Vancouver Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content and Copywriting

Copy first; design second

Copy creates the customer. It’s copywriting and your sales funnel that convert visitors into customers; so an effective design must support the copy.

I began my career designing pages and writing ad copy in the magazine industry in 1987. I quickly learned that there were two components to making a magazine issue successful. We needed well-written, ridiculously valuable and beautifully designed editorial content to attract and retain readers. And, once we had secured their eyeballs, we had to present brilliantly written ad copy to convert our readers into customers for the display ad buyers. You must have an audience and copy that converts your readers into customers.

Many business owners believe that somehow the internet has changed the way effective marketing works, but the very same principles come into play when designing a successful website. Only the method of distribution has changed. I have more than 34 years of experience in crafting content readers crave, writing effective ad copy and designing the pages that produce the desired outcomes.

Copywriting, funnels and conversion

There is a perceived risk with the best practice of ‘copy first, design second’, that nothing will be built until the discovery process is complete, the sales funnels have been designed, and all the copy has been written. Development delays could be costly and this often causes business owners to simply rush ahead with the design. Most websites are built ass-backwards. The copy becomes a handicapped afterthought at best, crafted to fit into the limitations of a fully baked design. Losing sales due to skipping the strategy phase is the real cost.

Having been a part of more than 1,000 website projects, spanning more than two decades, I always prefer to complete an initial round of discovery, to determine exactly who your target customer is; then design the customer journey/sales funnel(s) to convert your target audience, and finally map out the content/SEO strategy that will generate the traffic you need to achieve your sales objectives. But once we know exactly what we’re building, it’s full speed ahead; we can begin work on the website development, writing the copy and creating some initial content, all at the same time.