Boil down any website, and you’ll find that design elements, CSS, and JS code evaporate. What remains is pure content. In other words, even the fanciest UI and design wouldn't mean much without words, would it?
Our team has a 24-year-long history as a design agency before transitioning into a product company. Trust me: content is the first thing that needs to be drafted and provided to the design team. Without it, they wouldn’t know the type or volume of information that needs to be placed on the website. Any wrong guess costs extra, and neither we nor our clients wanted that. This is where website content planning comes in.
What is website content planning?
Website content planning involves crafting the text and media that align with your website's objectives, keeping your target audience's interests in mind. We're in an era where text and visuals share equal footing in engaging users. This process essentially means writing and sketching out the content for each page of your site. These drafts aren't usually the final cut but give a solid sense of the narrative each page will convey. You can draft the text in one large block or break it down into sections, depending on the approach, responsibility, and expertise of your team.
Although text and visuals are both crucial, text typically takes the lead. Visuals complement and amplify the text, but they seldom replace it entirely. Think of platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, where visuals dominate, but remember, these are exceptions, often built around user-generated content.
Content planning sits squarely between structuring your site and diving into the design phase. Having both a well-thought-out structure and content is not just powerful; it's the bare minimum needed for your designer to work effectively.
Why this is important
Don't be fooled - a website should be built content-first, not design-first. Flipping these steps around risks extra work or losing sight of the project's focus. As part of your website's planning phase, content planning is arguably the most valuable piece of info you can hand to your web designer for crafting design templates. There's a world of difference between a text block meant for ten words versus ten sentences, and believe me, that call shouldn't be left to the designer.
Content planning isn't just about aesthetics; it's pivotal for hitting your website's business goals. Your text needs to be insightful, delivering exactly what your visitors need to know. Even the most skilled copywriter can't match the domain expertise of someone who lives and breathes that field. It's critical for such specialists to collaborate closely with copywriters or even draft initial content themselves before passing it to a copywriting pro.
Content planning strategy
After you've mapped out your website's structure, the next step is content drafting before you dive into design. Content not only informs the designer about what needs to be conveyed but also hints at how much space each piece of text will occupy on a page.
Who
The ideal candidate for drafting content? A field expert, hands down. If you're dealing with a product page, the product owner is your go-to; for pricing pages, look to the sales department. Remember, an expert product manager might not be a word wizard, and that's perfectly okay. Their draft serves as prime material for a professional copywriter to refine into something close to or at its final form. Both drafts are ripe for the design phase.
How
We've established that field experts are best for initial content creation, though they might not excel in copywriting. By now, you should have a website structure with designated content blocks, offering a blueprint of page sections. If you're missing this step, check out our other article on website structure planning.
Each block on your site anticipates a certain volume of text to describe that section. The best kickoff strategy is to provide guiding questions or a content structure to your subject matter expert to fill out. In larger organizations, you might have a whole chain of people from marketing to SEO specialists contributing to content. However, for startups and smaller outfits, cross-functionality is the name of the game. Analyze your competition and your audience, then leverage AI-powered tools to simulate the input of marketing and SEO specialists where needed.
When
The straightforward answer is to do your content planning after structure planning but before the design stage. However, there's room for flexibility. You might consider 'fast-tracking' (a term from project management where tasks usually done in sequence are done concurrently) if the structure is partially complete, yet you can already start drafting content for finalized sections.
Website visual content planning
Visuals—be it images, photos, videos, animated graphics, or icons—are nearly ubiquitous on modern websites. They, too, require foresight in planning, involving a range of experts from subject matter specialists to marketing gurus, SEO experts, product owners, and designers. The reason we highlight so many roles? Visuals can serve multiple functions: they can enhance text with data charts, make an appealing UI with compelling images, or break up lengthy text with relevant visuals.
Here's how you can strategize visual content:
- Text-Form References: Describe what you need visually, like "a photo of the product team conducting a retrospective meeting in the main conference room."
- Placeholders: Use greyed-out or colored rectangles to signify where images or videos will go.
- Low-Fidelity Wireframes: Some planning tools provide these sketches to outline where and what kind of visual content will fit. Check out a lo-fi wireframes library example for inspiration.
