The following question was raised yesterday on an email discussion list in which I participate:

“I personally feel that checking spelling is beyond the scope of a Web site developer, along with writing copy and even headlines, etc. If I’m glancing through and find something, of course I’ll fix it, or point it out so they can fix the copy used elsewhere, but I feel it should already be print ready when it reaches my desk. What are your thoughts?”

Well, a developer definitely should not be responsible for copy. But in the grand scheme of the project, someone absolutely should.

I would also argue against the notion that copy should always reach a developer’s desk in final form. That’s the ideal situation for the programmer, but depending on the nature of the project it’s sometimes best to leave placeholder text and have the copywriter write to fill. Or there may be instances where final copy is delivered to the programmer but there’s too much copy for the design. And, of course, there’s often copy massaging along the way — those massages need to be made thoughtfully by the copywriter, not arbitrarily by anyone else, in order to maintain the proper messaging while deleting the necessary verbiage.

All too often, though, companies will leave copy in the hands of — oh, let’s just say someone with less-than-professional standards. We’ve all seen the results, haven’t we? Do I really have to name names and provide links?

As someone who has been an editorial professional since the Reagan administration, I find it eternally frustrating that professional copywriters are so often dismissed. After all, everyone can write, right? Everyone can put a sentence together. Everyone can write an email. So how hard can it be to write a Web page? Or a newsletter? Or a marketing email? Or a direct mail piece? Or a blog post? Or …

Takeaway for marketers: Web sites are words, visuals and code. So when it comes to developing or revising a site, have a copywriter, artist and engineer on the case every step of the way.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 10:20 am and is filed under Internet Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Marketing Takeaways.