We're building websites backwards

Many businesses are building their websites backwards. They optimize for subjective appeal rather than commercial effectiveness. Agency pitches focus on brand identity and visual systems and user experience flows, which of course are all valid considerations and they need to be right. But notice what gets discussed last, if at all: the actual words that are going to go on the page. Now, of course, design matters. UX, UI, buyer journey maps, all of this stuff, it matters, yes. But buyers don't purchase because our site looks pretty. At some point, someone has to explain what we actually do and why a buyer should give us stuff. That requires language, which is usually when things go sideways. The object of the exercise becomes producing bland, interchangeable corporate speak. The kind that has buyers running away faster than a vegan at an abattoir. Pages convert primarily because of the copy. The words are doing most of the work. Yet we are apparently fine spending tens of thousands on brand guidelines and color palettes while treating copywriting as some kind of afterthought. Someone from marketing gets tapped to sort of fill in the content over a weekend. Design serves copy, and it always has to be that way round. If we try to do things the other way round, we get beautiful templates that don't actually say anything. A designer starting work with placeholder text is actually decorating an empty room. They're making choices about visual hierarchy, white space, typography, all of this stuff without knowing what needs to be communicated. They're being asked to come up with a visual optimization for a message that doesn't exist yet. Then the copy arrives, it arrives late because it takes work, because it's hard, because it takes longer than we think it's going to take. But now it has to be squeezed into text boxes of a predetermined size, right? Otherwise the design breaks down. So the copywriter adapts the text to fit the design rather than design adapting to amplify the message. So we've built the whole thing backwards. But visitors judge both what we're saying and how it looks at the same time. They're not separating these elements. So generic language paired with dodgy AI imagery is sending a signal that we haven't thought about our value proposition. If we can't articulate why we matter, why should they care? We continue to optimize for looking professional instead of being interesting. But professional is table stakes now. Every industry has raised its baseline. Decent design, clean layouts, mobile responsiveness. Everyone has this. It prevents site visitors bouncing instantly. But instant bouncing isn't the goal. Interesting is what actually converts. Interesting makes someone read the second paragraph, then the third. Interesting Makes them think, finally, someone who gets me. And we keep confusing the two. We think professional equals effective, but professional equals acceptable, right? When did last— when did somebody last forward a website to a colleague because of the gradient in the header, right? Doesn't happen. But people absolutely share websites that explain something clearly or frame a problem in a new way. That's proper, effective copywriting. In action and doing its job. Once design is locked down, changing copy means redesigning pages. So what happens? The bad copy stays and it calcifies. No one wants to reopen the project to challenge approved designs, to push back deadlines. So the path of least resistance keeps mediocre copy because no one wants to open that particular Pandora's box. Copywriters get brought in at the end and are given super tight deadlines and are told to match the tone of placeholder text. But that workflow was never meant to be the model. Half the time we're better off leaving the Lorem Ipsum placeholder text since it makes as much sense to the buyer as the boring nonsensical drivel that's about as interesting as watching drywall. The strategic work of figuring out what to say, how to position the offering, which objections to address, all of that stuff happens in a rush, assuming it happens at all. But the fact is that copy drives results twice as effectively as design alone. But since that disrupts our current process, we ignore it. But regardless, most businesses are going to continue to build their sites in this way. The infrastructure supports it. Agencies are structured for it. Procurement processes expect it. So changing the sequence means admitting that we've been approaching this in the wrong way. And of course, nobody wants to be the one saying that in the stakeholder meeting. So we'll keep producing beautifully designed websites that don't convert and blame everyone else. Thanks for listening. If you like what you heard, please pass it on. I'm not saying I'm right, I'm saying many out there are wrong. Please subscribe, share, comment, whatever works for you. Find out more at kexino.com, that's K-E-X-I-N-O. Hope to see you again here soon.