Stop Writing for Yourself
Read your own website like a stranger just landing on it for the first time. Not a colleague. Not someone in your industry. A stranger who has never bought what you sell and doesn't know your terminology.
Chances are, it's harder to do than you expect. That's because most business owners write for the person they already are — someone deeply familiar with the products, the process, and the value of what's being offered. The problem is, that person isn't your customer. Your customer is meeting all of this for the first time.
This shows up everywhere, not just on websites. It's in the quote that lists specs instead of explaining the benefit. It's in the sales conversation where you skip a step because "obviously" everyone knows that part. It's in the voicemail greeting packed with department names a first-time caller has no way of matching to their problem.
None of this is a communication failure in the usual sense. Nobody's being unclear on purpose. It's just that expertise creates a kind of blindness — the more you know about what you do, the harder it becomes to remember what it's like not to know it.
A simple test
Take one piece of your marketing — a website page, a quote, a flyer — and hand it to someone with zero connection to your industry. A neighbour, a family member, anyone outside the bubble. Ask them to explain back to you what your business does and why it matters. If they hesitate, or get it wrong, or ask a question you thought was already answered — that's not their fault. That's the gap you need to close.
Three ways to close it
Explain it like you would to a friend at dinner, not a colleague at a conference. Drop the terms that only make sense inside your industry.
Watch for confusion in real time — a customer's raised eyebrow or blank stare is worth more feedback than any survey.
Ask "does that make sense?" more often than feels necessary. It's one of the most useful questions in business, and almost nobody asks it enough.
Your knowledge is valuable. But it only becomes valuable to your customer once it's translated into language they already understand. Write — and talk — for the person on the other side of the counter, not the person standing behind it.