Website copy with AI that does not sound like AI
AI agents write fluent text in seconds, and that is exactly the problem. "Unlock your potential with our seamless, innovative solutions" is fluent. It also says nothing, and readers have learned to skip it. Here is how to get copy that sounds like a person who knows their business.
Why AI copy sounds like AI
- No facts. Without your details, the agent fills the space with general phrases that fit any business.
- The same words everywhere: seamless, elevate, unlock, journey, tailored, cutting-edge, "in today's fast-paced world".
- Everything comes in threes, with a rhetorical question on top.
- Too polished. Real people write with some edges.
Give it the raw material
The single biggest improvement: give the agent facts before asking for text.
- what exactly you do, and for whom;
- numbers: years, clients, prices, times;
- how a typical job goes, step by step;
- real questions customers ask;
- real reviews, word for word;
- a few sentences you wrote yourself — an email to a client, a post.
Then ask it to write only from that material.
Tell it what to avoid
Write the texts for the page from brief.txt. Plain language, short sentences, speak to the customer as "you". Use only facts from the brief. Do not use these words: seamless, elevate, unlock, journey, tailored, innovative, cutting-edge. No rhetorical questions. No lists of three adjectives.
Ask for your own voice
Here are three emails I wrote to clients. Write the website texts in the same tone and with the same kind of sentences.
Edit like a reader
- Read it aloud. Anything you would not say to a customer, cut.
- Look for claims you cannot back up: "the best in town", "trusted by thousands".
- Replace every general phrase with a specific one. "Fast delivery" becomes "delivered in Barcelona within 24 hours".
- Cut the first sentence of each section. It is often a warm-up.
Specific beats clever
A visitor wants three answers: what is this, is it for me, what do I do next. Plain, specific text answers them faster than any slogan. It is also what search engines and AI assistants can quote when someone asks about a business like yours.
For the sections to write, see the landing page structure, and for ready prompts, 15 prompts for a landing page.