Designing Websites, Why Content Should Come First | Go Edit®

Designing Websites, Why Content Should Come First

Go Edit Team • August 2, 2021

When you start a new website, should it come first or the content? Many people start with importing a template or theme. The reason for this is that seeing your brand new site in front of them can be exciting to people who aren't interested in writing and editing content.

However, prioritizing the site's look and feel over content is a little bit like putting the cart before the horse. It may seem too good to be true at first, but it falls apart in practice.

**You might argue that designing a website before seeing the content is more efficient because one job can be done at the same time. However, there are many disadvantages to developing a website without first looking at the content. **

So, don't get frustrated when web designers insist you write your content first. Here's why it'll give you a better website.

What are the principles of content-first web design?

Content-first design is more than the order in which tasks are completed. Content-first design puts content at the top of priorities, too.

The objective of a business website is to convert visitors into customers via sales conversions. And, undoubtedly, the look and feel of a site do play a part in converting people to buyers on that site.

While many web designers start with the logo design and choose a color scheme for the site, content-first web design starts with the content and uses it to create branding, structure, and navigational elements.

A content-first design approach is more effective and efficient for developing web pages.

A content-first approach to web design offers many benefits, ranging from enabling a more cohesive style across all pages to useful features that can save lots of time. This summary covers some of the main ones.

More Efficient

A site's design increases or decreases its efficiency of a website. So, it is much more efficient to develop a website with content in mind than it is to try and shoehorn the content into an already developed site.

Allows optimization of content

A site's design should frame the content in an aesthetically pleasing way. That can't be achieved if a website is designed before seeing the exact content or inputting it.

Optimize website architecture

When the content is carefully considered before a site's architecture is designed, the structure can be built to accommodate it. But when the website design comes first without consideration for what content will later fill the pages, difficult problems arise.

Content is not limited to space you have available.

As you likely know, content length can be difficult to estimate when you first start writing. However, if you write the content before designing your website's layout (or select one with built-in flexibility), then you will never need to compromise because of predefined dimensions.

It is of the utmost importance to read the Content First Aid site before designing anything.

Content often inspires web designers. For example, reading the content will give a designer an idea of what is needed for the site. Of course, providing specification documents and holding project meetings are helpful as well. However, without reading the content, it is more challenging to imagine what the finished site may look like in their mind's eye.

The site's content should be populated before the design is finalized.

When a site is populated with finished text, testing and final approval of the site are easier to do. For example, if a website has only placeholder words (like "lorem ipsum") instead of completed sentences or paragraphs, it can be difficult to test and sign off on what the job should actually look like. With finalized text in place.

There's no last-minute content creation

A content-first strategy removes the need for last-minute writing projects and improves quality. The most crucial component of a successful website design is good, reliable content to serve your audience accomplishes what's necessary for marketing purposes in terms of interest.

 

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