Drafting text content first offers a major advantage; it can inspire those tasked with creating visuals and at the very least, provides the best reference for what the visuals should complement or illustrate.
Content planning tools
Google Docs and MS Word are undoubtedly the go-to for document creation, offering a seamless user experience and straightforward sharing options. Their versatility in functions is commendable, but when you're diving into the specifics of website content planning, these tools might not be the most efficient choice. Here's the catch: website content planning transcends simple text document creation; it's about managing multi-purpose, multi-form, and multi-format content. Yes, Docs can handle it, but it'll take more time to structure everything to mimic a website's navigation and structure.
There are specialized tools designed explicitly for website planning, including content. Unlike the more generic Google and MS offerings, these apps are tailored, perhaps not ideal for drafting legal agreements but perfect for content planning. How so? They're built with a focus on website structure, keeping you on task by stripping away unnecessary features and optimizing the interface for content work.
These website content planning services offer a comprehensive overview of the site's structure, showing page hierarchy, content blocks, and often come with AI integrations to streamline text content creation.
Consider Octopus.do, for instance - it's free, incredibly user-friendly for team and client collaboration, offers progress tracking, and is specifically molded for the nuances of website planning.
Assisting with AI
Disclaimer: This section was generated, proof-read, styled, and SEO-optimized with the help of an AI model.
AI models are revolutionizing content planning process, becoming indispensable allies in crafting website content strategies that resonate with business objectives and engage the intended audience. These tools can wear many hats—acting as subject matter experts, SEO gurus, or even copywriters—producing quality drafts based on precise prompts and examples. Harnessing an AI-powered content planning tool allows you to fine-tune your text for optimal SEO performance, ensuring it fits perfectly within your overarching content planning strategy.
AI fosters collaboration by dissecting content needs and proposing structures that boost user engagement. It handles the grunt work of spellchecking, grammar correction, and tone adjustment, making sure your content strikes the right chord with your audience while staying true to your brand's voice. This not only saves time but also enhances the accuracy of your content, smoothing out the content planning process.
Moreover, these AI-driven content planning tools optimize workflows by cutting down on revision loops and integrating effortlessly with your team's workflow. Whether you're sketching out a content plan or orchestrating website visuals, AI liberates creators to concentrate on strategic thinking and creative expression, delivering high-quality content at every stage.
Content readiness tracking
If you're not flying solo on your content creation journey, implementing progress tracking and approval management is a smart move. It's all too easy to fall into the trap where some content is ready for a page, but not everyone's in the loop, or when text is waiting for approval, yet the approver remains in the dark.
This doesn't have to be a headache. A straightforward solution is to tag content once it hits certain readiness milestones, much like how we use tags in Octopus. This simple system keeps everyone on the same page, literally and figuratively.
Website content planning SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the art of tweaking your website's content to climb higher in search engine results pages. It's about making sure your site doesn't just get seen but gets seen by the right people who are searching for what you offer.
Key elements of SEO in content planning include:
- Meta-Descriptions and Meta-Titles: These are concise, engaging summaries that show up in search results, giving both search engines and users a quick glimpse into what your page is about.
- Keyword Integration: Weaving relevant keywords into your content ensures it aligns with what your audience is typing into search bars.
However, SEO isn't solely about climbing ranks; it's about crafting content that resonates on a human level. It should engage visitors, deepen their interaction with your site, and enhance their overall experience, leading to longer visit durations and higher engagement.
To effectively incorporate SEO into your content planning process, leverage tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs. These are invaluable for keyword research, analyzing what your competitors are doing, and monitoring how your content performs. Combining these tools with a commitment to creating quality, relevant content will help you develop an SEO strategy that not only brings in traffic but also fosters meaningful user engagement.
Conclusion
Content planning is hero of website success, folks. You'll need your field experts on board from the get-go to draft content that resonates. Then, let the copywriters do their magic to refine it, or use the power of AI—it's there to optimize your content for SEO and engagement.
Remember: Place content planning right in between your site's structure planning and the design phase. This timing ensures your designer has all the pieces of the puzzle, making for a smoother, more effective project. Remember, good planning here translates directly into a website that not only looks good but performs brilliantly.