Why you shouldn’t use ChatGPT for your website copy
We got an enquiry the other day. The woman had just finished spending hours upon hours on ChatGPT, attempting to write copy for her website. By the time she called us, she was just about ready to pull her hair out.
“I just can’t get it how I want!” she cried down the phone.
Well…yeah.
It’s a computer, after all. All it can do is take the information you give it, scrape the internet and cough it back out for you. No understanding of nuance, empathy or connection. And those are pretty big deals when it comes to writing web copy.
At the end of the day, for your business to succeed, it needs to act like a human. Because humans connect with other humans. And while ChatGPT is pretty impressive at sounding natural and responding kinda like a human (seriously, check out these hilarious comebacks), it still comes across sorta…weird. Think of the uncanny valley but with words.
Sure, using ChatGPT for your website copy is fast, accessible and totally free – but should you trust your precious web copy with it? No way, José. Believe us when we say that there’s a lot more involved in writing web copy than you think. Read on to find out why you shouldn’t use ChatGPT for your website copy.
Why you shouldn’t use ChatGPT for your website copy #1: Website copy needs to be strategic
Take a wild guess at what your biggest, most important marketing tool is – that’s right, your website. It’s the heart of your digital marketing strategy and one of the first things potential customers see when they look up your business. Your website is your first impression – so you better make it a good one.
So what are the three key things your website needs to be in order to dazzle your new buyers?
- It’s gotta look super good with slick graphics and tasteful branding.
- It must be ultra-functional – think fast load times, practical design and good user experience.
- It needs to be loaded with compelling, engaging copy that’s not only informative and answers all the right questions but also strategically crafted to land those conversions and get your visitors to do what you want them to do – whether that’s making that booking, buying that product or signing up to your newsletter.
Look, ChatGPT can do a lot of things (bust out your street cred and get into a rap battle with ChatGPT – you’ll thank us later!), but writing strategic web copy that’s super compelling and can connect with your target audience isn’t its forte. That’s because it can’t. Only a human understands another human’s needs, wants, fears and frustrations. And only a human can craft copy that speaks to these aspects. Ain’t no robot going to be able to compete with that.
Why you shouldn’t use ChatGPT for your website copy #2: Website copy needs a process
Using ChatGPT is easy. Just chuck in a prompt, and away you go. But how much information can you really give ChatGPT for your website copy? How can you instil who you are as a brand in a few sentences?
When push comes to shove, using ChatGPT for your website copy is risky. That’s because it’s a machine. A machine that will never understand the complexities of your brand – and this always shows in the copy that it spits out.
That’s why at NINKI, we have a whole process when it comes to writing web copy. And it starts with getting to know you and your brand really gosh-darn intimately. Why? Because the more we know about your brand, the better we can make the web copy. Our deep understanding of your brand will be reflected in the copy we write for you. And trust us, that makes all the difference when getting those conversions.
So, what does our process look like?
The first meeting
We start the whole thing with a briefing meeting with you. Here’s where we ask all the important questions – WHAT you do, HOW you do it and WHY you do it. We wanna know who your ideal customer is so we can write copy that speaks to them. We’ll ask you who your competitors are so we can check them out and analyse what they do and don’t do well. Have you got some key messages? If not, we’ll put some together for you.
We ask about your brand voice and what has inspired it. Then, we dig deeper and discuss your business’s unique selling points and priorities. Do you want to increase revenue? Build a following? Get your name out there more? We can write copy that works towards these goals, no problem. We even talk brand archetypes. These represent your brand as a persona – in simple terms, the ‘soul’ of your business.
That’s a lot of detail, right? You betcha. But trust us – there’s a method to our madness. This meeting isn’t just a briefing. It doubles up as a strategy session as well. The answers we get from you during this time allow us to create a marketing strategy that helps you achieve your business goals. Now we’d like to see ChatGPT do that!
Writing the copy
Now, we move on to the fun stuff – writing your web copy.
With everything from our briefing meeting in mind, we go away and put together some serious web copy that:
- Appeals to your target audience
- Weaves in your key messages so your objective is clear across all your pages
- Consistently speaks in your unique brand voice
- Highlights your unique selling points
- Sounds awesome and not at all robotic-like.
If it isn’t obvious yet, there’s A LOT of thought, planning and strategy that goes behind writing web copy that gets you sales. And that’s something ChatGPT for your website copy just can’t do. It doesn’t understand the complexity and craft that a professional, experienced copywriter can bring to your copy.
Sure, it might take a little longer. However, choosing a human to write for your website will save you a lot of tears and frustration in the long run. Instead of spending hours fiddling with prompts and yelling at your computer screen, a copywriter is more likely to nail it on the first go. And if the copywriter doesn’t get it quite right the first time, you can explain to them exactly what you do and don’t like about the copy, knowing full well that they’ll understand what you’re saying and apply the edits the way you want them to.
If you’re a little nervous about sharing your thoughts, feelings and constructive criticisms with a real-life human writer, don’t panic – read our top tips on how to give your copywriter feedback.
Making it fit into the website design
The gals at NINKI love working with web developers and designers. We can reach out to the person designing your website and ensure that the copy we write will fit perfectly into your new website.
One of the ways we do this is by asking for a wireframe. A wireframe is like the blueprint of your site – it’s a visual guide to a website’s framework. It shows you what exactly is going where and how much space you have for each element. As highly skilled copywriters, we’ve seen our fair share of wireframes. So we know what we’re dealing with.
Writing just the right amount of copy to fit the design and structure of your website is ultra-important. It ensures your site looks amazing but still has the right amount of text for Google’s all-important Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). The better your website’s SEO is, the more likely it will rank on those search engines’ pages.
Can ChatGPT read a wireframe? Er – maybe. I mean, it wouldn’t surprise us. Can it review a wireframe and apply its structure and formatting to the web copy you asked it to create? Pretty darn-tooting unlikely. But you bet your bottom dollar a trained human copywriter can.
What comes first? Copy or web design?
It’s the great debate of the digital marketing world – should you design your website first or write your copy?
The NINKI team is always happy to take whatever approach our clients prefer. You wanna build your website design around the copy we write for you? No worries. Gotta wireframe we need to stick to? You got it. However, if we had it our way, the web design and copy would develop and evolve simultaneously. That way, everyone can ensure that the copy will fit nicely into the design and that we’re given enough space to convey your unique messaging without affecting your website’s SEO. Now that’s the secret to building a website that converts.
Why you shouldn’t use ChatGPT for your website copy #3: Web copy should be left to the humans
AI has come a long way in recent years. There’s a tool for almost everything – one that shows you how you’d look with that risky new hairstyle, another that gives you cool gift ideas for the person who’s impossible to buy for, and there’s even a trained chatbot that will answer any question in the voice of celebrity of your choice. But there’s some things only a human should do. And web copy is one of them.
Only a human can connect with another human. Only a human can understand where other humans are coming from. That connection and understanding are vital when it comes to web copy. It evokes an emotional response in your reader, building a bond between you and your potential customer. And when you have someone relating, agreeing and trusting you, you get conversions.