Content Vs. Design
Jul 18 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in HTML, CSS, Design, Marketing, SEO
I will offer some opinions here, and you can take them or leave them. However, due to my experience (and actual tests run), I hope you will take what I have to say to heart! :-)
What is it that gets visitors to your Web site to stay there, browsing, looking and buying? Is it the design? Is it the layout? No, it’s the CONTENT. The written content keeps your visitors on your site and viewing your pages.
What causes your visitors to purchase from you? The content. They read, they read some more, they find good points that creates enough interest for them to purchase.
Let’s imagine you go to a Web site and the design is wonderful. Fancy, creative graphics. It really wows you. But the content is boring, or hard to understand, or it simply doesn’t capture your interest. Will you be encouraged to buy from them?
Another important question: Will you come back? It’s extremely doubtful. Maybe you’ll go back to get that wow effect from the design again, but not because of the content. Right?
On the other hand, if you go to a site that provides excellent content (like articles or informational text) you will likely bookmark that page. You will probably share that site with others.
Maybe this page with fantastic content has just a basic design, or an ugly default WordPress template. But you still bookmark and share it. You are likely to return for a visit. And this is because there is content that is more than interesting to read and that holds your attention.
Finding a template for a Web page should be a fast and painless process. Google doesn’t care about your design, they only care about the written content and the human behavior based on that content.
My opinion is that folks spend too much time on the design of their site, modifying the template, etc… way too much time. They miss the boat in this regard. What they should concentrate on is having great content that captures interest and encourages people to return.
High quality content goes a long way to getting your visitors to come and stay. You will attract many more visitors through the search engines. You will SELL your product because of that.
Obviously, the above wouldn’t necessarily apply to those selling templates or promoting design services… ;-)
And I can’t say I am completely innocent when it’s come to getting carried away sometimes with the design. But I am ridding myself of that compulsion step by step!
—Marcus Hochstadt
16 Responses for "Content Vs. Design"
Ben Barden (6 comments)
July 18th, 2008 at 7:51 am
1Hi 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.
cellobella (3 comments)
July 18th, 2008 at 11:38 am
2I’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.
Karl Goldfield - Sales Training (1 comments)
July 18th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
3With 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.
Jonathan (6 comments)
July 18th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
4I 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.
Marcus Hochstadt (159 comments)
July 19th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
5I knew this post would trigger some to start a debate… ;-)
~Marcus
Matt Urdan (1 comments)
July 19th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
6I 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!
Marcus Hochstadt (159 comments)
July 19th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
7Headline, 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
mikey777 (3 comments)
July 19th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
8I 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.
bonoriau (4 comments)
July 20th, 2008 at 7:53 am
9Reasonable 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.
earn online (4 comments)
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
10you 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!
Journeyetc (1 comments)
July 24th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
11After you generate content and all seems to go well, a new, improved design will help very much.
Dan Henderson (1 comments)
July 26th, 2008 at 11:41 am
12On 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.
Logen (3 comments)
August 9th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
13While 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.
Mark Nagurski (1 comments)
September 20th, 2008 at 9:29 am
14Design 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.
Seth (1 comments)
September 29th, 2008 at 10:23 am
15Content 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!
Anunturi Imobiliare (1 comments)
October 1st, 2008 at 5:30 am
16I 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.
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