My points of contention? Let’s see:

• Random population of anyone’s “title” into the email. Total fail. Kinda like a Twitter auto DM.
• The assumption that anyone requesting a connection with me would have an answer for any question of mine.
• The assumption that their answers would be “high-quality.”
• The fact that I’m going to show you your erroneous thinking in one image.

Sometimes fields that are auto-populated are not such a good idea. After all – if Old Spice can make it personal, so can LinkedIn.

Special thanks to @jodiontheweb for her quick hand at Photoshop today.

One day in the town of Ghent
A businessman to his team sent
An email, not so long, that stated
His company’s website – man, did he hate it
Build me another, one that surpasses the rest
I know with this team, ours will be the best!

On one computer, the designer clicked “close”
And on another, the copywriter started crafting some prose.
Said the designer, “I’ll build the most beautiful 3.0 site!”
And the copywriter purred, “God, I LOVE to WRITE!”
So the designer built, adding navs and buttons
While the copywriter wondered what rhymed with “mutton.”

For days on end, they each boiled and toiled
Their respective ambition for their crafts unspoiled.
The designer crafted wireframes rivaling Frank Lloyd Wright designs
And the writer penned copy inarguably divine.
Alas, the day soon came where their assignments were due
Their client would be delighted, this truth they both knew!

Two emails were opened and to each were attached
And their respective masterpieces to the boss were dispatched.
With the click of a mouse, they each let out a sigh
Their mastery of their craft, neither could deny.
“I love what I do!” they independently exclaimed
And then reached for the phone, braced for their moment of fame.

“Are you there, Mister Copywriter? It’s me, the client.
I’m getting Mr. Designer on the line – will you hold just a moment?”
The copywriter held till the designer chimed in
Then with a cough and a swallow, they heard the reaming begin.
“Did either of you speak? Did you plan? Did you get in cahoots?
Because nothing that you gave me is of any damn use!”

“You, Mister Writer – your words – hey, they’re great.
But with the design from Mr. Designer, not a lick of sense they make.
And you, Mister Designer – what are my site visitors to do?
None of the copy I have fits – do I have to review?
I told you both once that this site must be supreme
And by your lack of collaboration, you’ve ruined my dream.”

“How do you write, Mr. Copywriter, if you don’t know where your words go?
And Mr. Designer, how do you design if you don’t know the word flow?
They both work together, the visual and the text
So my site visitors don’t get confused and know what to do next.
What I have from you two are two separate things
When they should truly be one – a marketing choir that sings!”

Speechless they were as the client bid them farewell.
Is there a moral to this story? Ah, yes – here’s the sell:

A website is a choir, not a series of one-acts
If it’s anything but, it looks put together by hacks.
No matter your role: SEO, writer or designer
No one’s more important, no single role finer.
If you think you’re the schiz and you don’t need another soul,
I’ll tell ya – you’re wrong and have a long way to go!

Words must fit boxes and boxes the words
Your SEO must guide you, else none of its heard.
If code is crap, the words won’t ever matter
‘Cause the search engines won’t find you among the cruddy code clatter.
And no SEO strategy? Well, just give up the ghost.
Words with no purpose? Yeah, your website is toast.

So Designer, Copywriter, Tech Professional – hear this!
Do you want a client like the one above? (pissed)
All it takes is the willingness to work as a team
To conjure-up a plan and build a collaborative scheme.
If this, you can do, you’re miles above all the rest
As they simply don’t get it…So why not work like the best?

Step one: start with wireframes. Where do words go?
How will visitors click though? How will they spend dough?
Step two: SEO research. What traffic do you want?
What words help them get here? Don’t be nonchalant!
Step three: craft the copy, SEO and design in mind.
It all comes together, your separate ideas now refined.

That’s a site to be proud of, no ifs ands or buts
A well-executed strategy with minimal fuss.
Your team? Essential. They make you look better.
So pick up the phone, drop an email – WHATEVER!
But hey – collaboration…it’s not for everyone, I know.
You can lead a horse to a team, but to collaborate? Perhaps no.

Website content is the undisputed king – search engines rank you by it, people rate you by it, and most of all, it’s the number one tool (in conjunction with a solid website design) that tells your visitors who you are, what you do and what you can do for them.

But your web copy isn’t working. WTF, over?

Today’s post is the first in a series of five posts that will cover website content. As a reminder, installment two in my WordPress Series will be published this Wednesday (catch installment one Three Reasons Your Website Sucks and One Simple Way to Fix It here), so if you haven’t subscribed, have a lookie-loo at the right hand side of this page and subscribe via RSS feed or email. Let’s face it – you get a lot of crap in your inbox every day…why not get some crap you actually want to read?

Most people think that the mere act of having a website is their ticket to instant traffic and an exponential increase in sales. Yeah – you’re wrong. There are two key components that go into a solid website: content (king) and design/coding (a piss-and-vinegar queen that’s bucking for the throne at all times). A pretty website alone, while nice to look at, isn’t going to result in higher traffic or sales. It needs the compliment of coherent, purpose-driven content. Now, before I get the commenters who think I’m being sexist by putting forth that a website is a patriarchal entity and the matriarchal figure is subservient (blah-blah-blah)…it’s a metaphor. The king and queen compliment one another and work together to create a web-based kingdom that:

• Is sticky (keeps visitors on your site)
• Lets visitors know what you want them to do (click here, buy this, subscribe, submit a form)
• Converts visitors to customers (creates revenue or another desired result)

In the words of Mel Brooks: It’s good to be the king.

Any old words slapped up on a web page simply won’t do. There’s a tried and true method for developing coherent and conversion-oriented web copy that works. The next four parts of this series will cover the following topics:

• Do Your Homework: Audience Identification and Keyword Selection (WTF is a keyword?!?!)
  • Who do you want to visit your site and why? This post will delve into how to think like your target audience and how to do the research for your entire site that will result in web copy that speaks to your audience and more importantly, speaks to the search engines. Search engines are smart, but you’ve gotta tell them what they want to hear.
• Specialization of Labor: Why Each Page of Your Website Should Have a Job
  • Ever worked in a company where everyone was the sales/marketing/administrative staff/lead developer and CEO? Too many cooks in the kitchen! We’ll look into why each page of your website should have a clearly defined purpose and talk about how that helps the search engines and your business simultaneously. Copy rules here, and it takes a polished pen/keyboard to write purpose-driven text that gets you where you need to go.
• Who Loves You, Baby? The Importance of Links and Anchor Text
  • Expanding on the idea of specialization of labor, we’ll discuss why the specialization you committed to will help your website from both the inside AND the outside. There’s a heavy importance that search engines place on links (both internal and inbound from other sites) as well as the way you create those links – anchor text. Stop pasting URLs and hyperlinking the words “click here.” Do it right, reap the rewards.
• It’s Not Over Until It’s Over: Revisiting Your Site, Making Revisions
  • When you’ve finally achieved a site that works and one that’s got a design and the complimentary copy to do what you expected it to do—you can’t just let it be. We’ll go over the importance of analytics, competitive analysis and how to stay one step ahead of your competition through some smart “tweaks” to your web copy and site meta data to ensure that as the months and years roll by, your site isn’t left in the dust with the dinosaurs.

There’s a lot of crap lurking out there on the interwebz, but your website doesn’t have to belong to the Crap Club. Follow this series of blog posts and take your website from crap to content-rich in a few easy weeks of reading. We’ll see you next Monday with Do Your Homework: Audience Identification and Keyword Selection, and don’t forget to catch this Wednesday’s installment in my WordPress series and how it can be used as a tool to help you build a solid website.