Content-focused design: why you need to focus on content before design

Building a website can take a while, and it’s important to think about the people who will use it. For every website built by Five Point Web Solutions, we never begin with design. In fact, design is one of the last steps in the process. Truly effective web design focuses on your visitors, what they need and how to get them to take action. To do that, we start with content, so we can plan the pages, navigation and overall structure of the website.

What is content?

Before we go any further, let’s be clear about what counts as website content. In a nutshell, content is written text plus media. Written content might describe your business history, your products and services, your team, helpful articles and more. Media means images, photos and videos that help customers understand what you do and how you can help them. Good content combines both to show visitors what you do, how you do it and why they need you.

Content is king

No one visits your website just to look at the design, unless they’re a web designer. Even then, it’s the content that brings them there in the first place. Think about it: when you search for something on Google, is there an option to filter the results by beauty?

Of course, design is a critical piece of a website. But you need good content to attract visitors. Once they arrive, you have to capture their attention, and that takes both good content and good design. Ultimately, though, it’s the information that brought them to you.

That’s why your web designer needs your content before designing your website.

Let’s say you just sold 100 strawberries to a customer over the phone. When they arrive to pick up the order, the container you have for them only holds 20. Will they care how fancy the container is when they realize they can’t take all their strawberries home? Probably not.

Design is still critical

Good design is still an important part of the project. Your website needs to present your content in a way that delivers your message and keeps visitors interested. But we can’t design the website without knowing what it needs to present. Knowing your content lets us plan easy-to-use navigation, create calls to action and reach the overall goal of turning visitors into customers.

Stages of content creation

Because Five Point Web Solutions uses content-focused design, we can’t start designing until we have content. When you realize you need a website, you’ll probably be at one of these stages:

1. You have no content and haven’t even begun to think about it. You just know you need a website.
2. You’ve thought about your content and how you might want it displayed, but you haven’t put it into words yet.
3. You’ve written drafts of your content, and you might have some photos or videos.
4. You have an existing website with content, but it’s outdated or needs help.
5. You’ve prepared all of your content and are ready to have it designed into a website. This is VERY rare.

For the design process to start, you need to be at stage 3 or better, with both written text and media.

Let’s be honest: getting to stage 3 isn’t easy. It takes work and real chunks of time, and you have to think about the content itself without worrying about design and layout. The good news is that it’s worth doing. You may learn a few things along the way that help with other parts of your business, like a business plan. A good business coach will tell you this is something you should do anyway, website or not.

How to get your content ready

1. Write down your goals and your audience. Make simple lists of where you want your business to go, who your customers are and where you see your business in the future. Think long-term.
2. List the pages you need. Most businesses start with Home, About, Services and Contact, plus any pages unique to what you do.
3. Write each page like a magazine article. Cover your history, your services, your team and anything else customers should know, without worrying about how it will look.
4. Gather your photos and videos. Real photos of your team, your work and your location go a long way. (Here’s a simple guide to taking website-friendly photos.)
5. Send it all to your designer. Include your lists, too. They give your designer insight into your goals.

AI writing tools can help you get a first draft started. Just make sure the final version sounds like you and that every fact is correct.

Benefits of putting content first

• Fewer frustrations: Writing content before design makes the whole project easier for everyone. Trying to squeeze content into a space that’s already designed is frustrating and time-consuming. Writing freely is much easier and takes fewer revisions.
• Fewer design revisions: When design comes before content, the design usually has to change once the real content arrives. Sometimes that’s a small adjustment, but more often it means bigger updates that add to the cost of the project, or even rethinking the whole design. Content first means fewer revisions, fewer surprise costs and a smoother project.
• A custom layout: When the design is based on your content, it’s more unique. Your content shows the designer your goals and exactly how much needs to fit, so it can be presented well on every screen size, with clear navigation that turns visitors into customers.
• Long-term benefits: Your content gives your designer insight into where your business is headed. A good designer will build in some flexibility to keep your website relevant for years to come.

Don’t want to write your own content?

Five Point Web Solutions can help! We work with local content copywriters, photographers and videographers who can create content to best serve you and your customers. Or you can hire your own professionals and simply send the finished content to us. A professional copywriter will typically interview you, research your industry and review any content you already have to prepare new, search engine friendly content.