Buzzwords copywriting consultancy launches new approach to website creation

Long-established UK copywriting consultancy, Buzzwords Limited, is pioneering an innovative new approach to producing websites where copywriting is the lead creative skill.

With considerable experience of online copywriting projects involving design companies and ad agencies, Manchester-based Buzzwords has seen at first hand how the logistics of creating websites work.

Until now – and largely out of necessity – companies looking to create a new website have always made a design company or ad agency their first port of call. According to Buzzwords, this is probably because they’re unaware of the central role that copywriting plays in establishing a sound website structure.

Not only does effective copywriting link all company activities together in a coherent way. The copywriting approach as advocated by Buzzwords also ensures that website content is presented with the emphasis in all the right places, as well as ensuring that opportunities for suggesting the most appropriate visuals are not missed.

Buzzwords’ Director, Mike Beeson, who set up the company 20 years ago - initially to service UK ad agencies - is clear about where the focus should lie when it comes to creating websites:

“Starting with the design is putting the cart before the horse,” says Mike. “I’ve worked with lots of designers so I know the pitfalls of this approach.

“When it’s realised that the initial thoughts of designers may not have focused on the specific needs of that particular client or company, the changes involved can often mean nothing less than having to re-engineer the layout of the entire site - with all the cost implications this has.

“Not surprisingly,” Mike continued, “it probably wouldn’t cross the minds of most clients to contact a copywriter as the lead creative on their project - for the simple reason that they assume copywriters can only handle the words!

“This may be true of copywriters who are happy to work in the slip-stream of advertising or design agencies. When a client approaches Buzzwords direct for website copywriting, however, I always stress the importance of getting a complete overview of the company which can then be followed by creating a working site map.”

A potential stumbling block for many companies is sourcing the copy content. This is partly because interviewing clients to extract relevant information tends not to be part of a website designer’s skill-set. Mike Beeson, on the other hand, can point to parallels in other aspects of a copywriter’s work that equip them to handle the copy content aspect with relative ease:

“I compare writing websites to writing old-fashioned corporate brochures,” said Mike. “There has to be a logical flow of information, and the information must be concise and relevant to that company activity.

“In lots of ways, the structure of websites results in a much clearer view of a company and what it does than the more linear approach of a corporate brochure could ever do. Having said that, being able to break down a company’s activities into its component parts is very much a copywriting skill.”

Another important skill which Buzzwords brings to website copywriting is optimising the copy for search engines. Once the major keywords have been agreed upon, it makes sense to include search engine optimised (SEO) copy from the earliest stages.

From a Project Management viewpoint, this approach has logic to commend it. By setting down content parameters, all visual references can follow soon afterwards.

“Taking copywriting as the cost-effective starting point for a website is surprisingly rare - at least until you explain the obvious benefits,” says Mike Beeson. “It’s like looking at the project from the opposite end of a telescope, but every client I’ve spoken to about doing things this way has agreed it makes total sense.”

For more information, contact:

Mike Beeson, Buzzwords Ltd., 11 Rockford Lodge, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 8AH (United Kingdom). Tel +44 (0)1565 654023.
e-mail: open@buzzwords.ltd.uk
website: http://www.buzzwords.ltd.uk


ENDS