I would agree if it weren't for copywriters -- the whole copywriting industry is about telling their clients just that. Heck the whole Writing profession consists of many people writing about things they are not necessarily experts about.

And often I've read an article which has more information value than *every* business web site on the same subject. Writers are often able to do what typists can't -- catch and hold the reader's interest.

You may be interested in content guru Gerry McGovern. Some suggested reading Words Drive Action: An Interview with Gerry McGovern and Search optimization, not search engine optimization.

This whole "nice theory" thing is a convenient excuse. Web designers flat out leave a lot of money on the table not considering -- or even entertaining the notion -- copywriting/content design is part of design.

-- Web designers carped about usability, until it (mostly) caught on.

-- Zeldman recounts the number of web designers who raised a fuss about web standards, at first.

They kicked and fussed and "I can't get my client to X, how am I supposed to Y?" ...then they realized it's what they should have been doing from the start. Then there were a few who saw each of these changes as something they could build a competitive advantage from.

From the looks of the articles kicking off this thread, the field for content-driven design should be wide open.