How to Write Copy for Your Business That Converts

(And What to Do If You Can’t)

Key Points

• A beautiful website cannot compensate for copy that never helps the right person recognize herself.

• Strong business copy begins with real source material: spoken explanations, client language, emotional words, and specific scenes.

• AI can organize and critique your copy, but it cannot replace clear input or a real human reader.

• Avoiding writing copy altogether, or finding that when the copy is accurate, reviewed, and ready, you end up doing repeated editing, may be an execution block rather than a writing problem.

Transcript

Jennie Hays (00:00) Your beautiful website may be the exact reason you aren't getting sales. You spent money making it look professional, the branding is polished, the photos are beautiful, the layout looks credible, but it's not converting. Because people don't buy a beautiful website. Jennie Hays (00:19) They buy when the words on that website make them feel seen and understood. Now I've spent years helping coaches and service providers write website bios, marketing, copy, and I've seen ugly, ugly websites that bring in exactly the right clients because the message connected. I've also seen very expensive, beautifully designed websites that produce almost nothing. Jennie Hays (00:47) Because the person reading couldn't recognize herself anywhere in the copy. The problem was the distance between what the business owner wanted to explain and what the client was actually feeling and looking for. Jennie Hays (01:03) Most business owners tend to sit down and write copy and immediately start explaining what they do. They describe their process and framework, what makes them different, Blue Ocean versus Red Ocean, their credentials. But I guarantee the person reading your website is not sitting there thinking, gee, I really hope somebody has a four-step framework for this. Jennie Hays (01:31) She's in the middle of her actual life, avoiding a conversation that she knows she needs to have, reopening the same document three times, just to close it again, agreeing to something she didn't want to do, and now irritated with everyone except herself, the person who actually said she'd do it. Jennie Hays (01:51) She is lying in bed replaying the day and wondering why she keeps doing the same thing over and over when she knows already it won't work. That is the person reading your copy. She's not asking, what do you do yet? She's asking, do you understand what's going on with me? And can you help me fix it? Jennie Hays (02:16) That is why emotionally accurate copy converts. There's a harsh saying in sales, if you make them cry, they will buy. Now that sounds a little terrible, but the point is really solid. Jennie Hays (02:32) It doesn't mean that you should manipulate people or try to make every person that comes to your website so overwhelmed with emotion that they cry. It means that emotion is what makes someone recognize that the message matters and that she's willing to invest the time and energy to buy. Jennie Hays (02:52) Buying usually happens when someone connects what she's currently experiencing to the possibility that there is hope. Your copy needs to meet her inside the day that she's already living, not inside your credentials or your processes or your program, etc. Jennie Hays (03:14) And definitely not inside the jargon you use when you're talking to other people in the industry. So now that we've talked about what powerful copy looks like, let's talk about how to get the words Jennie Hays (03:30) Out of your head and onto the page, right? Some people need to write before they even know what they're thinking. They open a document, start typing, grab a piece of paper and a pen, the idea starts taking shape as they go. Writing is how they find that thread, that creative piece. That works for a lot of people. If it works for you, don't replace that. Use what works. Jennie Hays (03:55) But if you're the person that opens the document or stares at that sheet of paper and you suddenly can't remember a single intelligent thing you've ever said, stop forcing yourself to start there. I want you to use your voice. Jennie Hays (04:12) Open the voice recorder on your phone or for those already comfortable with AI, use the voice prompt. Explain the idea as though you're sitting with a real person, not an audience or the internet, but a real person. Jennie Hays (04:30) And say the things that you would say if they were asking you about what you do and who you do it for in a real conversation. Tell her what you think is happening. Use examples that you would normally give. For some people, talking removes all the pressure. Jennie Hays (04:48) You're no longer trying to write copy, you're having a conversation. You're explaining something you already understand. It's going to already be in your voice and your words. Jennie Hays (05:00) You might even say that sarcastic thing that you would never write down if you were writing a formal document. And that might be the exact line that makes your reader laugh because it sounds like something a real person would actually say. Jennie Hays (05:17) Now, once you've done all of that and we have the bones of the information, next we need to add in the emotions. Like we talked about, that's what sells your copy, right? One of the best ways to do this was introduced to me by my mentors, Kelly and Miranda of Zenny. They encourage you to write a journal entry as though you are your ideal client. Jennie Hays (05:44) And it's the night before you finally break down and ask for help. Ask yourself, what happened during the day? What are you tired of? What did you promise that you weren't ever going to do again or that would be different? What happened anyway? Jennie Hays (06:03) what have you already tried to fix this? What are you really embarrassed to admit about it? What are you afraid will happen if you don't do anything? And what are you hoping the person that you call for help will really understand about you and what's going on? Jennie Hays (06:23) What do you want to be able to do, feel, or change? And I want you to write from that point of view inside that night, not from inside your service, not as the coach or service provider that's gonna rush in and say, Well, this is what's going wrong and and this is why you need me. But really touch her life. Jennie Hays (06:49) You're trying to understand what life feels like for her right before she decides she can't keep solving this by herself. Now Jennie Hays (07:00) We've got all of this emotional stuff together. We have a basic picture of who you help and why you do it and all of the examples. And if you're a writer, or you are uncomfortable using AI, because some people are, I want you to grab a transcript of your voice recording You can also just play it back and listen and take notes. Jennie Hays (07:22) We're looking for two very specific things. I want you to look for emotion words and picture phrases. The emotion words tell you what the person is experiencing: frustrated, embarrassed, exhausted, angry, relieved, afraid this is never going to change, that she's stuck. Jennie Hays (07:46) The picture phrases let the reader see herself inside the moment. Some examples. She stared at the email for 20 minutes. She heard herself agree before she had even decided. She's laying in bed replaying that conversation. She keeps doing the same thing over and over, even though she already knows it won't work. Jennie Hays (08:13) That is so much stronger than saying someone is struggling, overwhelmed, or feeling stuck. These words describe a category. The picture phrases create the scene. And scenes help because it's easier to