Why Hire a Copywriter for Website Content (Instead of AI)?

I (Sophie), like many copywriters, freaked out when ChatGPT launched in 2022. I imagined every client dumping me for a robot who’d do the job for free, and I made my peace with my soon-to-be life as an unemployed writer.

Fast-forward a few years, and past Sophie would be thrilled to hear that this hasn’t happened. As Good Egg’s copy and SEO lead, my working weeks are still filled with exciting briefs from dream clients who see the value in human copywriting for blog posts and website copy. And many of my copywriting pals are experiencing the exact same thing!

Why is that, you wonder? It’s because AI isn’t as good as experienced copywriters (at least not yet, anyway). Here are five ways a professional copywriter for website content will outperform AI. Every. Single. Time.

1. Professional Copywriters Don’t Pretend To Know What They Don’t Know

When you’re looking for a copywriter for website content, it makes sense to find one that specialises in your industry.

Ideally, you’ll partner with someone who fully understands what you do, has personal experience in the area, and/or is capable of researching to the point of becoming an expert. 

As a copywriter with lots of experience under my belt, I understand how important this is for creating authentic, factual copy that your ideal audience trusts. You’ll never catch me writing about cryptocurrencies or physics, for example, because, simply, I cannot.

Meanwhile, I regularly see AI doing the exact opposite. It will, of course, write about anything you ask it to, and it’ll seemingly grab info from any old internet source to churn out its content.

And this is only set to get worse! This (human-written and data-backed) article shows that AI now writes as many online articles as humans. As the World Wide Web becomes increasingly saturated with AI content, we’re losing balanced, factual content driven by human experience, which means AI will be referencing other AI content that was based on other AI content, etc etc etc.

The snake is eating its tail… and while doing so, it’s potentially tanking your profits by creating watered-down, inaccurate web copy that your customers can’t connect with. It’s a bit of a false economy when you look at it that way, don’t you think?

2. Copy Experts Know How To Write Words That Sell

Humans understand the context, positioning, and strategy of sales-focused storytelling, whereas AI lacks this all-important deep understanding of customer behaviour.

See, great copy isn’t just about choosing words that read well; it must also be grounded in strategic thinking to build trust, address pain points, and inspire action. Seemingly inconsequential things like the order of your messaging can be hugely impactful. It can be the difference between a potential customer sticking around on your site to read more and hot-footing it to your competitor to continue their buying journey there instead.

Over a decade of professional copywriting experience (and my sheer existence as a person who uses the internet) means I know how to strategically structure a blog or sales page, and how to add calls to action in the exact places your audience is thinking, “tell me more”. 

If AI doesn’t have this same knowledge (which, IMO, it doesn’t yet), this could cost you a lot more in lost sales than a professional copywriter would have charged you in the first place.

3. SEO Copywriters Understand How To Get Your Blog/Web Page Found Online

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the practice of writing web copy to get found on Google. Over the past year or so, AI has gotten better at producing SEO-optimised copy, but it’s far from perfect. 

AI doesn’t always follow best practices for important elements like title tags; it hasn’t mastered internal linking, and you can’t necessarily trust it with natural keyword placement on landing pages, product descriptions, or other website copy (this stuff is VERY important for SEO performance).

On top of this, AI needs you to give it an SEO strategy for it to work from, which either means you sharpening your own skills with endless online tutorials or hiring an SEO expert to do your keyword research for you.

If you work with me, an SEO copywriter, I can handle both steps for you…

• Our SEO packages give you the insight, strategy, and keywords needed for your website’s main pages to be seen on Google and in AI Search when potential clients are looking for products/services like yours.
• Our website copywriting services give you the choice of brand new SEO-focused website copy if you’re starting from scratch, or refreshed, optimised website copy if you’re looking to improve on what you’ve already got. 

Even better, the Good Egg team is one-half website copywriter, one-half web designer, so we can even help load your fresh copy onto your site (or build one for you if you don’t have one yet).

And if you found this blog on Google or one of the many other search engines, that’s a lil bit of proof that I know how to create an SEO strategy that works.

4. Copywriters Write Naturally (& In Your Tone Of Voice)

AI is formulaic. Sure, it’s plausible at a glance. It seems to read well, it covers all the key info you asked for, and everything is spelt correctly. So what’s the problem?

The problem is that your ideal clients can subconsciously spot robotic writing and just can’t connect with it.

We’ve all become accustomed to spotting corporate buzzwords, flowery metaphors, and the extreme overuse of em dashes, and I reckon we’ve all had moments where we’ve thought, “Why doesn’t this copy sound human?”

Studies show that folks using AI platforms like ChatGPT for writing tasks “are robust and accurate detectors of AI-generated text”, so it’s becoming tricky to pass off robot copy as anything but. It might sound right, but it feels empty. And how copy feels is what makes allllll the difference to its impact.

Authentic brand messaging, interesting word choices and sentence structures, and genuine human depth resonate with your target market, helping you to build the connection potential clients need to hand over their hard-earned cash.

Think personal over perfect. I mean, the copy should obviously be well-written, but it should also clearly communicate who you and your business are.

That’s why every Good Egg project starts with a get-to-know-you call, so we can chat and I can get to know your vibe and how you naturally speak. I don’t start writing until I have a true sense of you. I can’t quite explain how that happens, but it’s a feeling in my gut that tells me I get you.

5. ChatGPT Can’t Keep A Secret

Plagiarism is one of the most cited reasons folks don’t want to use language models like ChatGPT, and many of us worry that the content it churns out will sound exactly like everyone else’s.

If you’re concerned about that, you’re right to be. See the image below for ChatGPT’s take on whether it produces original content (it kinda doesn’t).

One thing that worries me personally is that most public generative AI platforms use our inputs to train themselves, which means anything we type into them can be stored, used, and ultimately seen by other users. 

There have been a few well-documented confidentiality issues because of this, including a Samsung slip-up where staff shared trade secrets by using AI to take internal meeting notes (oops).

On the other hand, copywriters aren’t typically blabbermouths and won’t tell everyone on the internet what you’re up to. Project agreements, NDAs, and working with certified Good Eggs gives you the confidence that your fresh data, upcoming launch, or marketing plan will stay private (as it should).

Should You Use AI or Hire a Copywriter for Website Content?

As a copywriter for website content, it’ll come as no surprise that I think you should hire a copywriter for website content.

In the spirit of balance, I gave ChatGPT a chance to defend itself against my claims that I’m a better copywriting sidekick than it could ever hope to be. But it turns out that it doesn’t seem to back its abilities with the same conviction that I back mine.

In its own words, “copywriters bring creativity, industry knowledge, and often a deep understanding of human psychology to their work”. ChatGPT thinks that this can sometimes give us an edge over generative AI. Too right, robot!