You are not going to be a skilled copywriter by reading just one post, but hopefully, at the very least, you are left with a basic knowledge of a few basic copywriting concepts that you can use to inject written words into your designs.
Copywriting includes web design. Copywriters need to understand the basic elements of web design and how to use HTML to style the text on web pages. These are important because much commerce occurs online, and the text’s style influences purchasing behavior as strongly as its actual meaning.
First, whether you are working with a professional copywriter or composing your own, you are free to write as much as you want when creating your copy prior to designing a website.
Whether you are looking to start offering your design clients copywriting services, or just looking to get an idea of where your copywriter is coming from, here’s a look at what goes into great copy. Unlike other sales tactics, professional copywriting helps sell your company or services better, while not creating additional work for you.
How Websites Use Copywriting
Copywriting can be composed to educate visitors about your business, build brand awareness, and promote your company. As a copywriter, you are not expected to develop the materials (print ads, billboards, websites, etc) in which your copy is placed. For smaller businesses, you might be surprised to learn that your copywriter can help with branding, particularly at the beginning stages of your business.
If you prioritize copywriting over branding and design, you are leaving the most critical elements of your business in the hands of the copywriter, who may or may not have the business development skillset to support you in designing a brand conversation that works.
Your copywriter may be pitching the message, trying to keep it readable, engaging the audience with the copy, doing SEO bits, creating something completely on-brand for your marketing, and yet the project could collapse if your web designer is not on the same page. If you prioritize design over branding and copywriting, you run the risk of creating a visual design that does not support the goals of your business and your brands objectives, does not attract the right persona, and is not a home for your content goals.
Images and Design Are Supporting Elements
While images and design are critical to every site, but without quality content, visitors are left scratching their heads about who you are and what you offer. If you have a stunning design but a bad copy, then your site is not going to convert anywhere near as well as one that has a great copy but a bad design. It does not matter whether you want readers to purchase products, read multiple blog posts, or whatever; if your website design is not moving readers towards completing the actions that they are supposed to, then it is not going to be that effective.
As a designer, having no boundaries on the types of content and the lengths of the content could be a recipe for disaster. Content is the basis for a successful site, making it critical that you give proper care in both design and writing. Good copywriting and design must go hand-in-hand in order to produce a site that attracts and communicates well with the intended audience.
Before you can write compelling website copy or build an eye-catching site design, you have to figure out what your strategy is. With your brand strategy, your website strategy, and your site copy written, all you have left to do is marry your brand strategy to your design.
Copywriting Must Accompany a Strategy
Some website designers expect you to present a complete website strategy to them or expect a website copywriter to present the strategy while delivering the final content. Other copywriters expect designers to come up with the strategy while creating the website’s visual mockups via wireframes. Most often, smaller businesses hire the web designer first, and they do not usually consider the copywriter until the site is nearly ready for launch (and they realize how much they do not want to write copy on their own).
If a designer was not working hand-in-hand with a copywriter himself, they would not have a lot of flexibility to think up new ideas or good copy on the fly — unless they were using placeholder content that could be replaced later. The problem with placeholder content is that it forces The client or the copywriter to fit into The Design.
Some believe a situation in which a client starts off with his or her design first, then comes up with copy later, tends to produce confusing messages. It seems like even the first-to-copy approach could lead to problems if a copywriter is not involved in the design process, as the designer may not be sure exactly where the copy is meant to go. When designers and copywriters are working separately, it is common for problems when it comes to aligning things.
Copywriters Shouldn’t Marry Their Works
No copywriter wants to slash through his or her own work, and neither does any designer want to completely rework his or her structure. Your website’s copywriting should be added into your design process, absolutely, but even then, start small for a bit until you are comfortable. Even with that newfound clarity on your branding strategy, there is still a step you have to take before starting your copywriting or design process.
Because you know the basics, you will be best equipped to create designs that highlight and complement your copy on the web. A web designer typically follows the guidance of the brand expert and/or copywriter when creating visual designs that support what the content needs to do in order to help convert your offering. Essentially, the task is the job of an experienced team of copywriters in creating a content design that sells the idea, product, or service online. A Website Copywriter is a professional writer that works with you to craft perfect text for your new site.
In terms of website designers, copywriting is the process that guides people toward a specific goal, a powerful technique in a sales pitch, in which customers usually make one or a few transactions. In practice, design is a process that needs to occur alongside the content, not only in spite of it, and the practice of creating a page filled with lorem ipsum and having the copywriter fill in the gaps simply does not cut it anymore. The most insidious mistake you can make–and the hardest to undo–is focusing on the design before writing the copy.