B Y T O M T O R T O R I C I
The web designers I know quite naturally love to design. The chance to choose and arrange images, colors, fonts and other elements as they build attractive pages gets their creative juices flowing. No surprise, right?
What is surprising, I’ve found, is how much they typically dread other aspects of new website projects.
First, designers don’t particularly enjoy spending hours collecting detailed information from clients about their company, products, services, features, policies, customers and competitors.
Second, designers often struggle with breaking down and arranging all that information into individual web pages and page segments. Too often, the myriad offerings, topics and details don’t fit comfortably into their predetermined layout or page list.
Third, most web designers aren’t into devising effective marketing strategies, company positioning, or needs analyses for the firm’s various markets. So those crucial aspects may not get addressed at all.
And fourth, people who excel at web design quite often hate writing the words, or ‘copy’ that’s needed for the new website. So they’ll often ask the client to supply their own written content, which too often arrives as a spotty and superficially boastful effort. Or it simply copies their competitors.
Now, the smartest designers I know make life easy for themselves; they don’t even attempt to handle the aspects of the job that they despise, and know they’re not qualified for.
Instead, they bring in a skilled web copywriter, who, as it turns out, loves to do all the things that they hate to do.
First, writers know how to prepare for a ‘Discovery’ call with a client, ask the right questions, and pursue promising angles, as they dig deeper to match the firm’s underlying strengths with the real-world needs of their customers.
Second, copywriters are able to deconstruct all the input they get from the client’s perspective, and reconstruct it as easy-to-follow pages and sections. Highlighted key points appeal to the point-of-view and likely circumstances of the prospective customer.
Third, the best web writers think strategically as they process all that info about product benefits, market trends, and consumer frustrations. They can then position the company and its services in a genuinely unique, relevant and beneficial way.
Fourth, writers, of course, love to write. They don’t just list product features; they also focus on the emotional and aspirational aspects of the sale in order to engage people, build desire, and elicit a response.
Bringing a copywriter on board, then, benefits the designer, the company, and their customers – a triple win.
The designer has a content outline and the final approved copy in hand before building out the site, which helps the web creation process go quicker and smoother.
The company stands out from competitors with messaging that emphasizes the right things and resonates with the right people, by leveraging strategic insights.
And the web visitor quickly sees that the company truly understands their goals and challenges. This creates a visceral bond, and points the way to the smart solutions they need.
Business websites that aren’t completely thought through, or contain bland, self-serving copy that was pieced together almost as an afterthought, makes it harder for the rest of us to find and buy what we need … no matter how well designed that website is.
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About the Author: Tom Tortorici is an Atlanta copywriter and web content writer who helps companies make a genuine connection with their audience. His classes and conference presentations have focused on how writing, strategy and design can work together to grab attention and interest even among readers with short attention spans. In addition to working directly with businesses, Tom regularly partners with web designers and marketing agencies.
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Tom Tortorici Inc. | Tom@TomTortorici.com | 770-934-7861 | 3101 Rockaway Rd | Atlanta GA 30341