It seems that clients will spend money on everything except the text. A lot of web design agencies are no help either - they just take whatever guff the client has written (or has copied and pasted from a brochure) and stick it on the site.

You hire people to cut your hair, clean your toilet and make your decaff non fat soy latte, so why not to write the words on your website?

This question can actually be posed to many professions and trades. I often encounter clients who think they can design, discuss UI and in one case, make specific code suggestions.

Generally, I attribute this to the fact that we are all consumers of these things in some aspect or another. When your client speaks, always read between the lines ...

"I've seen websites do XYZ like this"
means
"I'm a consumer of UI, so I think I know UI"

"Can you make it [look like brand or company X]?"
means
"I'm a consumer of design, so I think I know design."

...
You can turn this one on its head and apply it to yourself. Not surprisingly, it is probably still true. Although I have no experience making TV commercials, when I see a bad one I might say, "Man that's terribly. They should do something like this ...!"

The way to get over this and almost all other client related speedbumps is to practice your communication skills and really improve the way you work with clients. Good "spin skills" allow you to lead the project (and suggest a copy writer).

I think it comes down to this: everyone writes. People write emails, project proposals, reports and so on. A lot of our communications are based on the written word. These people on the other hand don't design or code, so it's not something they will think of attempting (although as Bree points out above, they usually won't hold back on suggestions and critique -- which again, is something we all can do). When you have a small budget, hiring a person to do something that you can physically do appears as overspending. Whether they can write well and effectively doesn't come into consideration -- it's more about actually being able to perform the task.

These are two great points very well made - thank you.

I hadn't really considered either of these points before (probably too busy ranting).

And Bree - you're quite right, I do that on a regular basis! Now about the lack of kitten pictures on this forum... ;)

Dez, in fact I had never considered those two important and well mentioned points either. Bree and Dmitry, thanks a lot!

Great points, well done. Thanks. ;)