Mowing the Backyard: Website Content vs Design
If you’re anything like me, keeping your website content fresh, updated, and relevant is like mowing the backyard… it always comes last on the to do list. You see, I mow the front yard religiously because everyone sees it when they drive past my house. I just don’t pay much attention to my backyard. The reason? It’s completely hidden to everyone except me and my next-door neighbor and it’s just not used very often. You may be confused at this point, so let me explain my analogy. The front yard is your website’s design and the back yard is your website’s content. Let’s talk about the front yard first.
The Front Yard - Your Website Design
Your design doesn’t need to be flashy by any means, but it definitely needs to be tailored to your audience and easy to quickly understand. If the “front yard” isn’t pristine, users will move on. Ask the former readers of STLtoday.com. The recent redesign has driven long-time readers to search elsewhere for their local news. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes bad design can really hurt your website. Content may be considered king, but bad design can be the ugly queen.
Some tips on improving your existing design:
- Perform a common sense check. Not everyone is a designer, but everyone knows enough about websites to see something is critically erroneous. Browse your own website for a while to see if there are any glaring design issues.
- Get specific user feedback. Most users are happy to know that you are seeking their feedback. In fact, in some cases, it is expected. Especially for a new website.
- Test multiple designs. If you’re having trouble deciding on how to present a specific page, try doing A/B testing, which is essentially testing 2 different designs and seeing which yields better results. Try using Google Website Optimizer.
The Back Yard - Your Website Content
The back yard is where the magic happens. Outdoor parties, Summer BBQs, and family gatherings all make the backyard the place where the most important interaction. Interaction is what brings users back to your website. Sure, the design gives a great first impression, but it is the content that engages users in your site. Going back to to STLtoday.com, there’s a lot of great content on the site. They have tons of local news including some of the best local sports coverage in St. Louis. If anything keeps readers from jumping ship, it will be the content. Even though the new design is a hindrance in finding the content, people still ultimately need that content because they know it is the only place they can find it.
Here are some tips for keeping content fresh and valuable:
- Update content often. There’s nothing worse than visiting a site with the latest update being 2+ months old. That’s an instant turn-off for the user. You’ve got to dedicate yourself to providing content on a consistent basis or your users may forget about you.
- Provide relevant content. To attract some attention, you’ve got to provide content that captivates your users. For example, if you sell digital cameras, set up a photoblog. If you sell scuba gear, provide in-depth reviews and ratings from scuba experts, along with pictures.
- Ask experts to provide content. You may be surprised to know that sometimes all it takes for an industry expert to make a guest post on your website or blog is to simply… ask. It’s a great way for them to get exposure to your readership and for you to be exposed to theirs. Of course, if they have a competing product, it won’t be so easy.
The bottom line is this: poor site design can scare away users while content keeps them connected and involved. STLtoday.com is a perfect example of that. The design is turning a lot of users off and they claim they won’t be coming back. However, there is a ton of content you just can’t get anywhere else. I think they’ll still visit, but not nearly as frequently as they did before.
You must be logged in to post a comment.