The Importance of Having the Right Content Prior to Website Design
Should you have content before you complete the overall design of your website? The answer is an obvious yes. Content precedes design. In fact, design without content is not even design but mere decoration.
The reality is, when you provide your website designers with content before they begin working on your site, you’ll be giving them a better idea of how to construct the site. Giving them content first means getting a better and more accurate design.
The functional design of your website goes beyond having nice slides and pretty pictures. Good web designers will often ask you about your clients and the goals you intend to achieve with the website before they start working on your site. They’ll want content first. A good web designer is the one who wants to know what kind of message you intend to relay to your audience before he or she can design the website.
What type of content are we talking about?
Content is basically the copy used on your site. It is a collection of words, images, videos, animations and sounds that describe you, your business, your goals, and solutions your website provides. It is the entire purpose of your service or products and the reason why people should visit your website. For example, if your website is about bodybuilding, your content will be about relevant topics and products on bodybuilding from tips and advice to supplements and even a bodybuilding coupon code for a popular product if you have one.
Keep in mind the content you provide to your website designer does not have to be the final or perfect content. All the web designer needs to know is your general message and ideas that you intend to convey to your audience.
Why content first?
With content in hand, the designer will look for the best way to present your vision and solutions to your existing and potential clients. Content gives the web designer a foundation on which he or she can begin building your website. As a good web designer would advise you, content gives life to your website design. Without content, the website, no matter how beautiful it looks, is just an empty shell.
You also avoid future pitfalls in the overall design of your website when you provide content first. Think of your web designer fixing three lines of the usual Lorem Ipsum fake content in your website layout then you later realize that you actually need six lines of text instead of three. You’ll have to modify the entire layout of your website design, probably at an extra cost.
It is true that website designers can create beautiful templates even without content. However, with content at hand, the designers will make better decisions and build a better website than they would have done without content. When the web designer has the right content for your forms, galleries, and product layouts, he or she will have the best ideas on optimizing your visitors’ experience.
