If I had a dollar for every small business owner I’ve met who has at least one website creation disaster story under their belt, I’d be richer than Melanie Perkins.

I see it over and over again.

You’re already in design and development with a website for your business, and then your web developer is asking for your website content.

So, you come to a content creator (like me!) and we start talking website content.

Only to discover that your new, shiny website design doesn’t actually fit the content that will meet the needs of your customer, or your business.

Because it’s been designed to look beautiful, and not consider the journey of your customer, you’re going to need additional content templates. Or to fix a complex content flow issue. Or add a piece of functionality that you need to make your customer experience seamless.

And this means that the project is going to go over budget and take way longer to deliver than you’ve planned. And it might not even turn out the way you want it to.

But there’s a solution to this website pain.

It’s called taking a Content First approach to your website.

What is a Content First Website Strategy?

A Content First website strategy does exactly what it says on the box.

Instead of starting with design, you start by mapping out the content that your website will need to hold.

This usually takes the form of Information Architecture – or a sitemap, or a content plan – that outlines what content you want to include in your website, and what you want that content to do.

Having a Content Plan for your website should actually form part of the brief to your website developer. If you aren’t giving them a clear picture of what you need your website to do, what its purpose is and the types of content you want to share with your audience, you’re setting yourself up for a stressful project before you even press start.

Let’s look at the five reasons you should always take a Content First approach to your business website project.

5 Reasons You Should Take a Content First Approach to Your Website Project

#1 - It will help you to achieve your website outcomes

Content is critical to the success of your website project.

When you take a Content First approach, it puts your customers at the centre of the project and allows you to consider their needs right from the start.

What is it that your customers need to know? Does that piece of content need to appear on the home page? What’s the end game – what do you want your customers to do and how will you get them to the next step? Do you need a shopping cart or any other type of specialist functionality to allow your customers to interact with it?

Do you really need that complicated functionality on your website? If you don’t, then you'll save time AND money by choosing the right platform to support the content you actually need (and not paying for things that you don't).

When you know what you’re trying to achieve with your website and you create your content around that, you’ll be creating a valuable asset for your business that will drive sales and customer trust.

#2 - It creates project efficiencies

A website project is a massive investment of time and money for a business – even when it’s a small website.

When you take the time to map out your content first, you’ll be able to create a clear brief for your website developer that will make the whole project run more smoothly.

They’ll know what you need the website to do. They’ll be able to create a realistic project plan with no hidden surprises

You won’t find yourself stuck with a design that doesn't work with the content you're trying to create and you won't have to invest in rebuilding functionality because you already know how it's going to work based on the content you need.

#3 – It will make your “Go-Live” Exciting in a Good Way

For so many SMEs, website go-live is a stressful thing.

Your website going live into the world should be an occasion to celebrate!!

And taking a Content First approach will help that to be the case.

Content not being ready is the number one reason website projects stall. But you’ll already have all your content, so going live will be seamless, and fun, and exciting in a good way!

Your content will be ready, so waiting on content won’t cause any hold-ups.

#4 – You’ll create a website you can actually maintain

I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

But your website is never done. Never.

Whether it’s adding and removing products, uploading articles, changing team member profiles or updating your about page and contact details, once your website is live, you’ll have to maintain it.

Taking a Content First approach lets you consider what you have the capacity to maintain BEFORE you go building your website.

You’ll be able to choose a content management system and website structure that will work for you, allowing you to develop a website management plan that keeps your website kicking goals for you long after you’ve launched.

#5 - You'll actually enjoy building your website

When you take a Content First approach, the design and development process will be built around your content, which means it will run smoother AND faster.

Everything you get back in design will make sense and you'll be signing things off rather than arguing with your developer about what's right or wrong about their design.

It will also run to budget – your content will dictate what needs to be designed, so the quote you get from the start will be right and the design will be right, which means you avoid the costly redesigns that I see all the time when a website has been created without the content in mind.

Best of all? You'll be genuinely proud of what you've created because it will serve your customer. AND it will deliver on the outcomes you wanted (see #1).

Putting your Content First means less website heartache

The reality is that a great website doesn’t just happen.

It needs to be driven by great content, which should be a consideration from the very start. In fact, 20 – 40% of your website budget should be for content related activity.

Don’t make content an afterthought.

When you go into your website project with a Content First approach you’ll achieve what you want to achieve with your website, create something that serves your business and your customers, have a website that can grow with you that’s easy to maintain, and deliver a website project without all that heartache!