A great website is like a finely tuned sports car. It’s sleek and appealing, built for speed and performance. Smooth navigation and dynamic experience leave a lasting impression, attracting attention and captivating users.
It says something about you and you’re proud to show it off.
And rumbling under the hood is a powerful engine. When it comes to strategic website design, strong, value-rich content is the fuel to your lead-generating, prospect-converting engine – the driving force that propels you forward.
You wouldn’t buy a sports car without an engine. And you absolutely should not design a website without careful thought to your content. Aligning brand and design at every level of the web development process puts B2B companies in the fast lane to success from the start.
How Do You Get Started With Strategic Website Design?
When you’re looking to work with a marketing agency on a website redesign project, of course you’ll need answers about their design approach, their development experience, integration possibilities, expected timelines and estimated budgets.
But there is one critical question that’s often overlooked until the end.
Who is writing the content?
Content marketing isn’t always part of a web design package, it can be a separate line item. You may need to ask.
It’s well worth getting ahead of the game with your content right from the start. What you say and how you say matters, even with the most compelling, visually-attractive website design.
Web Design or Web Content First?
Working with dedicated content marketers means that the copy on your web pages is backed by strategy centered on your buyer personas. Search-engine optimized content speaks to those buyers’ pain points, helping you attract the right website visitors, providing value and ensuring brand alignment.
Content can’t be an afterthought.
But it’s also not the only priority. The visual elements like fonts, colors, logos and images evoke emotion and amplify your brand. The architecture, menus and navigation shape the user experience. And the calls to action prompt conversion.
Which should you start with – web design or web content? Well, both. They inform each other and work together to tell a powerful story.
So, how do you get started with strategic website design? The first step is making sure you have a team that includes web designers and content marketers who bring expertise from both sides of the coin.
Our Strategic Website Design Process
At Kuno Creative, our team of brand journalists, content strategists, SEO experts, designers and developers work closely with one another and with you to make sure all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
The result? A website that maximizes lead generation and leverages inbound marketing principles to delight visitors.
It’s a process that involves considering multiple strategic aspects:
Understanding Your Buyers
Before jumping into templates or drafting homepage copy, it’s important to take the time to truly understand your audience.
What are their pain points? What does their buyer journey look like? What terms are they searching that can organically funnel them to your site? What calls to action would they find most compelling?
Our discovery process doesn’t just involve a discussion about your business, goals and differentiators. We take a data-driven, journalistic approach to understanding your buyers. Our content team performs persona research, interviewing stakeholders and ideal customers. Our web and design team analyzes your current site’s performance, SEO, design functionality and technical sitemap. The two are combined for a strategy tailored for you.
Aligning the User Experience to Buyers
The insights from discovery underpin the sitemap development and wireframing of your new website.
From the content hierarchy for pages to the CTA strategy to the navigational layout to SEO keyword research, a lot goes into creating a user experience that resonates and aligns with your buyers’ journey.
At each stage of that journey, a user-friendly and intentional experience creates a meaningful connection between your brand and the buyer.
Combining Messaging and Visual Design
This is where the magic happens.
Design is the first thing visitors notice when they reach your website. But it’s not just about fonts, images or colors. Fundamentally, it’s about emotion – creating an experience that elicits the right response at the right time and aligns with your brand.
That can’t be fully successful without the right messaging, though. Content is key for connecting with your audience, conveying your message and encouraging progression throughout the buyer’s journey. On top of that, SEO-infused copy and strategic headers, metadata and other elements make sure your website is findable on search engines.
Our designers and writers work together, iterating and fine-tuning every aspect of your website to create a harmonious fusion of design and content that creates measurable impact.
Web design trends come and go. Elements like autoplay videos, disruptive popups and excessive text are out and could tank your performance.
Other elements like a mobile-first design, custom graphic and animation, large typography and microinteraction are must-haves nowadays.
But one basic tenet remains the same, always: strategic web design starts with your audience. And truly speaking to your audience involves combining the power of great web design and compelling content marketing.
Shifting Your Web Design Into the Right Gear
Working with the right marketing partner who can offer strategic guidance with both web design and content creation is the best way to make sure you’re leveraging the power of both.
In addition to addressing “Who is writing the content?” upfront, ask:
- How do you approach understanding our target audience and their needs?
- How do you ensure the content you create aligns with our brand voice and messaging?
- What is your approach to design and user experience?
- How do you handle revisions and incorporate feedback?
- Who will be on the account and what specialties do they focus on?
- How does your team work together?
- What is your experience in our industry or niche?
Our team at Kuno Creative has been designing websites and creating content for companies across different industries – from healthcare to manufacturing to professional services – for decades. We’re here to bring that expertise to you.
What does strategic website design with content look like in practice? Browse through some examples of web design that combine the two or get in touch with us to see what this could mean for your business.
