Recently I met Julie Roads and enjoyed an email exchange with her. She’s generous, thoughtful and does her homework. Her words ring with her voice. So I’m happy to present this article she wrote. I predict she’s going to be everywhere in no time at all.
Is Content Really that Important?
by Julie Roads
When I tell people that I’m a copywriter, this response smacks me in the face quite often: “Oh! I need a copyright for a blahblahblah that I created.” Yeah, I’m actually not that kind of copywriter. And while many wonderful people understand what I do, this ‘un-awareness’ of my profession’s existence often spills over and into general attitudes about the importance of good content.
Now, if you tell someone you are a web designer – their eyes light up as if they’ve just met a celebrity, or at least the coolest kid on the block. Designers elicit responses such as, “Wow, do you do flash? What are some of the sites you’ve done? I need a website!”
So, here’s a question: Can search engines read beautiful design? Of course, an easily navigable site makes all the difference, but color, logo, flash? Not so much.
People do judge books by their covers and websites by their design. And, good designers should forever be held onto. The look of your site sends an immediate message to your visitor about your personality, your tone, your business.
That said, it’s the content that pulls the visitor to the site with keywords and tags. And, it’s the value-laden, information-packed, expertly crafted content that keeps the visitor reading and turns them into a fan, a commenter, a client, a customer, a bullhorn for your business.
You tell me:
If content brought you to a site – and you found the information you wanted, would you stay even if the site was ugly?
If a stunning site caught your eye – but there was no content value, would you stay just because it was pretty?
Julie Roads can be found at Writing Roads and Blogging Roads.
Thanks, Julie!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Define ‘ugly’. If the site has blinking and spinning graphics and big huge highlighter pen markings…then no, I wouldn’t stay whatsoever; such things cause my eyes to weep tears of agony.
But if the site is simply straight text that is un-prettified, then of course I’ll stay and learn.
I realize that not everyone is a topnotch website designer and so am quite lenient towards those sites that catch my eye.
Data points,
Barbara
awesome questions, julie
i admit to really liking pretty, yet agree with you that content past pretty keeps me there
content alone, for me…needs to be accurate,factual and if it has some personality ( especially if the material is dry ) I appreciate the levity, I like useful sites or best yet sites I can share that make me look like a rock star for sharing them
sites that are loud, aggressive or don’t work well loose me pretty darn fast – forget the flash
Search Engine does not read beautiful design. The complex algorithm will go through various keywords to evaluate the quality of the content other than the design factor. However, the human eye will be the grading factor of the site design.
If you have a beautiful website design in flash the search engine can’t read, you will not have any traffic sent from the Search engine.
You need both element to work for a great website. Quality content, and eye pleasing design!
But again, if your objective is to drive massive keyword targeted traffic from search engine to your buisness. Quality content is really key to the overall success of your online business!
“If content brought you to a site – and you found the information you wanted, would you stay even if the site was ugly?”
yes!
“If a stunning site caught your eye – but there was no content value, would you stay just because it was pretty?”
No
If the content is powerful and meaningful, but the site is horrendous, I’ll copy and paste it somewhere else to read it. If a site is visually stunning, it is just a quickie eye-candy moment, and I am off again to find more value.
If the ugliness of the site makes it hard to read then I probably won’t stay because there’s (often) so many places to get the same info. I also find that a pretty design, lends credibility to the writing (note by pretty I could mean anything from Web Designer Wall to Rikcat Industries – notice how even black and white can be awesome?. If I find a site with several good posts, I tend to subscribe, so it doesn’t really matter what it looks like. However, semantic markup helps in those cases because the feed reader still uses headings etc.
I tend to think of the topic of great content vs great design in the following context:
If you are going to give your significant other with a valuable diamond ring… it makes a better presentation if the ring is nestled in a padded velvet box with the jeweler’s name embossed on the top.
If that same diamond ring were presented in a brown paper bag… well, it’s still just as valuable but perhaps the recipient won’t recognize the value without the elegant presentation.
On the other hand a fine jewelers box can’t make a ring pop valuable.
In other words… a great presentation enhances great content. A great presentation can’t carry poor content.
This was hard truth for me to embrace because I’m not “graphically gifted” and I HATE it! Years ago, I applied a professionally designed template to an affiliate site I was running and my affiliate earnings quadrupled in a single quarter.
Great analogy Kathy!
Many of the blogs I’m subscribed to are not “pretty” by any stretch of the imagination, but the content is power-packed, informative, powerful content with authority links that further develop the discussion. I’ll take great content over a blogs design any day.
I consider myself a ‘designer’ to an extent whereby I do create design from time to time but I don’t get paid for it in the least. So I tend to appreciate good design and it does draw me to certain websites more than others.
Actually it’s not so much good design but cohesiveness that matters to me. Some sites look great but widgets and things they’ve added have caused the site to look copied and pasted (which in a sense they were).
But of course, I’m not going to visit a site because it looks pretty if it’s about something I don’t particularly find interesting… but I need a site to at least have clean lines to be able to even read the content.
Great topic!