Brand, Web & Presence

What are the most common copywriting mistakes first-time founders make on their website that quietly kill conversions?

A starting point

The big three: leading with what you built instead of what it does for the reader, burying the actual offer under vague mission language, and writing a call-to-action so soft ("Learn more") that nobody clicks. Most founder sites read like an internal pitch deck, not a promise to a stranger. Fix the hero, sharpen the CTA verb, and cut every sentence that starts with "We are."

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

2 resources 2 link-checked Watch Read

Watch

▶️ Video

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Reading about copy mistakes is one thing, watching someone pull up a real founder's homepage and point at what is broken is another. Demand Curve runs live critiques of actual startup landing pages, so you see the fuzzy header, the buried CTA, and the feature dump that is not landing, plus the specific fix, on real sites rather than tidy made up examples. Watch it with your own page open in another tab and pause to apply each note as it comes up.

Landing Page Critiques (Masterclass)

On YouTube (Demand Curve) by Demand Curve About 60 minutes

Seeing the same mistakes flagged across several real sites (unclear value in the hero, weak CTAs, missing proof) shows you which errors are common, not just yours.
The critics keep returning to clarity over cleverness: copy that is easy to skim and instantly understood beats copy that sounds impressive.
Because it is a live teardown, you also pick up the diagnostic habit of asking what is unclear here and what question is left unanswered, which you can then run on your own page.

Watch on YouTube youtube.com →

Read

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Shapiro gives you a concrete framework you can apply the same afternoon: write a header that is fully descriptive of what you sell, then build your value prop from a bad alternative, a better solution, and an action statement. It is free, example-heavy, and written for founders drafting their own page, not for agencies. Read it with your own headline open in another tab and rewrite as you go.

Startup Handbook: Landing Page Copywriting

From julian.com by Julian Shapiro Long read, about 30 minutes

Your header should pass one test: if a visitor reads only that line, do they know exactly what you sell.
Build a value prop by naming the bad alternative people use today, how you beat it, then turning that into an action statement.
Cut vague slogans and add a hook plus a subheader that explains why the claim is believable.

Open julian.com →

People also ask

How do I write copy that explains what my product does clearly? Say what it is in the plain words your customer would use, not corporate abstractions like 'empowering synergies'. Lead with the concrete benefit, ... Beginner 2 resources → What are the rules of good marketing copy? Harry Dry's three: make it visual (words people can picture), make it falsifiable (specific claims a competitor couldn't copy-paste), and make it u... Beginner 2 resources → How do I write a headline / value proposition that grabs attention? A great headline states the specific outcome for a specific person, clear beats catchy. Julian Shapiro's advice: make the header fully descriptive ... Intermediate 1 resource → How do I find the exact words my customers use to describe their problem? Mine their language directly, sales calls, support tickets, reviews of competitors, Reddit and community threads. Then feed their phrases back into... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I structure a message so customers care (story / framework)? Make the customer the hero and your product the guide that helps them win, that's the StoryBrand framework in one line. Frame it as: they have a pr... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I learn copywriting quickly without a marketing background? Study before/after rewrites of real landing pages, you learn faster from watching a pro fix bad copy than from theory. Harry Dry's Marketing Exampl... Beginner 2 resources →