There are so many different schools of thought when it comes to web design that it is often very difficult to choose the best one for your organization. It is virtually impossible to please everyone as each visitor will have their own eye for what looks good and what does not. Moreover, with so many people now au courant with the latest technology your job as a designer becomes that more difficult. The ability to use an iPad or to post on Facebook has given several persons a mistaken sense that they are a Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg in their own right.
Content has and will always be King when it comes to websites. Sticking to this simple truth will ensure that your website is more than just eye-candy and that it actually does its job in converting visitors to customers. It is a basic web design tenet that has eluded many persons who have the oversight of their company’s web presence. They often get caught up trying to satisfy their own design cravings and forget about their customers. Many times you visit a site and think “Wow this is nice” but how many persons actually return just because your site looks good? Lovely white spaces and large fading images are no good if the most relevant content is three clicks away or down to the bottom of the page. No design is that awesome if someone is unable able to learn about your organization in two minutes or less.
Social Media websites provide wonderful examples of why content is King and design is the Princess (still important but not as important as King Content). From a design aspect there is nothing heart-stopping about the look and feel of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In fact Facebook is constantly ignoring the barrage of complaints about its design. However, they have always kept easy access to the most relevant posts to you at the forefront and that is why most of you readers of this blog would have visited or are going to visit your Social Media profile at some point during the course of today.
How Can I ensure that Content is indeed King on my website?
Evaluate how people use your website: Google offers a wonderful free tool called Google Analytics to help you decipher what is most important to your visitors. Below are some terms that you should become familiar with:
Page Load Time: Evaluate how long it takes for your pages to load completely. Large images and videos are great but pointless if persons leave your website before it finishes loading. Persons may be willing to wait a bit for the home page. However, navigation to relevant content thereafter should be painless.
Bounce Rate: The percentage of persons who enter and leave your website without clicking on a thing. It is a good indicator of how well your site is performing. If your Bounce Rate is high or increasing it means something drastically needs to be done.
Real Time Analytics: Use of this fantastic tool gives you a breakdown in real time of which links on your website are the most visited. Based on this you can alter your design to ensure that the most important ones are given prominence.
Ask for Feedback!
User surveys and feedback are also critical. You could use a simple Survey Monkey questionnaire and embed it on your website. In fact there is a Website Feedback template that could be quite telling if used as is.
Keep Your Content Up-to-Date
One of the most difficult things to do is to keep your website’s content fresh and up-to-date after its launch. It is one of the most underestimated tasks. Gathering sufficient content for the launch is tough enough and so many organizations fail to keep up that effort in keeping the site up-to-date. Many times sites keep the same content on the Home Page for months. The main slider should be updated regularly with the latest news and offerings. It is usually best to have someone assigned to this task and there should be a defined process for getting new content. Do not leave this to chance.
Once Content remains King on your website you can rest assured that your website is indeed working for you.