Writing good website content is hard. Unfortunately, many senior business owners consider content writing as an afterthought. Few people actually write content and even fewer can do it well.
In an ideal world, content would be written before any website was designed, coded, or tested. How can you create a design concept without any idea about the quantity of text or the number of navigation items? However, content is rarely considered as a top priority and it is often the last piece of the website puzzle.
This leads to one of the most frustrating aspects of freelance web design: sites can be delayed by many weeks, if not months, waiting for clients to provide their documentation. The project delay is understandable: clients are running their business and can not give content the thought it deserves. They are starting with a blank sheet and may not appreciate the need for keyword analysis, search engine optimization, and concise writing.
Given that content hold-ups can affect delivery schedules, payment, and other projects, it is surprising to discover that few web development agencies offer content writing services. It is much easier for a client to review and amend existing text than write it from scratch.
I suspect many agencies do not offer the service because:
- They are designers or coders rather than writers.
- Writing takes time and often requires a significant amount of research.
- There is a fear of misunderstanding the client’s industry or using incorrect terminology.
These problems are easily overcome – and the service is chargeable. Your contract just needs to stipulate that the website will not go live until the the client signs an agreement to say they have verified the text and it has been completed to their satisfaction.
Content writing services can make your agency stand out from the crowd. That is likely to become increasingly important during the economic downturn.
Have content delays affected your schedule? Do you – or will you – provide content writing services?
Craig BucklerCraig is a freelance UK web consultant who built his first page for IE2.0 in 1995. Since that time he's been advocating standards, accessibility, and best-practice HTML5 techniques. He's created enterprise specifications, websites and online applications for companies and organisations including the UK Parliament, the European Parliament, the Department of Energy & Climate Change, Microsoft, and more. He's written more than 1,000 articles for SitePoint and you can find him @craigbuckler.
