Guest Blog - The importance of good copywriting
It’s everywhere and there is no excuse for it. What is it? Well, bad copy and bad design. In this blog, I will focus on the writing.
People invest heavily in websites and marketing materials like flyers, posters, brochures and advertising, yet often forget the fundamental building blocks of effective content creation.
I have always been passionate about our language but, sadly, I see it abused daily – partly because we’re in such a fast, low attention span culture these days where text speak has made us lazy and sound bites predominate. This is still no reason for offering bad content – businesses have to engage with an audience and they have seconds to secure that attention and show that they are professional.
Good grammar, perfect punctuation and respect for the reader are golden rules of writing. After all, how can you be taken seriously as a professional if your content is littered with literals and suffers tiresome typography? (Okay, that’s enough alliteration).
First impressions matter: body language, the firm handshake, the business card and the office environment – we all know how important these things are. Well, so too are the headlines, crossheads and quotes within your copy. Which brings us to the issue of Google-friendly content. Google loves words, Google looks for keywords and those words have to be expressly relevant for those searching for your business as opposed to others.
So, why use a professional? Would you employ an accountant, solicitor or medical expert if their publicity suffers spelling mistakes? It’s not just about that – copy has to grab attention, be clear of jargon and waffle, and deliver the message and information in an engaging, easy to read and sometimes light, though not dumbed down, way.
Finally, let us not forget the power of imagery. Sadly, we are awash with stock photography these days but given these clichéd limitations, one can still dovetail the two disciplines and allow words and images to “talk to each other” – good copy can give new life to a tired image.
Don’t be content with poor content – allow the professionals to make your words work harder.
Will Harvey is a creative designer and copywriter with a history as art director for many national newspaper and magazine titles.
He can be reached via his mobile: 07401 260484 or via email: willharvey088@gmail.com
Access by Design. Award winning web design, Chichester.
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