Your favourite websites are finished products. The content, design features, and navigation on each page (should) fit together neatly, and your experience visiting a positive one. that doesn’t happen by accident. It’s easy to forget that every website starts out as a blank canvas, which is filled in step by step. As it turns out, the order in which you do those steps has a big impact on the quality of the final product. One of the biggest early decisions you’ll face is whether to focus on developing your web design or content first.
Develop content first, then your web and site design will follow. With content first, your Calgary business will start to speak for itself.
Finding the Right Fit: How Content and Web Design Work Together for Your Site
Every business owner wants a great looking website, so it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to get the look right, then making the content fit. It makes sense on the surface, but in truth developing your content first leads to a more aesthetically pleasing website in the long run. And while appealing web design is important for catching the attention of potential customers, your content is what does the heavy lifting in convincing those customers to choose your business over the competition.
- Flexibility is an important goal to shoot for when building your website, because both your web design and content are likely to evolve over time. If you choose a rigid design first then force your content to fit, you’re likely to run into word, character, and line restrictions that make it difficult to create quality content that also fits into your design structure.
- The other side of that coin is that it’s significantly easier to customize your design to fit your content, rather than doing it the other way around.
For many modern businesses, your website is your first, most important point of contact with your target audience. If your goal is to forge real relationships with that online audience, then a content-first strategy is the best way to build trust and tell the story of your business.
- When developing your design and web content strategy, consider, specifically, what people will want to accomplish when visiting your website. Just as importantly, what do you want them to accomplish? Most people will visit your site looking to learn more about you business, products, or services, and your content is the key to achieving that mutually beneficial goal.
- Formatting is a major factor in online content quality, and content creation professionals understand the finer points of organizing your content so that it’s as accessible as possible for your readers. In the same way that a writer will not likely be the best choice to code your website, your web designer may not be the ideal person to choose how your content is laid out.
- It’s not just the content itself that benefits from being planned ahead of time. It’s also important to pick the right pages for your site, which is much easier to do before the heavy design work gets started.
- Your content is primarily there to inform and convert customers, but it also plays an important role in search engine optimization. A professional writer or content manager will be able to help you land strong search ranking position, so that it will be easy for people to find your shiny, new website.
It’s important to note that opting for a content-first strategy doesn’t mean that the design and visual appeal of your website takes a backseat to content. It all works together, so we’re just talking about the most efficient, effective order for creating your site. You really can have the best of both worlds with compelling content and appealing web design for your site. It’s just easier to accomplish both of those goals when you take care of your content first, then choose the design details that work best for telling the story of your business.
Emphasize Web Design Services in Calgary
Need a hand turning your website into the total package? The team at Emphasize Design of Calgary is here to handle all of your website design, content development, and SEO needs. Get started with a free quote, today!