recognize yourself in them. Now, once you have the recording or written explanation, the emotion words, the picture phrases, and that journal entry. Jennie Hays (08:43) You have the raw material for useful copy. And you can put it together yourself, or you can take all of that and use AI to help you shape it. If you use AI, just give it the material that you've created. There's no need to go through the step where we're pulling out the emotions and picture words. Tell AI or yourself. Jennie Hays (09:06) What the copy is for. Is it for a web page? Is it for emails? Is it for a sales letter? Who's going to be reading it? And ask it to preserve your emotionally specific words, the examples, humor, picture phrases. And tell it not to invent client stories, testimonials, results, facts, numbers, claims. Jennie Hays (09:31) then I want you to ask it to turn that material into a first draft. Once you have the draft, I want you to ask the AI, or maybe a different AI, to review it as a skeptical potential client. You want to know the answers to these questions. Is it clear who this is for? Can the right person recognize herself? Jennie Hays (09:58) What feels vague or generic? What questions or objections are still unanswered? Where might she stop reading? The first draft helps you get material on the page. The critique helps you to see what may not be clear to the person reading it. Take the useful feedback and make one meaningful revision. Jennie Hays (10:26) Not 14 rounds. AI is supposed to help you create the copy. It's not supposed to give you 74 more ways to avoid choosing a sentence. Now I'll put the prompts for both steps in the description so you can use them without having to try to write everything down. But before you publish important copy, you still have two more things you need to do. Jennie Hays (10:49) Number one, you need to review it. Especially if you had AI help you with it. AI is not human. AI is super helpful. But sometimes it misses the mark. Jennie Hays (11:05) And this first round of human review is for you to catch those times where maybe the story it told wasn't quite what the story meant or the picture painted isn't quite what you intended. Jennie Hays (11:20) Then you also need another human being to look at it. Somebody who is either your ideal client or very close to that, or someone who writes copy and knows what good copy is. Because the reality is you cannot read the label from inside the jar. You know what you meant. You know the story behind the sentence. You know why the offer matters. Jennie Hays (11:48) But the person reading it only has the words on the page. And as helpful as AI is, it's still not a real person who's living that experience. That's why copy that feels completely clear to you can sometimes confuse everybody else. It's also why the sentence that you almost deleted because it felt too obvious or too personal or too over the top. Jennie Hays (12:16) Be the exact sentence that makes your ideal client stop and think, that is me. Have someone review it. Not just someone who likes you. Not someone who automatically tells you it sounds great. And definitely not 14 people in a Facebook group, because now you're just collecting 14 opinions from different businesses about yours. Jennie Hays (12:44) And again, you're going to ask specific questions. What do you think I'm offering? Who do you think it's for? What part made you feel the most understood? Is there anything that's confusing? Where did you lose interest? Would you take the next step? Don't ask, do you like it? Jennie Hays (13:05) Plenty of people will like copy and the copy will not convert even though they like it. How many commercials do you remember from growing up, but you don't remember what the product was? You need to know whether the right person recognizes herself and understands what you can help her with and knows what to do next. So you don't become that forgotten product. Jennie Hays (13:29) The outside perspective is not a sign that you're bad at writing. It's part of writing copy that works and it's essential. Now, for many people, these steps that I just gave you solve the problem. That's great. Now I know how to do this. Jennie Hays (13:47) Talking instead of staring at a blank page helps get information out. The journal exercise helps them find that emotional language. The picture phrases make copy more specific. AI or another person helps them turn it into a useful draft, and outside feedback shows them what is clear and what still needs work. They revise it, they publish it, and they move on. Jennie Hays (14:15) But what happens? Jennie Hays (14:16) When you have the information that you need and you still can't do it. Maybe you have the client notes, the testimonials, the responses, etc. You know what your client says, you know how she feels, and you can explain the problem perfectly during a conversation. But when you sit down to write or record, you can't turn any of it into words. Or maybe you write the sentence. Jennie Hays (14:45) But it suddenly feels too much, so you soften it. You replace the emotionally specific language with something safer and more professional. The sentence becomes less accurate, but it also feels less exposing. Or maybe you follow the steps, you get the copy written, you receive the feedback, you don't get stuck trying to ask for it. It's clear, it's accurate. Jennie Hays (15:14) good enough and you still go back and edit it. Jennie Hays (15:19) You decide the entire page just needs another round of editing because something is not right. And you tell yourself that you're improving it, but you're not. You're just reopening a decision that was already made. And every time you reopen that, you create another opportunity not to hit publish. The funny thing is that reopening the document. Jennie Hays (15:43) Gives you immediate relief. When you move back into editing, you feel more in control. For the moment, you no longer have to publish it. You no longer have to find out what people are going to think. And the pattern tends to reinforce itself. Now, this does not mean that every time you have difficulty writing, that you have an execution block. Jennie Hays (16:08) It does not mean that feeling uncomfortable when you publish something more emotional or more direct is a block. Imperfect action is what moves business forward. The question is not whether the process feels uncomfortable. The question is: even if it's uncomfortable, can you do it anyway? Jennie Hays (16:30) If talking instead of typing helps you write, the process was probably the problem. if someone reads the copy and genuinely cannot understand what you're offering, the copy needs work. Jennie Hays (16:44) If you don't have enough client information to describe the problem or the emotions, you need more information. But when you have the information, understand the strategy, follow the process, get useful feedback, and still repeatedly stop at the same point. Jennie Hays (17:05) you may no longer be dealing with a strategy issue. You may have found a place where there is an execution block. Jennie Hays (17:13) Now, if you're not sure if you are stuck in strategy or if you're stuck with an execution block, I want you to follow the link below and take my two-minute follow-through audit while you keep saying one thing and doing another. It's going to help you see whether this is one difficult writing task or part of a larger pattern where you know what needs to happen, but you keep getting stuck. The link is below. Jennie Hays (17:42) Because the goal is not to keep collecting more information about how to write the copy. The goal is to get it written and published and let it do the job you created it to do.

