My own view on this is a bit of a long story. In its formative years, the Web needed the nurturing of technologists and interface designers. By the time copywriters arrived on the scene, the 'inner circle' of online experts was already established and a lot of 'anti-selling' sentiment was firmly in place. That's why online copywriters are facing an uphill battle when it comes to recognition, training and compensation. But fear not - because a good copywriter can offer the CEO and CFO of any commercial site the one thing they crave above all else.
Great copy increases conversion rates at every point.
All of it has been an unmitigated disaster. What you end up with is a hodge-podge of five department heads doing their best to write in the dullest voice possible. As a DM copywriter for 18 years, clients realize that writing offline is a skill. They haven't come around to figure out the online world yet. I like to take the time and sit down with the client at the beginning of a project and let them know how many hours I'm going to need to write the copy.