Do you know how a content-first approach is essential to your website redesign strategy? Revamping your old website is an exciting venture that allows you to unleash the full force of your creativity and show the World Wide Web what you’re made of.
It also requires extensive website development work and resources – depending on the size of your development team.
Thanks to the many website-building apps, tweaking a website is a simple enough process. That said, how do you know what kind of design approach you should adhere to?
Is it making your online premises as beautiful as possible with rich color schemes?
Or, maybe posting a series of well-researched articles will do the trick?
Content-First Approach for Website Redesign Strategy
In this article, we’re going to talk about content-first website design. When revamping an already-existing website, a content-first approach can truly propel your business into the Web commerce stratosphere.
Read on to learn more.
What is content-first design?
When the Internet first went live, the websites that you could find and visit had a bare-bones structure to them.
It is the inventive domain names, article titles, and content, in general, that were supposed to make you consider staying to see what else this online venue has to offer.
Nowadays, the Internet is oversaturated with all kinds of content. Online audiences have notoriously short attention spans and are increasingly responding to visual stimulation.
That said, it seems as though things are slowly but surely coming full circle. As a person looking for a piece of info online, or for something to buy, you already know that upon typing in the search box the thing you want, you’re immediately going to get bombarded with a bunch of flashy visuals.
This is why an increasing number of Internet users are getting back to the roots of where it all started on the Internet – content.
Of course, exciting visuals, well-constructed landing pages, and an overall fantastic design can only be a plus. Without strong content, though, design alone can not get you that far.
In the sections below, we’ll talk about how to undertake a website redesign effort to get the best results.
What is a website redesign?
Simply put, a website redesign is an effort to make your website better-looking, more visually streamlined, and otherwise more attractive.
Website owners embark on website redesigns for several different reasons.
It could be a simple, cosmetic update on the old site. In this case, the goal is to give the website a ‘facelift’ and make it a more interesting online venue to visit and look at, generally speaking.
On the other hand, a company may venture to redo their website for reasons of changing the website’s purpose, or for attempting a novel approach to marketing. A website redesign is also often a part of rebranding efforts, as a business’s online representation obligatorily needs to change if the general direction of the company is altered.
A well-planned and executed website redesign effort can truly transform a business for the better. In the paragraphs below, we will showcase the advantages of a content-first approach.
Benefits of a content-first approach
Setting up a website where content comes first and design comes later has numerous advantages over more of a style-over-substance approach.
If done well, content gives the website visitor little nuggets of valuable info about whatever it is that the website is about. Sure, a simple flashy website appearance will attract a visitor. But ensuring they stick around after that is where the real art of running a website lies.
Other than giving your visitors something to look forward to, having content on your website can make it easier for the team developing visual and interface design to get an idea of what direction to go in.
A website about green energy, for example, can have a design featuring some green hues and a logo with leaves an endangered polar bear cub, or something.
A website dedicated to cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, can have a flashier, high-tech-looking layout.
Here are some of the major benefits of the content-first approach in more detail.
Better UX
Having text ready to be published on your website can change the way you look at website design.
If your piece of written content has short sentences and is full of keywords, maybe you need a larger, more fun font to introduce it. Also, using bullet points, quotes, adding pictures, or even developing an infographic are all options that you can think about if you have a text ready to go.
This way, you will help your visitors consume the content in a way that will make them want to read more.
Also, they will have an easier time extracting the pieces of info that they are looking for. Being regarded as a website that resolves a problem for you when you visit is a great way to improve your online presence as well as your company image.
A more mobile-friendly interface
One of the first things that developers will take care of when you hire the help of website redesign services would be making the website mobile-friendly.
The number of Internet users that use mobile phones to browse the World Wide Web is staggering and it will only grow in the future.
The advantage of already having content that needs to be ‘translated’ into a mobile-friendly format is that your development team knows what text needs to be tailored. Technically, the developers don’t need that placeholder text, as they will already have the text that’s meant to go live on the website.
SEO
A major part of a website’s appeal is how easily you can find it in the sea of other websites on the Internet.
Content such as texts, audio recordings, and even images can be infused with keywords and phrases that can help visitors find the topics they care about.
The benefits of coming up with content first are twofold. First, you get to inform your audience, tell them a story, sell them an idea, or solve a problem for them. Second, the SEO you included in the text (or, whatever other media you’re employing) will put your website on the WWW radar, so to speak.
This way, you both get to build your brand authority and attract new visitors – at the same time.
Different formats
When it comes to what sort of content you can use to fill up your website, it doesn’t need to be all text. What’s more, it’s better if you can manage to add some different formats into the mixture.
Stuff such as images, infographics, videos, and other types of content can all contribute massively to your website’s attractiveness. This is also the point where you can allow your creativity to take over.
A website redesign where you get to wow your visitors with brand-new infographics, interactive presentations, awesome texts, and fantastic interface and visuals at the same time, is definitely a winning combination.
Creates value for your clients
Other than filling up the pages of your website with stuff, adding content to your website before anything else creates value for the visitors.
Not much use in visiting a beautifully made website if the content is entirely absent and you can only look at the smooth transitions when you click on that burger menu.
How-to texts, guides, and infographics explaining how something rather complex works, on the other hand, will attract a reader through keywords (assuming your content is SEO-enriched) and make them stick around for the info.
Conclusion
All in all, revamping your website can mean breathing new life into your web premises and depending on how successful you are – attracting waves of new customers.
Maybe you just want to improve on the visuals. Or, perhaps you’re adding a completely new dimension to your brand.
A website redesign with a focus on content will help you fill-up the pages quickly and give your visitors something to look at and read. The means you employ to achieve this can be anything – from videos and audio to SEO-rich texts and infographics with beautiful art.
