We recently got to sit down with our Content & Social Media Director, Charles Doyle. He had much to say about the marketing and design industry, the creative process and working at Yabsta Digital. Read on for some interesting insights.
1. Why is copywriting so important to the success of a website?
It’s important for both aesthetic and technical reasons. Depending on the platform, web copy should be written in a way that appeals to an online audience (ie. caters to shorter attention spans while still transcending the key points of the desired message). People don’t want to slog through paragraph upon paragraph of text, even if you’re extremely proud of your business and want to tell your entire story.
On a technical level, the way you compose your text has a direct effect on how well your site gets indexed for certain keywords on major search engines like Google. By following some basic principles of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you can appeal to Google’s algorithm through proper keyword density (not using a given keyword too many or too few times), optimized meta tags (taking advantages of important text fields that Google uses to determine what your site is about) and adhering to the basic tenants of good grammar.
2. What is your thought process for working with each client?
As cliche as it sounds, every client is unique with different business goals. Some business owners are more hands on than others. If I’m able to get an initial kickoff meeting with the client (which doesn’t always happen to our global scale), then great: I’ll feel them out to get a sense of their business, and that makes it easier. However, a lot of the time I’m working strictly from a design brief and supplied content with no personal introduction, so I have to revolve my writing style solely around that material.
3. How do our copywriters fit into the rest of the Yabsta creative chain?
We work with the sales reps, designers and developers throughout the whole build process. As it happens, clients may have to make changes at the 11th hour, so I always have to be ready for that. I’ll typically start the copy for a given web build before an initial design concept is proposed, then alter it accordingly to the typography of the design.
4. Do you think that it’s important for modern copywriters to have web development or graphic design skills?
Hard to say. It definitely couldn’t hurt, but the job descriptions are so different that in my opinion, most people who are full time copywriters wouldn’t have time to be involved in design or development. As I mentioned before, however, communication with the people who do have those skills is absolutely essential to the finished project.
5. What kinds of projects/clients give you the most satisfaction?
The ones where the client is actually making a difference in the world. For example, I manage and write for the Facebook pages of the Bermuda Heart Foundation and CORE, two organizations that are striving to make Bermuda a healthier place. It feels good to work for people like that.
6. What do you enjoy the most about working for Yabsta Digital?
That I genuinely like everyone I work with…We’re all functional nutjobs. It can be a very hectic environment, but having good relationships with your coworkers can get you through the toughest of work-related times.
7. What is a project that you would like to check off your list?
We’re currently building a website for a new internal product we’re launching (Yabsta Site Builder), and the scope is huge. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time on any one copy project before, so that.
8. If you could give our marketers one copywriting tip, what would it be?
It will take time to adapt to writing for the web. No matter how good of a writer you are, if you were taught a more academic style of writing (which most people are), you will feel frustration initially. Expect rewrites and lots of trial and error before you get it down.
9. What do you enjoy outside of work?
Fitness, craft beer, politics, serial television, film, poetry
