The Truth About Copywriters vs AI Copywriters

The copy on your website is one of the most important aspects of the entire thing. I know I say this about pretty much every aspect of your website, but this time I really mean it!

In truth, although it pains me to say so, you can get by with average design and even using platforms like Wix or Godaddy builders to make your website. But copy makes such a big difference.

It helps really engage a user in what you are trying to say and sell and guides them through your website to hopefully buying from you. It also helps our favourite people at Google understand what the website is about, if it’s deemed useful and how to rank it.

So I would say it’s pretty important as far as your website goes.

Copywriting is hard

One of the most important pieces of your website, yet a lot of companies and marketers try and do it themselves, I mean, why not? It’s writing and we can all write, right?

While that holds true, there is a difference between a professional wordsmith and your casual language speaker. It might not initially look like it, but it’s subtle uses of unique words and storytelling that turn something drab into something fab.

A great example of this is in photography as well, go out with a professional photographer to a unique place and see if you can get as good a photos as them? It won’t happen, their framing will be better, lighting and editing will all make their photos better. Even if you had the same tools available. 

Can an AI beat a human?

Now we are getting into the meat of this blog, because there has been a big movement into the world of artificial intelligence lately and what I’ve been seeing is more and more AI copywriting tools popping up.

But are they good? Can they replace a human?

The TL;DR version is not really right now, but they can complement them.

Testing AI copywriting so you don’t have to

That’s right, we’ve been testing a few different AI copywriting tools to see if they are useful, if they can actually write good copy and if we need to look for new jobs.

So we put these two to the test with the same input keywords just to see what kind of content they would make and if it was usable.

“Derby’s newest restaurant has a sophisticated menu that specializes in gourmet burgers. Distinctive sauces and toppings, as well as must-have sides, make Annie’s a cut above the rest. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Annie’s offers a thoroughly enjoyable dining experience for all ages.”

That’s not so bad now is it? You can see this as a short PR introduction or even on Annie’s website!

That was written in about a minute using an AI copywriter. But is it good? We say no, it seems like a list and doesn’t have much personality to it, even though you can set personality settings within the tool.

Okay let’s look at another example from a different tool with the same inputs:

“Annie’s Burger Shack is a burger joint that serves up the best burgers in town. Ever. Come taste our 100% organic, gluten free, and vegan burgers with something for everyone. Our chef carefully prepares every recipe from scratch using fresh ingredients and locally sourced produce. You can enjoy a decent meal at an affordable price with Annie’s Burger Shack. Our friendly staff will attend to your every need and will be there for you before, during, and after your meal to ensure that you have a great time with us. You can also enjoy a cold beer or a refreshing glass of lemonade on our patio overlooking the scenic views of derby!”

Again, a pretty good effort for an AI with minimal inputs and a small amount of time put into it. But it suffers from the same problem as the other example in the fact it doesn’t have much personality and just lists ‘features’ so to speak. This one is better but still not perfect.

What was the point of this?

That’s a great question and something I ask myself when doing these kind of things, especially when you expect it to come out REALLY BADLY and it actually surprises you with the results.

But it goes to show that there is really no replacement for a skilled copywriter when writing your website copy, but that doesn’t mean that these tools can’t be used as a starting point.

As far as we’re concerned this is a great starting place for your website copy, but it just needs to be refined to give it the tone of voice your brand is after and that personality and human touch.

Luckily, we don’t all need to look for new careers then, and I would suggest trying to implement tools like this into your workflow to save you a bit of time staying at that blank white screen. These AI writers can help get you started with something that you can then go and refine.

Unfortunately these AI writers do fall down in some places, here is what it thinks a great call to action for this blog should be:

“I want to get my website designed” If you want to get your website designed, get in touch with us!