One of the random gems I’ve stumbled across in recent years is RainToday.com. It’s an offering of Wellesley Hills Group, a “management consulting, marketing, and lead generation firm focused on helping professional services firms grow.”

(btw, The Hired Pens has no relationship with Wellesley Hills Group, so I have no ulterior motive here.)

Anyway, I highly recommend checking out this article: “5 Myths of Internet Marketing for Independent Professionals.” Author C.J. Hayden believes you can’t market professional services (e.g. management consulting) the same way you market Internet-only products and services (e.g. Web hosting). And if you do, “you’re likely to make some serious mistakes … that may be hazardous to the health of your business.”

She then goes on to dispel the five prominent myths. Two of them concern copywriting, which caught my eye.

Hayden cites “It all starts with a great website” as Myth #1. That is, before committing to building a fancy website, make sure you’ve clearly defined your service offerings. And that means getting it all down in writing:

“A brilliant design and dazzling graphics won’t pay off anywhere near as well as a clear explanation of why a client should work with you. Useful material such as articles, assessments, and other samples of your expertise will go much further to persuade prospective clients than flash intros and interactive menus.”

Amen to that.

Myth #4, says Hayden, is “Killer copy is the secret to sales.” Here, she recommends turning down the hype with your website copy. If you’re selling professional services – as opposed to, say, “steak knives on late-night TV” – you should look to create an aura of quiet confidence, not unfettered chaos:

“Your Internet marketing persona should reflect the same professionalism as the work you do with your clients. If writing marketing materials isn’t your forte, by all means hire a professional copywriter. But be sure you hire one with experience writing for professionals like you.”

A recommendation that readers hire a professional copywriter? Amen to that, too.

Back when Anna and I were just a couple of crazy kids with a dream, we had an interesting debate. It concerned our fledgling website – and how we wanted to present ourselves to the online world.

The official Hired Pens website, V1.0.

The year was 2001, and we didn’t have the cash to hire a Web designer. We were going to have to build the site ourselves, using our pathetically rudimentary design skills. If something was going to make our site stand out, it would have to be the copy.

The question was, what voice should the copy take? Anna thought we should go the humorous route. But humor is tricky. What’s hilarious to you might be silly, inane or even offensive to someone else. Plus, we were trying to get work with serious organizations -  universities, hospitals, financial firms, etc. What if they weren’t amused?

Eventually, though, Anna won me over. Her argument: While some organizations may engage in serious business, the employees there are still human. And some of those people even have a sense of humor. Those are the people who would like our site (and who would probably be enjoyable to work with).

So we set out to write website copy that would be clever and professional. It took awhile, but we like to think we got it right.

In the eight years since, we’ve been very happy with the results. There’s nothing better than hearing from potential clients who found us online and decided to call us because our site made them laugh. Sometimes, they even decide to hire us. That’s especially sweet.

What’s the lesson here? Don’t be afraid to take chances with your website copy. Sure, you could play it conservative, always color within the lines, and drone on and on about “market-leading solutions” and “our proven methodology.” However, that’s probably what your competition is doing too.

Humor isn’t appropriate for all industries. If you run a funeral home, it’s safe to say your target audience isn’t looking for giggles. But funny, clever website copy can be appropriate and effective for more businesses than you might think. Give it a try sometime.

What corporate websites do you find amusing? Let us know (in the Comments box below!).