Continued from page 1
"This sales message is complex, it will take some space and longer copy. We need to format
text so that people will keep reading. We need strong subheads, some indented passages and emphasis at
following points."
Once
writer has outlined
needs of
copy,
designer can then focus on showcasing
key points in
message, giving
correct emphasis to
various headings, subheads, body text and links.
The designer's job here isn't to make
page "pretty", it is to deliver
message with
right emphasis, and with each point in
correct sequence.
>> How does a designer know what to do?
In some senses, this is new ground for designers online. Until now, too much emphasis has been places on design for its own sake, instead of using it to support
copy on a site's pages.
If a designer wants to know how this works, he or she should go sit next to a direct marketing designer/copywriter team while they work.
See how
team communicates. See how
designer listens to
writer and places a great deal of emphasis on
type. Watch how
designer spends a lot of time selecting
right font,
right type size and color. See how a conversion-focused designer pays massive attention to
placement and appearance of every element of text.
Why? Because in direct marketing
response rates are intimately connected with
presentation of
copy. It matters where on
page each text element is placed. The font and its size and emphasis matters. The final formatting of
text matters.
Online? When you are building pages with a view to maximizing conversion rates, you become a direct marketer. That means thinking like a direct marketer, writing like a direct marketer and designing like a direct marketer.
>> Concluding points...
As it stands on
web right now, we have a couple of groups of designers.
There are
general web designers who create beautiful sites, without regard to how
copy should and can work harder.
And there are
online direct marketing designers who design single page sales sites that are created to maximize sales.
At some time in
future it would be good to see these two groups learn more from each other.
It would be good to see
general web designers learn more about increasing conversion rates by learning some of
skills of
online direct marketing designers.
It would be good to see
online direct marketing designers expand their skills beyond
scope of single, scrolling sales page.
And it is essential that every online designer pays a great deal more attention to
writers and
showcasing of every page's message.

Nick Usborne is a freelance copywriter, author and speaker. For more articles and resources on writing for the web, visit his site, http://www.excessvoice.com.
To find out more about designing for high conversion rates, read his review of AWAI's course, Graphic Design Success.