Web Design and Content: Working Together
Website Sales Funnel
Before we discuss the collaboration between web design and content, we need to look at the sales funnel. Your website's success largely depends on what kind of visitors it attracts. It's important to understand that the sales funnel isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for all businesses. Additionally, there can be multiple funnels.
When marketing is done well and the right clients who are interested in your service or product reach your website, it's just a matter of formalizing the contact. This requires reliable design and compelling content creation.
There's a need-based sale. For example, car assistance or pipe repair. And then there's an emotional purchase or products and services that can be postponed. Some products are expensive, and people consider their purchase for a long time. They might do a lot of homework and compare different offers. In this case, a quality website might be what convinces the client to choose your service. Modern design shows that the company keeps up with the times. With professional content, you can address fears and explain in detail how car transport works safely.
For a good website, you need to combine both skillful message delivery and visuals. A car doesn't run on one empty tire. The entire set needs to work, and separating copy texts and design or drawing a thick red line somewhere is impractical.
But Ugly Websites Work
We all know those vitamin weight loss or get-rich landing pages. Large colored texts and rather mediocre image material. A man with a Ford Fiesta and the same man posing with a Ferrari afterward. And now someone would say that these web designs are ugly but still work. Yes. But let's think about the sales funnel and strategy for a moment.
The strategy of these websites is to impact as cheaply as possible and emphasize FOMO (fear of missing out) or the effect of missing out. Or something embarrassing. People's greed and desire for quick results make the sale. Add to this that these landing pages don't focus on trustworthiness and branding in their design. The goal is to find users who are naive and easily trusting. Rather, these pages get a lot of traffic. In terms of content, they have their own tricks for influencing people to buy.
Website Content aka Copy
The service and product you offer are the foundation. Good creative writing (copywriting) and content help communicate what you offer to the client. Website content must be simple and convey unique values that help stand out from competitors.
When writing web texts, it's worth considering that users tend to scan rather than read all texts. This is one aspect where design and content should work together. Using various web design patterns can capture and direct user attention.
Good content must convince website visitors to take action. This call to action could be making contact, booking, or purchasing a product.
For SEO, it's important that your website's content is up-to-date and optimized for keywords. You can add a news or blog section to your website where you more actively reflect daily activities and give more overview of how you work and what you do.
Website Design
Website structure, fonts used, colors, layout - design. Website users have less than 0.5 seconds to form an opinion about a website. This is purely a matter of visual design. And if everything is shaky and unprofessional or creates a different mood, it's very difficult to turn it around with words.
We all know the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Visual solutions help explain website messages. Photos, illustrations, or videos give a better overview of the product or service. Team photos help show your company as trustworthy.
Web design must support content creation. That is, through design, you play with the rhythm of the content. User attention is directed and guided to make contact.
How to Make Design and Content Work Together
When starting to create a website, always begin with planning. Who it's for and what goals it needs to fulfill. This way, you can think about what content needs to be created. If you know the persona your website is aimed at, you can think precisely about the strategy and content that would activate them.
For writing content for the website, you can use wireframes or sections of what information needs to be conveyed as a basis. If you use a separate copywriter service, they'll have a clear idea of where and how much they need to write.
If we bring practical examples of how website content and design must work together, one of the simpler examples could be headline length. If you need to use a very long headline, the designer must choose a smaller font size. However, a two-word headline in small type might go unnoticed.
Therefore, websites designed on "lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..." never look very good. The same problem arises when using ready-made designs. You can't build a website by filling gaps on principle.
In addition to the so-called written content, you need to consider creating photos, videos, and explanatory drawings. First, long text masses aren't readable, and second, visuals help describe products and services more precisely.
Content and Design Go Hand in Hand
Content and design shouldn't be separate elements but must work together. If you want to create a website that speaks to visitors, you need to invest in both content creation and web design. This means creating engaging content using various forms like text, images, videos, and illustrations, while ensuring the website is visually appealing and user-friendly.