Websites that don’t make sense don’t make money
Most small business websites don’t fail because the business is bad. They fail because the website makes people work too hard. Too hard to understand what’s being offered. Too hard to work out if it will solve their problem. Too hard to figure out what to do next.
And when a website feels like too much hard work, people move on (and take their money with them).
That’s why Compelling Copy focuses heavily on clarity. Not because it’s a ‘nice to have’, but because clarity directly impacts whether your website is able to do its job and connect with your customers at all.
‘When a website feels like too much hard work, people move on (and take their money with them).’
Confusing websites get ignored
When a website is unclear, people rarely tell you. They don’t email to ask for clarification or give feedback. They simply leave.
That’s what makes issues with website clarity so hard to diagnose. You see enquiries that come in, but you don’t see the people who arrived, hesitated and quietly chose another option.
And because those people disappear quietly, it’s easy to assume:
traffic is just low
demand is just slow
people just don’t want to buy right now.
Even if you’re diligently tracking Google Analytics, it’s hard to know why people leave, or whether confusion played a role.
People are busy, so you don’t have much time to show them they’re in the right place. They need to quickly find answers to questions like:
What does this business do?
Is this for someone like me?
Can they help me with the problem I have?
What’s the next step?
If your website doesn’t answer those questions clearly and early, people won’t consciously decide not to buy from you. They just won’t move forward because they don’t understand what moving forward with you means.
Clarity reduces friction (and friction costs you money)
Every time a visitor is unsure of what you’re trying to say, they hesitate. Every moment of hesitation creates friction.
Friction can happen through:
vague headlines that sound impressive but say very little
generic phrases like, ‘tailored solutions’ or ‘end-to-end services’ without any explanatory context
pages that jump straight into service features without explaining the relevance
navigation that forces people to guess where information lives on your website.
Each unclear sentence leads to another question, and too many questions create uncertainty. Uncertainty leads to delay, and delay usually turns into moving on.
Websites with clear messaging reduce friction by doing the thinking for the visitor, so all they have to do is make the decision to take the next step.
Clear websites make buying decisions easy (and buyers make you money)
People don’t visit small business websites to admire the words, design or pretty pictures you’ve carefully curated.
They visit to decide:
whether to enquire
whether to book
whether to trust you
whether to keep looking elsewhere.
‘You see enquiries that come in, but you don’t see the people who arrived, hesitated and quietly chose another option.’
A clear website:
explains what you do in plain language
shows who the service is for (and who it’s not)
connects services to real problems
makes the next step obvious and low-effort.
Having a clear website doesn’t guarantee a sale, but it creates the right conditions where a sale is possible.
A confusing website doesn’t even get that far.
Why trying to sound professional can backfire
Many websites are unclear not because the owner doesn’t know their business, but because they know it too well.
Unfamiliar industry language creeps in.
Generic marketing phrases replace explanations.
Website words get written from an internal perspective and not from the customer’s.
The website looks and sounds polished, but it doesn’t quite land. If the visitor has to do too much work to translate your message, you’ve already lost them.
Don’t get me wrong. Clarity isn’t about ‘dumbing things down’. It’s about meeting your prospective customers where they are, not where you are.
Clarity doesn’t mean long pages or over-explaining
Clear websites are not necessarily wordy ones. In fact, it’s usually the opposite.
Clarity comes from:
better structure, not more content for content’s sake
stronger headings, not longer paragraphs
logical flow, not clever phrasing
answering the right questions, not all the questions.
A short page that makes sense will outperform a long page that doesn’t, so say what you need to say to get the message across clearly, and then stop.
Why Compelling Copy is focusing on clarity first
A lot of website copywriting advice focuses on writing techniques:
better headlines
stronger calls to action
more persuasive language.
Don’t get me wrong. Those things matter. Good writing matters.
But clarity lives in both structure and language. It’s about how your site is organised and how your words explain what matters.
If visitors can’t quickly work out what you do, who it’s for or why it’s relevant to them, no amount of clever wording will carry the page. Clarity must come first because clear thinking is what gives good writing something solid to sit on.
That’s why the Compelling Copy blog will put a lot of emphasis on:
making sense of your message before polishing it
organising information so it’s easy to follow
using plain language where it helps understanding
reducing mental effort for your website visitors.
Because when a website makes sense, people stay and engage. And when they engage, there is a greater chance they will buy.
Consider the clarity of your website
If your website isn’t getting the response you expect, clarity is a good place to start. Even when everything feels ‘fine’, confusion often hides in plain sight. Clear websites begin with clear thinking and strong writing builds from there.