TOC #225: Get a diary
(April 15th, 2025) How to make drafting your website copy easy by using your D.I.A.R.Y.
I was so sick of hearing all their bitch ass complaints, so I bought them all diaries.
Every single one of them.
The ENTIRE sorority.
“You wanna complain?” I said, from my seat at the front of the room. “Write about it in your diary. I don't wanna hear it.”
You see, being Vice President Panhellenic was a very big deal back in 2015.
It was my job to make sure all the girls made it to all the Greek Life events, so that we could remain in good standing on campus.
Each girl was assigned a “team” — pink, bronze, or blue (the Delta Gamma colors, lolol) — and each team was assigned to go to an event or two each week, so we could ensure we always had a full presence at every chapter's event.
(The reason why we had so many events all the time is because Greek life organizations had to do a certain amount for charity / fundraising. But that's not really the point of this story.)
And everyyyyy time we had a chapter meeting, the president would give her remarks, and the social chair would share her progress on planning our formal, and the VP of finance would say some bullshit about dues, and then it would be my turn, and I'd say something like:
“Okay, so SigDelt Shakedown is this week; blue and bronze are going to that. Sigma Nu is hosting some random bagel breakfast thing; pink and blue are going to that. And AZD is doing a walk at Bushnell Park; bronze and pink are going to that…”
And then half these hoes would start to twist their faces, and sit up in their chairs, and take in their big breaths to start to moan and groan and complain — and before they could, I'd finish my speech with:
“I don't to hear your complaints. If you have a problem with it, get a grip or get a diary.”
And someone would whine about how “the blue team has to go to everythingggg 😩”
And someone would later text me and say they were sick, so they were sending so-and-so in their place.
And someone would inevitably skip, then lie and say class ran long.
So, naturally, "Get A Diary!" became my catchphrase. It's what I was known for.
(That and having the best closet that literally came with a sign-out sheet because so many people would ask to borrow my clothes… but that — and the drama that came with the Great Dress Shrinking of '16 — is a newsletter for another day.)
So, naturally, I got them all diaries.
And now, I'm getting YOU one, too — but it's not for your complaints.
It's for your copy.
Specifically: copy that sounds like you, and appeals to your target audience.
(You're welcome!)
Get A D.I.A.R.Y.
Now, I can't buy every single one of you a diary for your complaints, but I can write you a nice little acrostic poem (like I've been doing on Substack!) to help you get out of your own head when writing your website copy.
DEVELOP YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Starting by thinking about who is going to read it is way easier than starting with “what should I say about myself?”
But none of that “female, 27, Michigan, loves tacos” bullshit. I want you to actually DEFINE who they are, what they do, what their problem or need is, and what they'd want to see on your site.
What can you tell them that would make them feel like you understand them? Focus on sharing that, before moving on to the ‘about you’ piece. You want to build some momentum first.
IDENTIFY WHAT THEY CAN RELATE TO
Once you know who they are and what they need, you can start thinking about how you can relate to them.
Have you been in a similar spot? Do you know what it's like to go through what they're going through, or have any of your past clients / students gone through it?
Or, maybe… would you laugh at the same references or appreciate the same things or live a similar lifestyle?
ASK YOURSELF WHAT MAKES YOU “YOU”
Now that you know what you need to know about them, how can you TALK ABOUT IT like yourself?
What are the things only YOU say? The inside joke phrases you use with your best friend? The casual you-isms that you'd say in a Threads reply?
REVIEW YOUR WHAT YOUR CLIENTS, CUSTOMER, OR COMMUNITY LOVES ABOUT YOU
When you inevitably get stuck or hit a roadblock, go back through your client reviews, comments on your social media posts, responses to your newsletter, or conversations with your people, and remind yourself what they love most about working with you.
Think about comments they've made about your process, or your final product, or the way you think, or the way you interact with them.
(Hint: I save all of my positive reviews in an email folder and a desktop folder called “PRAISE” so it's easy for me to go back and look!)
YAP.
Once you have everything in place, you can finally yap all about yourself in your copy!
& if you get a D.I.A.R.Y. and you still find that you need help writing your site, I have juuust the thing…
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