I hope the headline hasn’t shocked you too much and if it has then let me tell you my reason for it. After doing some careful marketing research over the past couple of days I decided to contact a number of Irish based web design companies to offer my content writing services. You may not be aware of this, but more and more web design companies are now including copywriting packages that their clients can choose from. One such web design company is Solas Web Design and their range of copywriting packages is extensive. They offer a Blog Journalling package which includes 4 blog articles per month at 500 words minimum per post for get this….$500. Yes $500 for 4 blog posts.
Now you can see why I thought offering my services to Irish web design companies was a good idea.
I logged onto Google and typed in Web Design Companies making sure that I had pages from Ireland clicked. The first company that I rang was Cobweb. Someone with a very foreign accent answered the phone. I told him that I had been looking at their website and was wondering if they offered copywriting services to their clients. He immediately responded by telling me that the manager was away and to ring back next week. That was the end of my conversation. The next company I tried had a fault with their landline so that was a waste of time also. The next company only listed an email contact address or a mobile number. I didn’t call.
The next company I tried was Ripe web design. I spoke to a very nice gentleman called Warren. I told him I had been looking at his website and was wondering if he offered his clients copywriting services. He told me there was no need because in this day and age nobody copies content from websites because they get penalised by Google for duplicate content. He had misunderstood my question completely and was talking about copyrighting and not copywriting. When I explained to him what I was actually talking about he went on to tell me that I was wasting my time and that content writing was a waste of time. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This was a web design company that also offers SEO services and he was telling me that content on a website was just a waste of time. Now excuse my ignorance, but am I missing something here? Isn’t SEO optimized content a necessity to rank well with Google? Has everything that I have been doing for the past 5 years irrelevant?
This web designer basically told me that he did the content himself and that most of his clients told him to just put anything on the pages……Sounds like his clients don’t want their websites to do well doesn’t it?
I began to inform him that a lot of US and UK web design companies were offering copywriting packages but this didn’t change his opinion at all. He basically informed me that copywriting was not something that people are interested in.
I’m finding this very difficult to believe. You read time and time again about the important of unique content, keyword optimized content, blog posts, etc., and now I’m being told that this is not important. What do you think?
To end the conversation, Warren did give me his email address and told me to email him my website details, etc, and that he would put it on his website so there may be hope yet. I just don’t know. Are the web design companies in your area offering copywriting services? Have you every tried to offer your services to a web design company? If so please share your experiences because I would really like to think that this was a one off and that there are web design companies out there who realise that content is important.
Until next time,
Keep writing.
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As a freelance copywriter, I frequently write website copy. Maybe it’s about 25% of my business, and I normally get these jobs through design firms. There’s a market out there for it.
Still, some people will spend a lot of time and effort on good design but fill it up the space with any old misspelled, poorly written content. I always thought that was odd.
One problem is some web designers aren’t aware that freelance copywriters exist. “Ripe” in your posting probably falls in this category. It’s a question of educating them. You can also point out that writers help speed projects along. Designers often complain that they can’t finish a launch because they’re waiting on content from the client. That’s because (a) the client has other duties and can’t spend time writing content and (b) the client doesn’t like writing, isn’t good at it, and would rather put it off.
Henry,
Many thanks for your comment. I am delighted to hear that you provide your freelance writing services to some web design companies. After doing days of research I was sure this would be a great way to get more clients and provide a service locally too. I still can’t believe that I was told content writing was a waste of time and that clients just tell this company to stick anything on the pages. I think it is very bad business sense for a web design company to offer SEO services and not take into account that content is an extremely important aspect of this work.
I am delighted that you have put my mind at rest and provided me with proof that website copy is a requirement and something that is called for.
Hope to see you around here again.
Amanda
Amanda,
You and Henry are absolutely correct. There is a market out there to join your services to that of designers to offer complete packages. This is the same approach that many graphic designers use as well. They will team up with a copywriter to offer the “whole” package. Many clients love this arrangement as it offers a much easier experience for them.
The question I would ask, giving Warren’s opinions and work ethic, is – Do you wish to have your name and reputation associated with him?
Sounds like a lot of people you contacted need to wake up and smell the coffee! Although I haven’t worked for web design companies outright (great idea though!) the success of a business and the website for that business is directly related to the success of a business. They must have some disappointed clients when the websites don’t instantly produce what they are looking for!
Hey Amanda,
Getting in touch with website design companies to offer my services as a copywriter ‘was’ one of the things in my agenda, it isnt now. That’s a pretty grim picture, isnt it? What I have realized from my very few interactions with website design companies is that they always consider content to be an unwanted expense.
In one of my posts on my blog, I had mentioned this attitude of a website designer whom I spoke with.
I think it would be a better idea to pitch our services to SEO companies that understand the importance of quality copy.
Sanjay Nair