The Ego Copy Test: How to stop alienating your prospects

Last week, I shared with you a way to fix 80% of your copy issues - a piece of advice I've given to literally every client of mine so far: [the "Said no prospect ever" test](=.K_kcJJRm1PI14NLxpvcYFiBdByMb3qyYhiY3r8rO9ys). But what to do with the other 20% of your copy? 🤔 The #2 on the list of my most useful copy-fixing tips would be this 👇 The Ctrl + F Ego Test Magic powers: Uncovers copy where you talk too much about yourself (and alienate your prospects 🙄) We all have a friend who just won’t shut up about themselves. Every time you talk to them, it’s “me, me, me”. #eyeroll Super annoying, isn’t it? You wish for the conversation to be over before it even started. Here’s how you tell if you are that friend to your prospects 👇 How to identify self-centered copy: - Open a page on your website - Press Ctrl+F and type “I ” (mind the space character after “I”) - Write down the number of occurrences - Repeat for: - my - we / our (if you’re a company) - [your name] / her / his (if you are talking about yourself in the 3d person) - you / your …and compare the numbers. Come on, open your homepage or a service page and do it. I'll wait. [Mr Bean waiting] Done? Let's see what we have here. If you're using I/my or we/our at least as often as you/yours (or more), I'm afraid your copy is self-centered 😬 Ideally, you should use you/your at least 2-3 times more often than you use I/my or we/our. (Your About page may be an exception. There, a 1:1 ratio could be fine, but that's a story for another day). Your copy is too self-centered. Now what? Rephrase the self-centered sentences: - Business owners -> You - I provide -> You’ll get - I teach -> You’ll learn - I’ll show you how -> Find out how - I worked with clients XYZ -> I helped clients XYZ achieve… - I work with one client at a time -> Your project will have my undivided attention - I started my career in 1990, in a company X. Then I switched to company Y in 1996 -> OMG, nobody cares! Tell people how you can help and add testimonials from your previous clients showing that you deliver results. That's it. That's the tip 🙂 Sometimes, improving your copy is indeed that easy. *** In other news *** Feel all powered up and motivated to improve your website even more? 💪 A new podcast went live this week where I talk about [secrets to high-converting websites](=.PtMgiCytK2c-fnytNiBdIdJtiNHqXb8okTY7OojCC7k). Give it a listen. If you rather read, it also has a transcript available on the same page. =.FIMBkOEgWTOFdSAS18nPOI5blkFgqMU4exXb7KPOOik This would be all from me for the week. Sunny greetings from Germany 😎 Gill [Website review](=.FQgrARyFJK8uI15J8qHhQTtKY7y0f4fpaRG11qlR8L8) | [Copywriting](=.HUKTpUCQqsVk4aamMF1WT7nQybj1qmQwce2MjUSu6IQ) | [📙 My book](=.ob-_bpfZdqSC3-LIBOybpqjHj0BanarhS78jT2UNwV4) | [🖥️ My course](=.pGNcJQ6b4cfjCeqs7XSMJWLm7EK0lF5NEYWe5tT_s5I) P.S. This email may contain typos, and I'm fine with them because cloning humans is, unfortunately, still impossible. Spending more time proofreading my emails would mean I'll have to share fewer tips with you. And sharing more and better tips is more important to me than sharing tips that are grammatically perfect. I hope that's fine with you, too. [Gill Andrews] [gillandrews.com](=.JH3KCtOgDxxFCwTSVHnciF8eR5VGkbYOvyv7Xfy12Jc) [Share to Facebook](=.7bSNVl7C4jcIHGNcaAtt4_YaIfbEZQtX-gLqLSQkNw0) [Share to Facebook](=.Aq1G2S-Gm4rH8pT0CL8_IP14TuO5PrrvL-5A9vWqp1Q) [Share to Twitter](=.mQ4FGr3cLrImGTuHyM2QT69dnYpxbenNCndt23FbHAE) [Share to Twitter](=.ybMZSmrlT9KwaNp6n-WYkBsV3TJLAnJrFkW_10TjMAA) [Forward email](=.VmCJrsSH3BavE0VDH2A3_nxPlTTom_djSU_etar1yKA) [Forward email](=.wHDtmtvG8SnQgcSamFVpeAglpA17tVrgW-LIZ0Y7aos) Gill Andrews You received this email because you signed up to my updates. Changed your mind? No problem. Unsubscribe using the link below. [Unsubscribe](=.BviQg8C4Z1IkBxQI5HkHcDbPljuhZsxxHwKieQ0QJjY)