Well the new mediaburst site is up and active and very good it looks too. It’s a radical departure from what went before and, as a part of the team that created it, I feel a certain swelling of pride to see how it stands up against the competition out there. However, as a copywriter too, here’s where it gets tricky.
The site went through a great many changes to arrive at the finished product. There’s a lot to consider. Does it all work? Will people take the time to read it? Will they click in the right places? Will they go from homepage to sign up in a few fluid moves?
Inevitably compromises are made and inevitably copywriters get upset. Well, this one does anyway.
Because, while I love the site, it’s design and it’s execution, I loved the earlier versions more. They had more words you see. Clever words, warm fuzzy words, “come in and get to know us” words and snappy little lines that showed how clever I am.
However, as a professional, ( please stop sniggering at the back ), I’m used to this. I shall gather up all those clever words, dust them down and put them back in my bag for the next job. And when that job goes to press or appears on the screen I’ll gather them up, dust them down and put them back in my bag again. That’s how it is for us poor, misunderstood copywriters.
Compromises and sour grapes aside though, I think it’s a great site and it was a pleasure to work with Stiff Rowlands, Phil Thompson and, perhaps most of all Gary. It’s not every client that lets you have a good old gripe on their own blog you know…
Compromises, compromises eh? If everyone involved got their own way we’d end up with a Flash website (from the designers), with nothing but words (from the copywriter), that repeats Google keywords like “Bulk SMS” over and over again (as per our SEO consultants). And ultimately ends up making no sense at all.
Well, not really.
I think everyone involved’s done an amazing job, and who knows, maybe we’ll use warmer, fuzzier words in future releases.