Why Web Designers Need Copywriters

Rodgers and Hammerstein. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Barack and Michelle Obama. We’re no strangers to the world’s most iconic duos. From criminal combos like Bonnie and Clyde to fictional favorites like Kermit and Miss Piggy or R2D2 and C3PO, we’re just getting started.

From the upper echelon of classic combos, there emerges a new unbeatable pairing: web designers and copywriters. We’re not writing hit Golden Age musicals, starring in made-for-TV movies, or changing the face of American politics (and we’re definitely not robbing banks and funeral homes), but we are creating a different kind of something special.

Web designers, meet copywriters. We’re the missing member of your iconic duo—and here’s why. 

#1 Sit Back & Relax, Ferb! Let Phineas Do the Talking — They Can Better Communicate With Your Client to Understand Their Copy Needs 

While many cartoon duos honor the hallowed halls of childhood, the two brothers Disney’s Phineas and Ferb are a standout team—especially for the purposes of this blog’s driving metaphor. (Here’s a quick highlight reel of the show if you need one).

Phineas isn’t necessarily any smarter than Ferb but he can definitely talk circles around his brother. That’s because Ferb doesn’t really talk much at all.

But that works. Phineas does all the talking while Ferb invents imaginative contraptions, builds complex structures, and bends the confines of reality in their cartoon world. The two brothers rely on each other’s strengths and skills throughout every whacky, platypus-related adventure.

Copywriters = Phineas
Web designers = Ferb

Rather than working through discussions about developing a company’s unique voice, you can stick to your area of expertise. And while you craft stunning visuals, accessible UX, and top-notch back-end functionality to make your client swoon, your trusted online content writers will ask copy-specific questions to create copy that’s equally on brand.

Through a phase of research and discovery, they’ll be able to distill the company’s:

• Brand persona – Copywriting for brands requires us to really immerse ourselves in the brand’s identity. To speak authentically from a brand’s perspective, we first have to uncover who they are. Brands are not so different from people, and once you pinpoint their personality, behavior, and intended relationship with the reader, you can begin to speak in the desired voice—but you have to know which questions to ask to arrive there. 

• Key messaging – It’s easy for a company to tell you what they do. It’s a lot harder to position that service or product in the most effective way possible, appealing to the target audience, highlighting the most compelling value propositions, and encouraging buy-in from the reader.

• Voice, style, and tone – Every piece of copy from a company should share a cohesive voice, though the tone will vary depending on the situation, emotional underpinning, and intended audience. A copywriter will know how to first identify a company’s voice and style, then translate it into various different tones for, let’s say, an About Us blurb, Services page, email newsletter, Twitter feed, and LinkedIn bio.

The company’s ethos will underscore every piece of content for a brand voice that feels consistent yet unique and website copywriting services that overdeliver for your client.

#2 Every Marty McFly Needs a Genius Dr. Emmett Brown — They’re Experts at What They Do 

Marty’s an idea man—he has big dreams and high hopes. What he lacks is the technical prowess to pull off the particularly far-fetched feat of engineering that falls into his lap, thanks to none other than Dr. Emmett Brown. 

Now, we’re not saying web designers share Marty’s somewhat bumbling, somewhat haphazard state of being (but as wordsmiths ourselves, we can definitely say that all writers exhibit Doc’s fundamentally manic, obsessive, and occasionally ingenious disposition). 

Professional web copywriters have the experience and expertise to help you:

• Write compelling, conversion-oriented copy that translates to success for your client and a very happy customer

• Layout your webpages in the most logical and user-oriented way, by understanding the hierarchy of importance in your client’s messaging 

• Dictate the volume of content and different sections needed on each page, based on the necessary information to convey, which will influence your design decisions and lead to a more thoughtful and cohesive final product

• Identify and generate creative, consistent branding for your client that the website and its copy will fully embody

Together, your combined expertise can entice users, excite clients, and, even better, increase website traffic. 

#3 “Music by Richard Rodgers, Book & Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein” — You Can Divide & Conquer to Bring in More Business

With 11 musicals together—resulting in 35 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammy Awards, and two Emmy Awards (and yes, that’s an EGOT for each of them, before the term even existed)—Rodgers and Hammerstein are nothing if not prolific. 

