Comments on: Before You Hire a Writer

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:09:44 +0000

Tiffani,

Great insight. As a web developer/designer, I know the value of good writing, but am not a writer myself. I outsource the writing, and in the past have run into these issues.

I think from now on I will just send the clients over here to read this article, then let them decide if they want a professional to write, or do they just want text on the page.

By: Tiffani

Tiffani — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:37:49 +0000

Thanks, all, for your thoughts.

George: Kristina Halvorson’s book, Content Strategy for the Web (http://www.amazon.com/Content-Strategy-Web-Kristina-Halvorson/dp/0321620062), is a great place to start. Try Jeffrey MacIntyre and Predicate’s blog, too: http://predicate-llc.com/category/link-blog/.

Matt: Thank you kindly!

By: Matt Robin

Matt Robin — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:36:46 +0000

Great article Tiff! I’m really glad someone, especially you, has written this. Highly significant - it needed to be said (written), and isn’t practised nearly enough. Me: I’m a designer who appreciates that great writing can make a big difference to a web site, I’m not a Web Writer or Editor myself, and I’m a fan of your work - would consider sending clients your way (if appropriate). So it’s refreshing for me to find, for the first time, a Web Writer clearly state that effective writing alone won’t magically make a site brilliant…a great point! I’ve mentioned to other Web Pros, that I also support that site’s content strategy should be sound before content writing takes place…(wait: does that make me unusual then?! Hahaha!)

I’ll be keeping this article bookmarked for further reference to other designers and clients alike. Cheers, Matt.

By: Rogers George

Rogers George — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:53:45 +0000

I have a Google alert for “good writing,” and this post came up today. I found a lot more than just about good writing. I have never heard the term “content strategist” before, though I confess most of my writing is not for the web. Now to go follow some of those links…

By: Ahava

Ahava — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:59:27 +0000

You are so right! I couldn’t have said it better myself. What’s really critical is for content strategists and Web writers to have a good grasp of the technology available- that’s the critical part. They need to understand a bit of IA and a bit of design/usability and overall the user experience and how that plays into content development.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:36:59 +0000

Great post. I especially like the idea that businesses need to have their brand strategy figured out before hiring a writer. It’s difficult for us writers to get on board if we have no idea where the train’s headed.

Great point about the different types of writers and content strategists, as well.

By: Noreen Compton

Noreen Compton — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:58:49 +0000

You make a lot of good points, and I hope clients are listening

A problem I run into a lot is the one you said you recently had - clients think “ok, web writer needed” when they are building a web site, but they don’t get the “strategy” part of content. So copywriting is done at the end of the IA and design. Even when they start the copywriting at the beginning of the project, it doesn’t help if it isn’t integrated with the other disciplines.

As a Web Writer, I expect to collaborate to some extent with other members of the team. But certainly when working as a Content Strategist, I expect that.