1. “The design is ready, you can add the content now”
Copywriter’s don’t want to hear this because it means what they write will be confined, not enhanced, by the design.
With web design projects most people focus on graphics. After all that’s web design isn’t it? Approach most web designers and the conversation will very quickly become a visual one, taking place via Photoshop. The needs of the content are largely ignored. What is a design called when it’s not built around its content? A template.
From the right structure, layout and navigation to knowing where to put emphasis, whitespace and visual cues… it all starts with the content.
Your copywriter wants to hear you say “Let’s work on the content so we can get the design started”.
2. “I’ve done the branding… look, here’s the logo”
What would copywriters see wrong with that? That’s what branding is, isn’t it? Image is everything.
When was the last time you had a conversation about branding that wasn’t about logos? But image isn’t the same as images. Your brand is how you are perceived, not what you look like. Sure, graphics are important, but what you say and how you say it is equally so, Effective web copy stimulates emotional/ psychological triggers and uses the right tone-of-voice, rhythm and word choice to influence reader perceptions.
Your copywriter would love you to see how much more there is to branding than just a logo.
3. “The site’s fully SEO’d, now can you write the content?”
Google/ SEO professionals will tell you that quality content is the key to SEO. So how can a site built on ‘Lorem Ipsum’? be optimized?
Search engines index and serve-up content.. They factor in everything from site architecture and link structure to the relevance and freshness of content. An optimized website is therefore built on optimized content. Not to mention, most off-site ‘SEO’ is just content strategy by another name
Your copywriter will die a little inside if you don’t grasp that SEO is all about content.
4. “I don’t know…”
At key moments, this is the biggest thing copywriters don’t want to hear. You can’t have answers to absolutely everything. But, “I don’t know” answers to questions like “Why do/ don’t people buy from you?”, “Where are you better/ worse than the competition?”, “Who are your different audiences?”.
Without this kind of fundamental grasp on your business, getting the website, sales pitch and marketing strategy/ messages written is going to be tough.
The upshot of this is… whether you are hiring a copywriter or supplying the content yourself – it’s integral to the success of your website. What you say and how you say, how you structure and navigate it… your copy has a big impact on conversion rates, SEO and integrating offsite marketing/ PR. Don’t overlook it.