You can explain what you do perfectly in conversation. Then you sit down to write copy for your business, open the document, and every useful sentence disappears.

Suddenly, you sound stiff. Generic. Suspiciously like every other coach or service provider with a “proven framework.”

That does not automatically mean you are bad at writing.

The problem may be the way you are trying to create the first draft. You may not have the right source material yet. Or you may already have what you need and still avoid starting, finishing, or releasing the copy.

Why Isn’t My Beautiful Website Converting?

A polished website can make your business look credible. It cannot create connection by itself.

Most business owners start by explaining what they do. They describe their process, framework, credentials, and what makes them different.

Your potential client is not sitting there hoping someone has finally created a four-step framework.

She is in the middle of her actual life.

She is avoiding the conversation she knows she needs to have. Reopening the same document just to close it again. Agreeing to something she did not want to do, then feeling irritated with everyone except the person who said yes.

She is lying in bed replaying the day and wondering why she keeps doing the same thing when she already knows it does not work.

That is the person reading your copy.

Strong copy helps her recognize herself before it asks her to understand your process. It does not manufacture emotion. It names what is already happening accurately enough that she knows you understand the problem.

Why Do I Sound Generic When I Write Copy for My Business?

Some people think through writing. Other people can explain their work clearly out loud and lose every useful sentence as soon as they try to type it.

If that is you, stop forcing the blank page to do a job it is bad at.

Open a voice recorder. Imagine one real person asked what you do and why it matters. Answer her the way you would answer on a call.

Keep the side comments. Keep the odd comparison that makes the point better than the polished version. Keep the sentence that sounds like you.

Then transcribe it.

You are not avoiding writing. You are using a different doorway to reach the words.

What Information Do I Need Before I Ask AI to Write My Copy?

AI cannot create emotional accuracy from a thin prompt.

Neither can you.

One exercise I learned from my mentors Kelly and Miranda at zynnyme is to write a journal entry from the ideal client’s perspective the night before she asks for help.

What happened that day?

What is she tired of repeating?

What is she embarrassed to admit?

What is she afraid will still be happening six months from now?

Then look for two kinds of language.

Emotion words name the experience:

• frustrated

• embarrassed

• exhausted

• angry

• relieved

• afraid it will not change

Picture phrases create the scene:

• staring at the same email for twenty minutes

• hearing herself agree before she had decided

• lying in bed replaying the conversation

• reopening a finished document because something still feels off

“Overwhelmed” is a category.

