There are countless channels with which to connect with consumers, making marketing more complicated than ever. (This isn’t a claim. It’s a fact.) Social media, in particular, has turned marketing into a Rube Goldberg machine with your brand image constantly zipping back and forth between your influencer partners, paid ads, and user-generated content. That’s why it’s become so easy to overlook your website. But therein lies the issue: Aren't your funneling users on social media and search engines and anywhere else to your website so they can make purchases? 

In our increasingly digital-first world, e-commerce is more important for businesses than it has ever been. By extension, this means your website is basically the lifeblood of your business, facilitating purchases that drive revenue with which to grow and expand your company.

Websites are essentially designated spaces where companies can create unique brand experiences. Larger companies even do periodic website overhauls, often done seasonally, to ensure that long-term customers stay engaged. The metaphorical brick and mortar of these websites are: 

• Design, or a website's overall form and functionality 
• Content, or the copy that's written on the website 

In the past, business owners were more likely to invest in slick visuals than in quality content. However, that may not still be the case today.

Form Over Function?

Traditional marketing tells us that design is one of the most important aspects of a website. It can also be one of the most difficult, especially if web design isn’t your area of expertise. 

From a logical perspective, design might seem more important because it's what catches the eye and pulls focus, which is ultimately the goal of visual media. The design you choose, whether for a website or even something like a business card, will supply visual cues as to the tone of your brand and, in many cases, informs the first impression someone makes when engaging with your brand for the very first time.

The functional layout and flow of a website are hugely influential in whether a lead makes a purchase. Performance is another factor here as well; more complex or elaborate web designs result in larger file sizes, which means the site takes more time to load. With a poor internet connection, such a website could become quite difficult to use, making a purchase far less likely. In fact, page speed is highly influential in as many as 70 percent of customer purchases. 

However, according to a machine learning study of 36,000 websites, copy is twice as important as design across all industries. This isn’t limited to information-focused industries either: Layman-facing and design-focused verticals like home improvement, real estate, catering, and travel all saw copy overtake design as a priority. 

What does this tell us? It tells us that while design still matters, customers care more about the information they're receiving than how that information is shown.

Designing With Substance 

When designing or redesigning a website, start with the copy. Because although people may forget how a website looks, they’re far less likely to forget how the copy made them feel. 

Design-first websites don’t put enough focus on the deeper meaning behind customers’ visits. Design sets the stage and grabs their attention, but the copy is what keeps them engaged.  Customers care most about being able to find the information they need and how it engages them, and negative experiences in navigation and design. 

Good design is experienced but not necessarily remembered. Perfect design is functionally the same as good design, but even the best designs can do little with weak copy. 

What to Write and Why 

It’s easy to get caught up in the SEO of it all, but having great copy is more than SEO and blog content. It should also include material that has value and lends to a better customer experience, including: 

• Product descriptions 
• Whitepapers 
• Promotional graphics 
• Product photos (can fit under design as well) 
• One-pagers
• Featured projects
• Reviews 

As it happens, the best approach to design starts with a plan for the content.t Because it makes more sense to plan and write content throughout the entire design process than after. 

Simultaneous development of content and design actually helps writers because they have more time to produce the content, minimizing mistakes and reducing time spent in editing. 

Having access to the content helps designers develop a better feel for the final site and pull inspiration from the tone and terminology. This cooperation makes the final website feel less like a filled-out template and more like a comprehensive product developed by a unified team—because that’s exactly what it was.

So “start with the copy” doesn’t mean “write every piece of copy and design the site around it.” Instead, you should begin with the copy so you can put the site’s basic concepts to paper and let it grow from there. 

Bringing It All Together With Alan + Company 

A roadmap for content production makes the web design process easier to track—both teams can deliver the necessary mock-ups and preplanned times. As they do, they get feedback from one another and build a site greater than the sum of its parts. 

If you’ve never written a roadmap like that before, Alan + Company can help. As a boutique marketing agency specializing in modern digital marketing, Alan + Company is here to chart your course to growth, from website redesign to SEO and attracting the right customers and everything in-between.

Contact us today to learn more.