As a small business owner, you know your products or services inside and out. You’re passionate about the value your business provides. But does the content on your website actually convey that excitement, passion and expertise to visitors?

Many small business owners fall into the trap of writing website content and blog posts that sound too formal, stale, or salesy. This misses the mark when you’re trying to form an emotional connection with your site visitors. They’ll click away and you’ve lost a customer.

You can fix this by writing in a way that speaks directly to your ideal customer. When you have an intimate style of communicating, it builds trust and relationships.

Let’s look at some ways you can increase website traffic, get search engines to find your site, and convert visitors into buyers.

Speak with your customer, not at them

The best websites speak one-on-one with the reader. Use words like “you” instead of formal terms like “the customer.”

Imagine explaining your business to a friend over coffee. You wouldn’t use technical jargon. You’d express your passion in simple, relatable language. Bring that style to your site.

Here are some tips for making copy conversational:

• Use contractions like you’ll, don’t, hadn’t. This informal speech reads more naturally.
• Go for active voice, which puts the subject before the verb. For example “You will learn our step-by-step process” not “Our step-by-step process will be learned by you.”
• Address pain points and benefits using the second person. “Is your current lawncare service giving you headaches?”
• Ask rhetorical questions to engage the reader. “Want a tool that makes managing social media a breeze?”
• Use reader-centric headings. “How our accounting services save you time” not “Our service offerings.”

The key is imagining you’re speaking to a customer one-on-one and responding to their needs.

Funnel in your expertise naturally

Don’t hide your expertise or talk around it! Funnel it into your blog posts in a natural way.

Here are some ways you can subtly showcase your authority:

• Reference specifics like number of years in business, awards won, or case studies of past client success.
• Answer common questions that you receive from customers.
• Share a peek behind the scenes to build trust. Explain your processes, standards, and philosophy.
• Quote statistics and outside experts if relevant. Just be sure to cite properly.
• Use clear, descriptive headers and subheaders to convey what you offer.

The goal is to come across as an industry insider customers can rely on, not to be boastful. Think like a helpful teacher rather than a used car salesman.

Optimize for SEO without sacrificing readability

Conversational content connects with readers, but to get your site found by search engines you still need to nail SEO basics. The key is seamlessly working optimization naturally into the site content and blog posts. Here are some tips:

• Do keyword research to identify terms your target audience searches for.
• Include the 2-3 most important keywords in page titles and H1 header tags. But don’t make it look awkward!
• Mention keywords in a natural way in the content itself. For example “As San Diego cyclists, we take bicycles seriously.”
• Break content into readable subsections with keyword-rich headers like “Why visitors to San Diego love our bike rental.”
• Create useful, keyword-based content like blog posts and videos to attract new visitors.

With these tactics, you can optimize pages for relevant search terms without turning off website visitors.

Remember, search engines are people too

Ultimately, search engines are programmed to analyze websites much like a human visitor would. So conversational, attractive posts and content that engages customers also impresses the algorithms.

Good content should entice your reader to read one line after another line after another line. Search engines also scan text line by line. So try telling a story that hooks the reader in!

Build a personal connection

Connecting personally with website visitors may get you thinking differently. You to will have to inject more of your own passion, personality, and expertise into the content, especially if you’ve been taught “business writing”! This will be a mindset shift for you.

But it’s worth overcoming the vulnerabilities to write posts that your ideal customers connect with emotionally. After all, people prefer doing business with other humans, not faceless entities.

Making your website content conversational gives you a tremendous advantage to capture more qualified visitors, build SEO rankings, and convert visitors into delighted customers who will keep coming back to your business.

Give it a try!

Photo by Judit Peter