Great copy can do a lot of things. It can make your service or product easier to understand and buy. It can help readers figure out what your company is like. It can make you look better. Put simply: good copy strengthens your brand, helps increase conversion, and establishes immediate connections with potential clients.

But copy alone is not enough.

Every once in a while, someone comes to me wanting a copy that will “completely fix their web page.” It’s definitely an exciting proposition (maybe they’ll let me get really creative, eee!), but it’s also a scary one.

Most outstanding, well-branded websites do indeed have great copy. It’s concise, funny, human, and on-brand. But what makes these sites really great is not copy alone—it’s the interplay between the design and the copy.

Copy and Branding.

I do content strategy, so it’s in my best interest to say “content comes first!” In some cases this is absolutely true: you have to have some idea of what kinds of content will populate your website before you build it, after all. But it isn’t true all the time.

When I wrote Second and Park I didn’t just do a bunch of research, write copy, decide where it should go, devise a page layout, and then have my designer implement it. The process was much more fluid, collaborative, and (dare I say it) “organic” than that.

Preparing to write copy is like preparing a marketing strategy document: the copywriter has to figure out who you are, where you want your business to go, etc. Copy is part of brand strategy.

Your copy should, therefore, harmonize with the cornerstone of your brand—your design. It should look good with your colors and match your design elements. Good copy is like the vintage Sperry Top-siders you bought to go with your striped wool leggings. It’s both necessary and accessory to the whole getup.

Write for Design.

Take my website as an example. How much would you like the copy if it were set in a different font, didn’t have the image of me looking through the hedges, or if we’d omitted the project manager monster? It would do it’s job (be clear, human, simple, etc), but it wouldn’t be compelling.

And how effective would the calls to action and services descriptions be if they’d been aligned or placed differently? They’d do their job but, again, wouldn’t be nearly as powerful.

The best web copy I’ve seen is very visual and, like the design itself, extends the metaphor and personality of your brand.

My point?

Be sure your copywriter has a good sense of your brand—and the opportunity, when possible, to look at a few comps, pictures, moodboards, wireframes—before you trust her or him to revolutionize your website. Your outfit will match better that way.