Write your business pages with Claude: copy that doesn't sound like AI

AI-written website copy has a smell. It’s vague, a little inflated, and oddly enthusiastic about nothing in particular. Customers can sense it, even if they can’t name it, and it makes a real local business sound like every faceless brand online. The good news: Claude can write copy that sounds like an actual person — you — but only if you steer it. Left alone, it reaches for the hollow stuff. Here’s how to get the real thing.

Why does AI copy sound like AI?

Because, on its own, Claude writes the average of everything it has read — and the average of business writing on the internet is bland and overinflated. So it reaches for safe filler: buzzwords like “elevate” and “seamless,” grand openers like “In today’s fast-paced world,” and warm-sounding claims that say nothing (“we’re passionate about excellence”). None of it tells a customer a single concrete thing about you.

The fix isn’t a magic prompt. It’s giving Claude the two things it’s missing: the specifics of your business, and the voice you actually use.

How do I make Claude write in my voice?

Two moves do most of the work.

Tell it who you are and how you talk. Not just “a plumber” — a plumber who’s blunt, a bit dry, allergic to sales-speak, who wants customers to feel like they’re talking to a person who’ll actually show up.

Then show it, don’t just describe it. Adjectives like “friendly” are weak instructions; examples are strong ones. Paste two or three short samples of writing whose voice you like — your own emails, a competitor you admire, any brand that sounds the way you want to sound — and ask Claude to match that tone. It’s far better at copying a voice it can see than guessing at one you’ve labeled.

Here’s a starting prompt:

If you’ll be writing a lot of pages, load all of this into a brand-voice Project once so you never repeat it — see Claude Projects for business owners.

What words should I tell Claude to avoid?

Giving Claude an explicit “don’t” list is the single most effective move you can make. Paste something like this and watch the writing get noticeably more human:

And there’s a deeper habit underneath the word list: replace vague claims with concrete ones. “We provide top-quality service” is filler — every business says it, and it proves nothing. “We answer the phone, show up when we say we will, and clean up before we leave” is specific, believable, and impossible for a competitor to copy without it also being true of them. Specifics are what make copy yours.

What should each page actually say?

You don’t need a copywriting course — just the right shape for each page:

• Home — say what you do, who it’s for, and where, in the first sentence. Add one real reason to choose you. A customer should know within five seconds whether they’re in the right place. This is not where a mission statement goes.
• About — the human story. Who you are, why you do this, how long you’ve been at it. People buy from people, and this is the page where you stop being a logo. Skip the corporate filler.
• Services — plain descriptions of what someone actually gets, and roughly what to expect. Concrete beats clever here every time.
• Contact — make it effortless. Phone, email, hours, the area you cover. Don’t bury it or hide it behind a form; some people just want to call.

How do I know the copy is actually good?

Two quick tests catch almost everything:

• Read it out loud. If it’s not something you’d ever say to a customer’s face, cut it. Your ear catches stiffness your eye skims past.
• Ask “so what?” of every sentence. If it could appear on any business’s website, it’s filler. If only your business could have written it, keep it.

When something’s still off, tell Claude exactly what — “this line sounds like a brochure,” “too formal,” “this paragraph says nothing” — and have it redo just that part. Two or three rounds of that and the copy stops sounding generated and starts sounding like you.

The goal was never to hide that you used AI. It’s to sound like a real person who knows their business and respects their customers. Claude is the fast, tireless writing partner; you’re the one who supplies the truth, the voice, and the read-aloud test.

This is the copy that goes straight into the site you build on the cornerstone path — so when you get to the build, you’ll already know how to make the words sound like you.