How Web Design and Content Marketing Work Together

So, you have a beautiful website that follows all the style guidelines, every new visitor instantly understands how to navigate it and you even have all the ease of access bells and whistles fully enabled; however, no one sticks around longer than a few seconds? Or maybe you have the most gripping content with hard-hitting articles that deserve multiple Pulitzer Prizes each, but your landing page gives viewers a headache and they can’t even find your articles in the first place?

Obviously, these are two extremes, but they illustrate the core point well: web design and content marketing work together and need to emphasize each other in order for you to have a successful website. Your site needs to be a hearty, delicious meal that’s plated so well you almost don’t want to take that first bite.

 

Functional Beauty

Form without function or, conversely, function without form just won’t work in the modern, digital world. Years of time and billions of dollars have been spent perfecting websites, so consumer standards are extremely high. You need your site to be both aesthetically pleasing while also purring like a well-oiled Bugatti. To achieve this, your site needs to be readable and easy to navigate. Not only does a well optimized website make for a better user experience, but it can also help your pages rank better on search engines.

Sleek, simple design helps your site look professional while also maintaining excellent readability and usability. Keep a color palette that’s uniform across the site and don’t go crazy with the fonts. When a visitor clicks to a different page on your site, they should instantly know they are still on the same site and not wonder if they jumped down a rabbit hole.

 

Meaningful Content

Different people learn in different ways and everyone has their own set of goals which means you can’t target each person individually, but you can try approaches that appeal to your core audience. Focus your content on issues that matter to your audience and that help enhance the idea of your brand in their minds. Content can take many different forms, so don’t be afraid of experimenting with audio/visual approaches – especially for social media.

Content for content’s sake isn’t going to do you any favors. Your content should be target-driven and full of intent. Whether you want to entertain or inform, the content needs to have some actual substance and punch to it. At the same time, the content needs to also achieve its purpose in a reasonable amount of time. People hate filler episodes of their favorite TV shows and no one likes reading chapters of a book where nothing happens. Demonstrate to your audience that you value their time by providing thought-provoking information in an easily digestible form.

And remember, Content may be King, but Design is Divine.