“She heard herself say yes before she had even decided” is a moment.

The moment is what creates recognition.

How Do I Use AI to Write Copy Without Losing My Voice?

Once you have real source material, AI can help you create a useful first draft.

Tell it what the copy is for, who will read it, and what the reader should understand or do next. Ask it to preserve your examples, humor, emotional language, conversational phrasing, and picture phrases.

Tell it not to invent:

• testimonials

• client stories

• results

• facts

• numbers

• claims

If information is missing, ask it to identify the gap instead of filling it with something plausible.

Then ask it to review the draft as a skeptical potential client before rewriting anything.

I put both prompts in a Google Doc so you can use them directly.

There is no email required and nothing to download. Open the document, copy the prompts, and paste them into the AI tool you use.

Get the Two AI Copy Prompts

Why Do I Keep Avoiding or Rewriting My Website Copy?

Sometimes the problem really is the copy.

If a reader cannot tell what you sell, who it is for, or what she is supposed to do next, the copy needs more work. If you do not have enough client language, examples, or emotional detail, you need better source material. And if talking instead of typing suddenly gives you the words, the writing process was probably the problem.

But an execution block does not always show up after the copy is finished.

Sometimes it keeps you from starting at all.

You open the document, check your email, reorganize your notes, decide you need more research, or suddenly remember twelve unrelated things that apparently must happen first. You may already know what you want to say. You may explain it clearly in conversation. You may have testimonials, examples, and client language sitting right in front of you.

The draft still does not get written.

Other times, you do write it. The copy is accurate. Someone else reads it and understands the offer. You make the one revision that actually matters.

Then you open it again.

You change a sentence. Move a section. Adjust the headline. Read the whole thing one more time because something still does not feel quite right.

Avoiding the first draft and repeatedly editing the finished draft can look like two different problems, but they may be doing the same job. Both delay the moment when the copy becomes public, and someone else gets to respond to it.

That delay can feel like relief.

You are back in control. You do not have to publish yet. You do not have to find out what anyone thinks.

When that relief keeps reinforcing the same pattern, the visible problem may look like writing, but the actual problem may be an execution block.

How Do I Know if I Have a Copywriting Problem or an Execution Block?

Writing and publishing can feel uncomfortable without being a block. The better question is whether the discomfort still allows you to move forward.

If talking instead of typing helps you create the draft, the process was probably getting in the way. If a reader cannot tell what you offer, who it is for, or what she should do next, the copy needs more work. If you do not have enough examples, client language, or emotional detail, you need better source material.

Those are writing problems, and writing solutions can fix them.

But if you understand the strategy, have the information, use a workable process, get clear outside feedback, and still keep stopping at the same point, more copywriting advice is unlikely to change what is happening.

At that point, the problem may not be your ability to write. The interruption may happen when the copy becomes specific enough to reveal what you believe, ask someone to act, and give the market a chance to respond.

You do not need a sentence you can admire forever. You need copy that is accurate enough to publish, test, and improve based on what actually happens.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I write copy for my business if I hate writing?

Start by talking. Record yourself explaining the offer to one real person, then transcribe it. You may not hate writing as much as you hate trying to think, organize, and sound professional at the same time.

Can AI write my website copy for me?

AI can organize real source material into a useful draft. It should not invent your client’s experience, your proof, or your voice. The quality of the draft depends heavily on the specificity and accuracy of what you give it.

How do I know whether my copy needs more work or I am overediting?

Get outside feedback. If the reader cannot identify the offer, the intended client, or the next step, revise the copy. If the reader understands it and you still keep reopening settled decisions without a clear strategic reason, the editing may be serving a different purpose.

Can avoiding writing the copy be an execution block?

It may be. First rule out a weak process, missing information, unclear positioning, or an unrealistic workload. If you know what to say, can explain it clearly, have the source material, and still repeatedly avoid beginning, the writing may not be the actual problem.

What makes business copy convert?

The reader needs to recognize her problem, trust that you understand it, understand what you offer, and see a believable next step. Design supports that process. It does not replace it.

Suggested Reading

These articles explore two related reasons finished work may remain unpublished:

Why Finished Never Feels Finished

Fear of Being Visible Is a Revenue Problem

About Jennie Hays | Execution Block Specialist

Jennie Hays helps coaches and service providers determine why the strategy they understand is not turning into consistent action and results.

Sometimes the strategy is wrong. Sometimes the process does not fit the person trying to carry it out. And sometimes a specific execution block keeps interrupting the same move.

Jennie corrects what is not working, designs execution around how the person actually operates, and addresses the specific block when that is what remains. The goal is sustainable momentum without ongoing dependence.

Learn more at jenniehays.com.