By Mehdi HassanHow do you hire a website copywriter?
You hire a website copywriter by finding someone who writes to persuade a specific buyer, testing that on a real page from your site, and deciding up front how they'll work with your designer. The last step is the one most teams skip, and it's where most website copy goes wrong.
We're a copy-first studio, so we have a view here: words and layout should be written together. This guide explains why, and how to hire either a copywriter who works that way or a team that writes and designs in one. It's part of our series on how to hire a web design agency.
Decide who owns the words
A freelance copywriter, your agency or someone on your team. Write the name down; shared ownership usually means no ownership.
List the pages and their jobs
For each page, write who lands on it and the one action you want them to take. This is the start of the brief.
Shortlist conversion copywriters
Look for people with live SaaS or B2B pages in their portfolio, not just blog posts or brand manifestos.
Ask how they work with designers
Listen for shared rounds, wireframes and section-by-section reviews. Avoid writers who deliver a document and leave.
Pay for one section
A homepage hero and the section after it is enough to judge clarity, voice and structure.
Schedule copy and design reviews together
Review words and layout in the same meeting, on the same screen, every round.
Should website copy come before, after or alongside the design?
Website copy works best when it's written alongside the design, in the same rounds, by people who talk to each other daily. Writing it first or last both create problems that are hard to fix later.
Approach | What happens | Typical result |
|---|---|---|
Copy first, then design | Writer delivers a long doc; designer has to fit it in | Walls of text, cut sentences, lost hierarchy |
Design first, then copy | Designer makes boxes with placeholder text; writer fills them | Headlines sized for lorem ipsum, not for your message |
Copy and design together | Writer and designer shape each section in the same round | Structure follows the argument; layout supports the words |
In practice, "together" means the writer drafts the message for a section, the designer sketches how it should be read, and both adjust. A headline gets shorter because the layout calls for it; a section gets added because the argument needs a step the wireframe missed. That back-and-forth is the work.
Copy written before the layout gets cut to fit. Copy written with the layout shapes it.
What kind of copywriter does a website need?
A website needs a conversion copywriter: someone who writes pages meant to make a specific reader take a specific action. Content writers, brand writers and SEO writers are different jobs, even though they share a title on many profiles.
- Conversion copywriter: homepages, landing pages, pricing and product pages. This is who you want for the site.
- SaaS copywriter: a conversion writer who knows trials, demos, integrations and technical buyers. Our guide to hiring a SaaS website copywriter covers this specialty.
- Content or SEO writer: blog posts and guides. Useful later, but a different skill from persuasive page copy.
- Brand writer: taglines, manifestos and voice. Helpful for a rebrand, rarely enough for a full site.
What should a website copywriter's samples show?
A copywriter's samples should show live web pages with a clear before and after, and an explanation of the thinking. A polished PDF hides the most important question: did the words survive contact with a real layout?
- Live pages you can open, so you can judge how the copy reads in a real design on a phone.
- Specificity: headlines that only make sense for that product, not lines you could paste onto any competitor.
- Structure: pages that build an argument, with proof placed where doubt shows up.
- Restraint: short sections and plain words, especially for technical products.
What questions should you ask a website copywriter?
Ask questions that show how they research, how they handle feedback and how they work with design. The answers tell you more than the portfolio.
- How do you learn about our buyers? Will you talk to customers or sales?
- Do you work in wireframes, or do you deliver a document?
- How do you handle feedback from several founders who disagree?
- How many rounds are included, and what counts as a round?
- Will you write the SEO titles, meta descriptions and microcopy, or just the main sections?
- Who owns the copy, and can we reuse it in ads and decks?
For questions that cover the whole website project, not just the words, see our list of questions to ask a web design agency.
Should you hire a separate copywriter or a team that writes and designs?
Hire a team that writes and designs when the website is a single project with a deadline, and hire a separate copywriter when you already have a design partner who will genuinely work in shared rounds. The trade-off is control versus coordination.
Pros
- One team means one brief, one set of reviews and no handoff gap
- Layout and words change together, so nothing gets cut to fit
- A single owner is accountable for whether the page works
Cons
- You can't swap out the writer without changing the team
- Fewer options if you want a niche industry specialist writer
- You rely on the team being strong at both, so check samples of each
Quotes vary a lot here. Several landing-page cost sources note that two quotes can differ tenfold depending on whether strategy and writing are included. Our guide to website copywriting costs explains what to check in the scope.
How do you brief a website copywriter?
Brief a website copywriter with your buyers, their alternatives, the proof you have and the action each page should drive. A brief that only describes your brand voice gives them nothing to argue with.
What to include in a website copy brief
Who buys, who uses and who signs off, if those are different people. The top three alternatives buyers consider, including doing nothing or building it themselves.
The problem in the buyer's own words, ideally from sales calls or support tickets. The proof you can actually use: customer logos you have permission for, real numbers, quotes from real customers.
For each page: who arrives, what they already know, and the single action you want. Any words you must use or avoid, such as legal terms or product names.
Who gives feedback and who has the final say. This one line saves more rounds than anything else in the brief.
If you're still deciding whether to write it yourself, our guide on who should write your website copy compares founder, agency and freelance options honestly.
