Design vs. Content: Which does your company need more?

Published by Scripted Writers on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 in Content Marketing, Content, Design, Design Vs. Content.

Content is an important part of branding, but high-quality content is a powerful tool. Many would even say that content is king, and if the content is king, then the design is queen. However, many others wonder about the age-old content vs. design debate.

Truly great content demands good design. This is especially true when running a business and maintaining a blog or website based on your brand. Pairing quality content with a good design establishes brand loyalty and trust while boosting your brand's power. In fact, 82% of marketers who manage a blog see positive ROI for their inbound marketing.

The question is, does content alone drive positive ROI? How much does the design contribute to the success of your content? Imagine a website or blog with just content and no images, graphics, or a well-designed call to action. While it might feel like a more straightforward approach, you have to look at it from the eyes of your visitors.

First impressions are always important; getting your brand out there is no different. According to the NN Group, you have 10 seconds to leave a good impression on visitors before they leave your website. This means your design needs to be appealing and up to speed. This poses yet another question: should marketers be more concerned with content or design?

Design-First Approach: Web Design and Brand Trust

One revealing study showed web design's huge role in determining public trust in a brand. When participants revealed their reasons for mistrust, 94 percent of the comments were designed-related, while only 6 percent were content-related. The results show that design leaves visitors a quick and lasting first impression.

As for the common complaints, participants felt the design was too plain, busy, or packed with advertisements. We cannot all be website design and graphic design experts, and even those with an eye for design need a specific skill set to bring their vision to life. Additionally, you may not have time to develop or build on the skill of design work.

The good news is, you can look into design platforms such as Demly Design to find a freelance professional to create a web design that is visually appealing, as well as effective at gaining and maintaining visitors.

Professional web designers are experts in a variety of aspects that create a successful web design, such as templates, infographics, and usability. While the design process does vary per professional, their process may include user research, template mockup, and usability testing. The process is in place to ensure your website is ready for visitors.

For bigger projects, you may decide to look into design teams to build an attractive, functional website.

Content-First Approach: Web Content and Brand Trust

Of course, this doesn't mean you should forget about the content. During that same study, 83 percent of the reasons for trusting a website were content-related. When you think about it, an appealing design is effective at attracting visitors, but quality content is essential for building trust and gaining repeat traffic.

A lot of work goes into creating good content for your landing pages, social media posts, and even tweets. The content needs to include relevant keywords that highlight your digital products and help your content rank high on search engines. The higher your content ranks, the more you increase your chances of gaining organic traffic that want to return.

As a business owner, it is natural to want to hire the best content writers for the job, especially copywriters who are knowledgeable in content strategy, SEO, and digital marketing. You certainly want content writers who can deliver the writing style and tone of voice you have in mind.

When it comes to the term content writing, you can find the best professional writers on Scripted. The writers on this platform are experts in a range of areas, and they can keep up with various content demands, from blog posts to whitepapers to podcast scripts.

Design and Content Complement Each Other

As you have learned so far, you need to ensure your website has a successful user experience. You also need quality content with relevant keywords, as well as an attention-grabbing call to action, that ranks high on search engines.

So with the debate of content vs. design, do you need a design-first or content-first approach? Should you prioritize one element over the other?

The takeaway is you need to focus on both your content and design, but a content-first approach is ideal.

The Importance of Content vs. Design

When determining which is more important in the content vs. design debate, we find a balance between the two is more effective. If used properly, these two functions actually complement each other rather than overpower one another. You can think of great content and great design as a team, working together to help you maintain a successful brand.

Content and design are important when establishing your brand, but both functions impact your visitors differently. When landing on a website or blog, visitors tend to notice the design first. They notice the template, font, graphic design, and even advertisements. This is why many designers and business owners alike go for eye-catching designs.

While this makes an immediate impression, the content keeps your target audience engaged. In fact, that engagement is the reason relevant, up-to-date content is just as essential as your design. Luckily, many content writers understand the importance of a content strategy that involves SEO, a call to action, and the right tone of voice to keep your visitors on your page. Overall, they deliver content that gives your visitors an answer or solution to their problem.

For example, you may run a business offering pet owners digital products. One product is a course on dog training.

Your designer builds a website design that appeals to pet owners, such as a paw-print graphic or header with a cute dog. Of course, it also features a responsive, user-friendly design to encourage your visitors to look around.

Now that your designer has grabbed the attention of your visitors, your content writer addresses why they are there in the first place. They create a content marketing plan that addresses the issue at hand, such as a dog that is not house-trained or does not obey commands, and this plan encourages those pet owners to sign up for your online dog-training course.

Basically, you want to use design to reach and rope in your audience. It is necessary for grabbing their attention and encouraging them to browse around your website. Companies such as Demly and Dribble are useful for finding high-quality professionals to create a great-looking design, while Scripted is useful for finding top-notch content writers who can deliver great content that ranks high on search engines.

The content is what seals the deal. It establishes a connection and trust between you and your customers in a “slow and steady wins the race” manner. While it takes patience to create content that engages your reader, the reward is worth it.

We spoke with CEO Bryant Skarda about his position on the importance of well-designed content. In regard to adding visuals to content, Bryan notes, "This combination of increased readership and familiarity provides a direct spike in the ROI for a white paper, blog post, or marketing material."

When your content and design are on the same wavelength, your digital marketing is more accurate and effective, and this results in a giant leap for your content marketing and overall brand.

The question is, which comes first, content or design? With both being different but important elements, you may want to hire a copywriter and web designer within the same timeframe. However, looking for a content writer before your designer is best. The two go hand-in-hand in reaching your business goals, but your content is the bread and butter of your campaign.

In addition, there are many designers who prefer to see your content before designing your website or blog. The reason is the content provides the information they need to work on your design. For instance, a designer who is working on a pet-related website can look at the content and realize you are offering digital products such as training courses, entertaining podcasts, and informative e-books. Now, they can create a design based on your pet-related brand.

Plus, search engines such as Google look at content, not design, and you cannot use SEO to increase your rankings if there is no content to optimize. And while the design brings in traffic, your visitors are not going to stick around if there is nothing to read. This is why it is best to take a content-first approach when building your brand, but you want to hire a designer once you have enough content.

Do you have the desire to create quality content but not the time to get it done? Scripted can help. The platform is full of talented professionals who know how to use SEO, research, and specific writing styles to keep your customers coming back. Register at Scripted to find the perfect writer for your brand today.