Tag Archives: Web Design

Why it’s important to have your content written before web design

The image highlights content writing and blurs web design

Content writing first web design later

These days I get many content writing assignments where the client insists on getting the content written according to the layout.

They have purchased a theme, or web designer has created a design and layout according to the contemporary design ethos, and then, they want to fill the boxed spaces with text.

If the layout or the wireframe has been created to accommodate as much content as will be needed, there is no problem.

But if the layout has been created simply to please the aesthetic sense of the designers and business owner, paying scant regard to content writing, this is not a good approach. It shows that you put the design of your website before the interests of your business.

I’m not discounting the importance of your design and layout. In fact, if you provide web design services or graphic design services, then it is imperative that you have a very attractively designed website so that your prospective clients can have a sense of what sort of design services you may provide to them.

Why content writing should be priority, not web design

Design is cool. It is visual. It elicits a “wow!” immediately.

But does this “wow!” get you business? Do you want to entertain people, or do you want them to do business with you?

Visitors turn into paying customers and clients when they read your content.

Your search engine rankings improve because of your content.

When was it the last time you saw someone sharing a link because of the design of the website? Never.

People share links when they appreciate the value of your content.

Your content is your sales pitch. It is the conversation that you have with your visitors. You make an emotional connection via your words. You educate and inform your prospective customers and clients with your text.

Whether you go for content writing first or the layout of your website also tells a lot about the attitude you have towards your business.

If you go for the design first, I know you are not going to like this, it may even offend you, you go for superficiality. More than your business, you are worried about how your website looks. This attitude percolates into day-to-day approach and… well.

Benefits of writing content before designing website

You develop a connection with the central philosophy of your business messaging. You message is not lost in the hullabaloo of your design process.

As I’ve mentioned above, your search engine rankings, your conversion rate, your user engagement, everything originates from your content.

Hence, your content should never take a backseat.

When your content is written first, you are not constrained by your layout. You don’t have to fit your text — the most important aspect of your online presence — within the superficiality of your design elements. You don’t have to compromise, and when it comes to writing your message (or getting it written) you can let the imagination sore high.

Another benefit of writing content before designing your website, something that I have personally observed, is that when you see in front of your eyes your message, suddenly the design is not important.

You realize that if your website looks decent, if it presents your content professionally, if it seamlessly adjusts the content and the important elements of your website according to the screen size, you don’t need to bother much.

What’s important is your content, not your design.

Should content writing come first or web design?

should-content-writing-come-first-or-web-designMany times my clients (especially web design agencies) send me a design/layout and then ask me to create content that fits into that layout.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when recently one of my clients, after having a look at what I had written for her organization, decided to ditch the design she already had. She insisted that first I should have all the content ready and then the web design will be done around the content.

This is a new development: that content should be written within the various sections of the web design. Sometimes they insist that you just write 100 words because one section of the website will not accommodate more than 100 words. So, whether the message needs more words or not, you have to fit everything into 100 words.

This happens mostly because people these days by predesigned templates and most of these templates are made to look aesthetically pleasant whether they can accommodate content flexibly or not.

I believe if web design takes precedence over content writing, you are worried more about the looks and less about your conversion rate. Are you getting a web design because you like the design or you want to do business with it?

Design and content need to be modular these days, especially when more and more people may access your website from their mobile devices. I’m not saying you have 25 paragraphs of content on a page and then you design a website that can go on and on vertically – nothing wrong in that by the way.

But you need to keep in mind that it’s the content that is going to do business for you. It’s your content that is going to convert people. It’s your content that is going to get you better search engine rankings. It’s your content that is will engage your visitors and turn them into customers and clients.

Hence, if there is a choice, content writing should always come before web design.

Do you design your website around your content?

As a web designer do you design your websites around the content your client is going to use to communicate his or her message and make useful information available to its visitors, or do you first create the design and then want the content to fit into that?

If you’re doing the latter, you are not alone, and you’re also denying your client the ability to provide enough information to his or her customers and clients.

No matter what is the business, ultimately it is the content that generates leads and sales. People need to know what you stand for. They need to know what your product or service can deliver. They want to be able to trust you and they can only trust you if they can find the right information on your website.

Sure, when they come to your website for the first time they may get impressed by the design and layout but eventually they will look for the information they need. By merely focusing on the layout you are not going to be able to sell.

So whenever you are designing a website, take into consideration how your layout is going to accommodate the written content, whether it is on the homepage or other pages.

I myself have gone through such experiences. There are many clients – especially those who have purchased a ready-made template – who want me to fit content into the template no matter if on one page they can just have a single paragraph. No harm in having single-paragraph pages by the way, but what if you need to say more? We are not talking about Twitter where you always have to use 140 characters. Sometimes people need to know more. For that you need to publish multiple paragraphs.

This is why, no matter how attractive your design is, unless it is able to scale according to the content you want to publish, it is of no use. Whether you are a web designer or you are purchasing an off-the-shelf template, make sure that the layout accommodates content sections that can expand vertically to accommodate as much content as possible. Don’t use a design that does not accommodate your content well.