What comes first, the website design or the content? It's common for business to have their website designed and developed with no thought to content. This post addresses the problem of planning your website without a solid content strategy.
The Website Conundrum: Design vs. Content
Posted by globalcopywrite under Online MarketingFrom http://www.globalcopywriting.com 5224 days ago
Made Hot by: steeldawn on August 5, 2010 10:45 am
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5221 days ago
5219 days ago
As long as I'm quoting other bloggers, I think Brian Massey supported your point beautifully in his post at Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com/copy-vs-design-which-is-most-important-to-conversion-42983
Thanks for stopping by!
5222 days ago
This goes hand-in-hand with your response to another comment: "Clients need to know the real cost of developing a website at the beginning."
5219 days ago
I read a great post this week by an automotive retailer called Larry Bruce. In his article he put the onus on business owners to driver their own website design and to consider a strong content strategy. I love this quote: "When did it become acceptable to hand over the keys to our business to a website provider" I couldn't agree more.
Read the whole article here: http://pcmguy.com/?p=307
5222 days ago
5219 days ago
I appreciate the comment on my website, too. Thanks very much.
Cheers,
Sarah
5222 days ago
Great advice and great article! Sorry about my belated vote and comment, I was having some "technical" issues!
Yoni
5219 days ago
5224 days ago
I must admit I am surprised that the two are not done together. Perhaps designers are missing an opportunity to enhance their work by partnering with writers.
Good article.
Susan
5223 days ago
In my experience, the best websites are ones where the designer and the writer work on the project together, from the beginning. Web designers and web copywriters are a natural pairing.
Thank you for your observation.
Cheers,
Sarah
5224 days ago
People need to understand that a website is there to serve a purpose. A hammer that you can't hit things with is a bad hammer. A website that has no content is a bad website. Design fail.
Every web designer should know this but to be fair to them, getting clients to give even an outline of content can be like pulling teeth.
5224 days ago
As a content provider, I agree it can be difficult to get clients to participate in their own strategies. I've had them tell me they want their site to look like a competitors site - and that's the whole brief.
I've also had plenty of clients come to me at the end of a website project stung by the fact they thought they were getting webcopy included in their price, only to find out nothing was provided.
I guess one of the things lacking in the web development process is good project management.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
Sarah
5224 days ago
5224 days ago
Budget is always a consideration, for sure. As SEO begins to take priority, it's more important than ever the content is there to support it. My opinion is that a website needs an equal design/content strategy from the very beginning. Clients need to know the real cost of a developing a website at the beginning. Without all the elements in place, the resulting product won't be an asset to their business.