I get a weekly update from a certain biz/marketing guru who shall remain nameless. I like her work, generally, so I don't want to seem ungrateful for the gems she shares with us.

And I will, if I name her, because I'm gonna read (but not drag) one of her latest posts about how to improve your website copy.

In the advice she gives in that post, she's missing a big secret, and it's something that I used to teach even my introductory-level English students. So regardless of whether you're an entrepreneur trying to get more hits or a freshman in college trying to understand why this writing class that you're forced to take even exists, this post in the Oratoria is for you.

It's the Rhetoric, Folks

Take a look at my second sentence in this post:

I like her work, generally, so I don't want to seem ungrateful for the gems she shares with us.

This sentence is rhetorically off the mark. How so, you ask? My English 101 students could have told you.

On day two (or so) of English 101, I told (NB: I don't teach anymore) students about rhetoric. Aristotle defined it as the art of knowing the available means of persuasion in any given situation. Today's rhetorical studies is less concerned with persuasion than with "communication of meaning," which encompasses persuasion. But the rest of the basic elements are still important. Based on that definition, what can we see that Aristotle emphasizes?

Audience: In order to persuade someone, I have to know what they believe, think, like, are moved by, etc. In order to communicate with them successfully, I have to know what language they speak (even better: what dialect of that language), what their mood is, what they care to hear about at any given moment, etc. I have to know their motivations for listening.
Topic: What am I trying to persuade them of or communicate to them? What are the details of that topic that they'd be interested in? Uninterested in? Repelled by? Curious about? Aristotle spent hours and hours lecturing about how to appeal to very specific demographics of the typical audiences that his students might encounter, as proven by the hundreds of pages of class notes from his lectures that now comprise his Rhetoric.
Purpose: Why do you want to communicate? Why is the other party listening and, perhaps, responding in a specific way? What are you trying to achieve?

Those are the basics. For any given item of writing--from a grocery list to War and Peace--my English 101 students knew how to break down any communication and understand it rhetorically.

In my sample sentence, there are a few problems, mostly to do with audience. First, I don't identify who "us" is. Secondly, I seem to assume that my audience will be persuaded by my discussing what I like, which is the topic of that particular sentence. Speaking of topics, that sentence is shaky, because its topic seems to be what I like, while the rest of the introduction of this post is headed in a very different direction. That set-em-up/switch-em-up approach isn't always problematic, but it's certainly risky, especially vis-a-vis purpose. Why did I need to do that re-direct? Why did I need to explain what I like and don't like? Why did I need to shift gears suddenly thereafter?

This is, admittedly, a very, very close reading of just one little sentence, but my point is that my English 101 students were equipped to do that.

Oh, the Errors You'll Catch

So I'm watching this video post by this guru, and she's giving out very helpful advice: people should write their businesses' websites with the customer in mind, not themselves. What does that mean? Well, for example, my "About" section on this site is tucked away behind two pages; it's past the page about my company, Laughing Saint Editorial LLC, on a sub-page of that sub-page. Why? Because what I do for a living is about providing a service, not about providing a spotlight for myself. It's you, the customers and readers, who come here looking for (here comes purpose) information about my services and about how to survive in the usage jungle. (NB: Someday, I'm going to write a book titled Oh, the Errors You'll Catch: How to Survive in the Usage Jungle.) So instead of writing about how I like copyediting, I write about what my services are and what they provide to you when I'm writing the main pages. I do the same thing for my clients: your website (rather than your LinkedIn profile) is about your customers, so I'm going to write your website copy with a lot of "you" and "your," a bit of "our" and "we," and almost no "I" or "my."

The guru, in explaining that, was 100% right.

But, right at the very end of the post, she mentioned that being "cute" and funny on your website is pretty much required for catching customers today.

Woah, there. Not so fast.

Clearly, she knows her own audience: they like her quirky style, and her brand is all about being personable. Her audience expects this, but not all audiences are her audience. Not all industries are her industry.

If I'm writing a website for someone in an insurance firm, I will not be using cute, funny copy on the website. If I'm writing a website for a financial-services firm, I will not be using cute, funny copy. If I'm writing a website for a community organization dealing with emergency services, I'm not going to use cute, funny copy.

Why not? Because it wouldn't serve my purpose. It might confuse readers, because rhetoric also includes issues of tone, genre, and timing. If you're looking for a bankruptcy attorney, do you want that person to be cute and funny when they're trying to solicit business? Apparently, this guru thinks you do. My experience says differently.

Research and Field Testing

Thankfully, we could do a rhetorical analysis of other websites in any given industry to see what the norm is, and we can follow up with clients and in focus groups to ask people what their response to website copy is. We don't have to trust a guru's gut (Not Trusting the Guru Gut will be the next book) about what's effective for any given purpose and audience.

If cute and funny end up winning the day in every industry, sector, and audience, so be it! I know, though, that if had asked my students about whether that was a sound rhetorical analysis, they'd have frowned.

Do Your Homework

So, instead of going to the copywriting service that this guru was recommending, which shall also go nameless here, you should find a copywriter who's got some knowledge of rhetoric or some very detailed knowledge about the audience you're trying to communicate with or the industry/sector that you're trying to reach. Finding just anyone and figuring out too late that that person thinks a blanket approach to writing website copy will do... Yeah, you don't want to find yourself in that position. It'll be an expensive bag to be left holding.