It seems to be a recurring theme that most businesses, large or small struggle to properly prepare their content and assets for web projects. This might be down to small teams having a high workload which impacts the time they can spend concentrating on website content. The content is the most important asset for the project - and as much as I'd love to be able to write and strategise all of the content for them I cannot craft the message they want to convey using lorem ipsum or dummy text.
This isn't just applicable to freelancers but agencies as well. Even the VERY well known Webflow agencies I work with have the exact same issue. The client signs the contract, we're given a hard deadline to work towards and we ask the golden question on the kick-off call: "So when can we expect your content for the project to get started?"
"Erm, we don't have any content ready yet! Our team are writing it now."
Thats not the answer I/we wanted! 😫 The client will then get the spiel about how the site cannot be created without the content. If I go ahead and create headlines and copy based on what I think the client might want there's a very good chance I'm going to be way off and it will be a complete waste of time for me and the client.
So how to we fix this?
The best plan you can have is best described by the saying "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." Take the time to get your ducks in a row and make sure that your images, copy, brand guide and anything else you think will be valuable to the project is 100% ready before you approach a designer or developer, you may need to plan ahead and set some time aside to do this but it will be worth it in the long run. If you don't have an internal team to do this you can outsource the copywriting to freelancers that specialise in doing this - they might even do it quicker and better as well.
This will make the process so much faster and after the kick-off call we can hit the ground running. I'll have everything I need, your deadlines can be met and the project will be a success. Yay! 🥳