But pay attention to the keyword here: they wrote their musicals together. Not just that, but they each wrote an essential component of the shows that became their specialty, dividing up music, book, and lyrics.

With specialized expertise and a partner you can trust, you can churn out a hell of a lot more content than you can on your own. By the same token, the Richard Rodgerses of the web design world need their Oscar Hammersteins to put apt lyrics to their sweet melodies—or in this case, conversion-oriented copy to their sleek, intuitive webpages.

By offloading a substantial portion of your work to a specialized professional, you’ll have increased bandwidth to onboard more clients and complete more projects without losing the high caliber of your work. From there, you can more easily expand your business (fast-tracking you to the double-EGOT of marketing).

#4 Like Disney and Pixar, Some Mergers Are Just Good Business Sense — It Gives You Another Service to Package and Upsell to Your Customers 

When Disney acquired Pixar for a modest fee of $7.4 billion, they not only gained access to Pixar’s entire library of existing classics but also to their renowned animation technology that allowed for better pictures. Now, you’ll find 18 Pixar movies and counting on Disney+, giving loyal viewers another reason to subscribe and stick around.

Well, you’re Disney, and this whip-smart team of dedicated copywriters is Pixar—sans merger.

In addition to your high-quality designs and super functional back-end development, you can now offer your clients the expert services of a professional copywriter. This comes as a delightful surprise to your clients and a benefit to your company for a number of reasons:

• Neither you nor your client has to waste time sourcing a copywriter, including research, interviews, and onboarding.

• Your client has access to everything they need in-house, including professional-grade digital copywriting services. They’re more likely to choose a design and development company that does it all.

• You can upcharge your clients for the added convenience your company now provides and can even earn a profit on the copywriting portion of the project, depending on your business model.

• You can promise a better final product (and charge accordingly) because the copy and design will be generated and perfected with full cohesion.

#5 Beep, Beep! Super-Speedy Road Runner Coming Through! — They Work Efficiently to Free Up Your Time

Some may argue that Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote are sworn enemies—the furthest thing from a so-called dynamic duo. We prefer a different perspective: their competitive spirit only brings out the best in the other, resulting in innovation and creativity abounding.

Unlike our favorite Looney Tunes frenemies, we’ll take things one step further and actually join forces—designers and copywriters. 

Instead of speeding away in fear, copywriters will fly headlong into the tasks that many designers struggle with (or simply hate doing) to write content efficiently and effectively. And rather than endlessly chasing after the always-just-out-of-reach Road Runner, you can devote your regained time to further optimizing your current projects or onboarding more clients. 

#6 “Jack, I Want You to Draw Me Like One of Your French Girls” — Their Work Enhances Your Web Design Portfolio

Rose and Jack? Talk about the ultimate power couple. 

While we’re not about to give up our spot on the life raft for you, we are going to help you look your absolute best, capturing your good side the way Jack draws Rose in the oh-so-legendary couch scene. 

When you present your past designs to a potential client, do you want to show them placeholder text or slap-dash copy, or would you rather show splashy headlines that perfectly match the visual aesthetic of your web design, displaying a better, more cohesive final product to entice leads? 

Your design portfolio is more than capable of standing on its own, but when you pair your impressive visuals with compelling copy, your leads will naturally associate your work with a higher caliber of content: they don’t have to imagine your designs plus great copy—they can see it in front of them. Now simply implement benefit #4 (package and upsell our services to your clients), and you’ll have yourself a deal.

Name A More Iconic Duo… How About You and Copycat?

No waiting necessary. Copycat Copywriters is the other half of your unstoppable pairing. Call us Ferb, Doc, Hammerstein, Pixar, Road Runner, or Jack—we’ll answer to whatever. As wordsmiths and creatives, we’re here to adapt to the needs of your design and development operation.

Do you like to wireframe the entire project and have a copywriter fill in the blanks? Do you want to work in tandem, us building off your initial designs and you using our first draft to build it out further? Or do you want us to begin crafting messaging according to the hierarchy of importance so you can apply your visual magic to our gripping words?

Every duo has a different dynamic—let’s figure out what ours will be.