The Website Conundrum: Design vs. Content

Posted by globalcopywrite under Online Marketing
From http://www.globalcopywriting.com 5013 days ago
Made Hot by: steeldawn on August 5, 2010 10:45 am

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.

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Comments

Written by timothyh
5010 days ago

Awesome post. This is a great reminder for people that have a tendency to focus too much on the design of the website and not enough on the content itself (or vice versa).

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Written by globalcopywrite
5007 days ago

Hi Timothy,

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!

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Written by GlobalReach
5011 days ago

Fantastic post, Sarah! Bravo! And great comments here, too. I agree with Susan: "Perhaps designers are missing an opportunity to enhance their work by partnering with writers." I think the best designers are those who ask about their clients' content plans before beginning design work (and explain why there should be a plan if there isn't one).

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."

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Written by globalcopywrite
5007 days ago

Hi Ann-Christin,

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

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Written by CIKMarketing
5011 days ago

Great article Sarah, I visited your blog and commented there. I don't think either comes first, it's a chicken and the egg. With a poor design, visitors aren't likely to stick around to find your content, with poor content, visitors will quickly say goodbye to your site and search for a better resource.

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Written by globalcopywrite
5007 days ago

I agree with you completely, Ian. I know what my work looks like when I try to do my own designs. I also know the difference a great design makes to the number of people reading my content. I'm just not sure most people are thinking of content when they're planning their website.

I appreciate the comment on my website, too. Thanks very much.

Cheers,

Sarah

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Written by yoni67
5011 days ago

Sarah,

Great advice and great article! Sorry about my belated vote and comment, I was having some "technical" issues!

Yoni

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Written by globalcopywrite
5007 days ago

Thanks, Yoni. I was having technical issues on my replies, too. I decided to take the weekend off which was an issue for my business but wonderful for my heart and soul.

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Written by m4bmarketing
5012 days ago

Hi Sarah,

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

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Written by globalcopywrite
5012 days ago

Hi Susan,

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

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Written by alastair
5013 days ago

Great post. I see this all the time.

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.

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Written by globalcopywrite
5013 days ago

Hi Alastair,

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

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Written by amabaie
5013 days ago

Actually, design v.s. content v.s. SEO v.s. available funds. :-)

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Written by globalcopywrite
5013 days ago

Hi David,

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.

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