The 3 Major Types of Content Needed to Build a Website
So often business owners want a website right away, but to make that happen designers need content. They need the visual and informational building blocks in order to create something that represents your company and helps you grow your business.
1. Brand Identity
One of the first things that people typically see at the top of the homepage is the logo. The tab in your web browser also features a favicon. Ideally, both should be customized to fit within your overall brand. Further, your brand identity will help us figure out which typefaces are most appropriate for your website—everything should coordinate and work together visually. Before diving into the build out of a project we prefer to have all of these files on hand so we can work more efficiently.
2. Copy (Text)
What you actually say about your business and how you say it matters. This is where copywriting comes into play. Allow time for this process as well—there are typically several iterations of reviews and editing. Copywriters are amazing at what they do, but often you know your business best in a lot of ways, so you’ll also need to give a copywriter something to start with. For example, for our architecture and builder clients we ask for bullet points on each project and pass that on to the copywriter. They didn’t work on the project after all, so they wouldn’t know every detail that you, as the business owner, would like to point out.
3. Imagery
Scheduling photoshoots and compiling imagery is what I find delays website design and development progress the most. The most organized business owners already have a curated set of photos that they’d like to feature on their website, which may include product imagery, portfolio photos and headshots. But many business are so busy running the business that investing in photography gets neglected and doesn’t get addressed until a new website is about to be built.
Photography takes a lot of time. An onsite photoshoot itself takes time to schedule and often there’s preparation and/or styling that needs to be coordinated. If you’re getting team headshots, it can feel nearly impossible to have everyone at the office at the same time. Also consider the availability of the photographer that you choose to work with.
There are also a lot of choices that need to be made when it comes to the actual images that will be utilized for the website.
