Copy should dictate website design. Website design should not dictate your copy.

Today, I’m ready to pick a fight.

Copy should dictate website design. Website design should not dictate your copy.

There, I said it. Web design friends: come at me, bro.

Back when I was a baby brand manager and display ads were just a tiny line item at the bottom of the marketing budget, web developers were the undisputed bosses of the internet.

Most people still treated their websites like digital brochures, and “funnels” were just something you used to pour oil into your 1982 Toyota Corona (mine was called T-Bird).

Back then, drag-and-drop was in its infancy, "vibe-coding" sounded like something people should only do in the privacy of their own bedrooms, and developers were charging thousands just to move a few pixels around a page.

But then, businesses like Amazon and Netflix changed the game. They proved that the design doesn't matter if the journey doesn't make sense. UX (User Experience) became the new cool kid on the block, and suddenly, the traditional order was flipped on its head.

Instead of developers deciding what looked cool and forcing everyone else to fit in around them, we began to think first about the human being behind the screen. We began planning the customer journey based on real insights into how people actually think, feel, and buy.

When I trained as a conversion copywriter, I saw the results for myself. I saw in real-time how a user-centered flow could instantly lift sales by eye-watering amounts, without a single cent of additional marketing spend.

And I’ve never looked back.

So now, when prospects come to me and tell me they’ve already hired their website developers, I say: “Great. But we’re a team. And I bat first.”

The strategy is the skeleton; the design is just the skin. You don't build the skin and then try to shove the bones in afterward.

Sorry, not sorry.