Which Comes First? Content or Design?

When it comes to creating a website, it has to look good and serve its purpose, especially for healthcare services.

13:16 14 June 2021

For chiropractic website design (or any businesses’ website), before we even start creating one, we often ask which comes first - content or design?

 

It’s like asking ourselves which came first - the chicken or the egg? Both are indeed crucial elements and have equal importance. Web design is valuable because it impacts how people would see your brand by helping form a good first impression. If it’s well-designed and provides a good user experience, this can eventually give you more leads that turn into conversions. Content, on the other hand, provides information (which is not just for your target audience) and this information can be used to teach search engines more about our website. Having high quality content (which has strategically placed keywords all across) helps attract the right audience to your website. 

 

After talking to a good number of industry veterans and practitioners, here’s what we have found out - a good number of them espouse the “content first” strategy. And here are some reasons why:

 

• A content strategy paints the big picture
  
  
• We also have to remember that content isn’t just the words - content comprises a range of media like interactive text, audio, video, graphics, and the like. Having a content-first design lets you focus on understanding the purpose of your design by asking, “How are we going to achieve that purpose?” which leads us to our next point…~
  
  
• Content sets up the guardrails for design
  
  
• Content answers questions like “What is the hook for my audience?” and “When and where do I need to call for an action?” By having a clear story in mind, designers are now able to create a logical, sensible, seamless flow towards a main point or call for action.
  
  
• Content first saves time and energy (and nerves)
  
  
• As a writer (and I’m sure most of my fellow writers are the same), we often are critical once our work is published. So it’s better to have content done first so that we can easily get to revising it at once. Designers do not have such luxury and it would be a pain for them to look for and modify the source file which can be such a waste of time. To avoid any drama or breakdowns, simply write your content first. If you are having difficulty starting, consider prototyping content. Prototyping content can usually be a text file and looks like a conversation between you and your customers. The design then follows, and acts on how it can best visually bring this conversation to life.
  
  
• There would be nothing without content
  
  
• Content is the cornerstone of every business and marketing strategy. Content gives you the “why”, asks and answers the “what” and “hows”, and leads your customers to say (or click) “yes” to your business.

 

My key takeaway is that content first is important, but design plays a vital role too.