wanting to work with them.
Most of the time, no one is even going to know the difference.
“Oh, you moved that section below instead of above? Never mind, you’re clearly an idiot.” – No one, ever
Imperfect copy will always get you more clients than NO copy.
If you’re trying to sell something online through your copy, do you think you will be MORE or LESS successful if you have nothing written up there? You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, yo.
Trust me. It is so much better to put up decent, even half-assed, copy than it is to hold yourself back in the name of “perfection” and lose out on tons of opportunities to get people to work with you. Plus, you can always go back later and update it, improve it, “pretty-fy” it!
TL;DR: It doesn’t have to be perfect to sell. It just doesn’t. Good enough is GOOD. Just get it out there.
You’re gonna be fine. Now go find the Prime Minister.*
Love + Joy,
Ariana
P.S. Derek is PROOF that it doesn’t have to be perfect. If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I mean. If you haven’t… well, I guess now you have to watch it to know
P.P.S. *Also something you have to watch the movie to understand. Sorry.