Comments on: Content Vs. Design

By: Anunturi Imobiliare

Anunturi Imobiliare — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:30:52 +0000

I agree with your post, good content is the way to go. But without a good design you’re left with a high bounce rate. Usually visitors respond well to a clean, attractive designs.

By: Seth

Seth — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:23:09 +0000

Content is always critical to the success of the site. No one likes brochure websites anymore.

One thing I thought of, however, is that you want to be careful in getting free themes and templates. Most of them are not developed to perfection. This is important now because Google seems to care how well your site performs (we’ve run a few tests to suggest that all things being equal, the faster site wins in the results).

Great post!

By: Mark Nagurski

Mark Nagurski — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:29:44 +0000

Design is certainly relevant as Logen mentions above - good content should help lay a path for the visitor to follow.

Having said that content is what brings people back. People search for information or entertainment - both come in the form of content.

The content should be easy to access and well-presented but if the content is poor no amount of great design can make up for it. Imagine visiting a beautifully laid out blog that hasn’t been updated in six months; what are the chances that you’ll hit the subscribe button?

Great content can however, overcome poor or uninspiring design.

By: Logen

Logen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 20:43:35 +0000

While content is king, good design will draw visitors to the relevant parts of the site. I mean, if a site has good content and yet its font was too small or its paragraphs were too cluttered, I’d leave the site within seconds.

If the content was extremely superb, I’d subscribe to the RSS feeds instead.

By: Dan Henderson

Dan Henderson — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:41:04 +0000

On all my sites content comes first, then I get a designer to create a template and then use PHP includes to include the template throughout the site.

By: Journeyetc

Journeyetc — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:15:02 +0000

After you generate content and all seems to go well, a new, improved design will help very much.

By: earn online

earn online — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:06:56 +0000

you can take the road that even a bad design may be remembered so they come back if the content is good. The principal still applies, CONTENT IS KING!

By: bonoriau

bonoriau — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:53:33 +0000

Reasonable design not to heavy and good content will really help to build up traffic…but some of the blogger just want to blog for their own fun so doesn’t matter what they want to do.

By: mikey777

mikey777 — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:18:42 +0000

I think that a good balance between content and design is the best way to go. Neglect either one and your site will suffer. Content does tend to weigh a bit heavier than design, though. I can agree with that.

By: Marcus Hochstadt

Marcus Hochstadt — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:28:10 +0000

Headline, Matt, all I say is Headline… ;-)

The headline is what catches the eye and captures the visitor’s interest. At least the type of eye and visitor I want. It is what will cause the visitor to pause and take a look. It is what gets them in the door.

I could now bring the example of newspapers, but I think you (and my other readers) get the point…

~Marcus

By: Matt Urdan

Matt Urdan — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:06:43 +0000

I agree 100%. I strive to provide the best content that I can. The only place where I disagree with you though is that you still need to catch the eye. Dropping entrecards for example, you have to give your first time web surfers some reason to pause. Will it be content or a headline? Maybe. But great graphics that catch the eye will cause a web surfer to pause and take a look. Yes, it’s the content that keeps them, but you gotta get them in the door first.

Cheers!

By: Marcus Hochstadt

Marcus Hochstadt — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:44:10 +0000

I knew this post would trigger some to start a debate… ;-)

~Marcus

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:01:34 +0000

I agree with you, but there is another side to it.

Some of us, like me, like the artistic side of the net, and I personally get a lot of pleasure from designing nice lookinh websites. So for me, I couldn’t have one without the other.

That said, I never bookmark a pretty site that has no content.

By: Karl Goldfield - Sales Training

Karl Goldfield - Sales Training — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:53:27 +0000

With my jump into sales consulting a year ago, I decided to start a blog. What a great decision, and this parallels your point on content. I do not bother prospecting via phone anymore as my best leads come from people who read my blog.

Why?

1. They are looking for me
2. They are familiar with my philosophy and obviously see value
3. They have gone to the trouble to reach out and the cultivation of a sales ready lead is strong

The best part is that I have people globally contacting me. One prospect is in India, another Japan, and yet another in the Philippines.

Content builds clients, nothing else matters.

By: cellobella

cellobella — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:38:04 +0000

I’ve subscribed to some sites that frankly have absolutely rubbish design values - why? I love their content.

To my knowledge I haven’t subscribed to sites that look lovely but offer nothing content wise.

QED

You’re right.

By: Ben Barden

Ben Barden — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:51:02 +0000

Hi Marcus, I agree that content is crucial, but a great design can boost a site that also has great content.

In my view, a slick design grabs someone’s attention, while excellent content is what keeps their attention.