Effective Website Design Begins with Content

Perhaps you’re thinking about redesigning your website but aren’t sure exactly where to start. We advise clients to start with the content. You have to know what you want to say before you can decide how you’re going to say it.

A website can be dazzling, but if its content is irrelevant and uninformative, the site will be useless.

The best websites mold design around content, not the other way around, says Teresa Kriegsman, director of digital strategy and design at S&A Cherokee.

“An effective design that highlights good content will produce the most satisfying user experience, which will make visitors more likely to return to your site and to recommend it to friends,” said Kriegsman.

Before you begin thinking about the look of the site, follow these steps and answer these questions:

• Define your goals. What do I want my users to gain from viewing my website?

• Ask “why” and “how” questions. Why should this content be displayed on my website? How is this content beneficial to users’ needs? How is the content beneficial to company goals?
• Organize content in priority of order. What’s the most important thing I want readers to get out of this site? Second most? Third most? Answering this allows you to look at your design in a more productive way.
• Map every decision to business goals. What content is most useful for my business? Can this content be traced back to my business goals, or is it superfluous?
• Finalize content before design. Am I missing any important content? Is there a clear call to action? Has this content been reviewed and approved? This facilitates minimal editing once the website is ready for review.
• Use real content in the prototype. Did we plug in filler text or is this real content? This allows you to see the realistic finished product as opposed to random words employed merely for the purpose of illustrating the design.

At S&A Cherokee, we provide the skills and services to get our clients up-to-date on Web design and content marketing. The main way we accomplish this is by strategically approaching design and content.

To discover how S&A Cherokee can help with your content marketing and website design needs, contact us for a free consultation at (919) 674-6020.