What is content-driven website design? It is one that primarily delivers information to its users rather than focusing on selling products or services. Content-first sites built by experienced website design services can support company sales if they provide users with well-written, informative content to help influence a purchase.

With a primary goal to provide valuable information to users while increasing SEO results to bring in more traffic, website design companies must plan such websites differently than product-driven sites. A simplified delivery of content is the priority, with visual presentation being the secondary element.

How Do Content-Driven Websites Function?

The difference between design-first and content-first sites is how they serve the user. Content-driven sites developed by website design services provide the educational information users seek. They provide the answers to user questions.

Design-focused sites purposely give users the information necessary to sell the product or service. Therefore, website design must be approached from a different direction.

Building A Great Content-Driven Website

When developing a content-driven site, website design companies want to avoid putting content into a pre-designed template. Instead, they must first understand the relationship between content and design, then make the design fit the content rather than the opposite. This can happen by considering the following aspects: 

  • Identify Site Objectives - The first step in content-first website design is to identify the site’s business objectives and goals. Once this is done and a way established to measure website success, the process deviates from the usual design-first process.  
  • Research Target Audiences - Before any thought is given to site appearance, website design services must identify target audiences and determine what they want to know. By identifying common user  questions through surveys, questionnaires, and direct customer contact, developers can generate a list of desired topics to be prioritized and organized. Content production can then begin.
  • Develop A Content Organization Architecture - Once the topics have been determined, website design companies must prioritize them by level of importance and develop a suitable architecture and content management system to organize the topics. Important topics should be easier to find and higher up in organizational hierarchy.
  • Perform Usability Testing - Where design-first sites perform user testing after the site is finished, it is just the reverse with content-driven sites; testing should be done prior to website completion and launch. After testing is done, the CMS and architecture style is finalized followed by the site layout and appearance.   
  • Finalize Site Appearance - After site architecture and navigation has been tested by users and approved, the final visual appearance and layout can be developed. By building around the required CMS and site function, website design services can then create an attractive design that works with function and does not impede it. Final content can then be uploaded into the completed layout.

Using this back-to-front approach, website design companies can ensure that content-driven sites offer users desired information in an organized and user-friendly way. Properly executed, content-first website design allows businesses to build trust and reputation, bring in more users looking for valuable content, and get mind-blowing SEO results at the same time!

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