If youâre a web designer at some point youâre going to hear the phrase âcontent is kingâ. Youâre going to be told you need a strong online content strategy, and youâll want to do that. If youâre a client, youâre going hear your web designer mention something about the content of your website. They might even mutter the âcontent is kingâ phrase. This is about as far as this will go for most people with limited budgets.
âOur website needs more photos!â
Someone will say this. Itâll either be the designer or the client, but someone will say, âthe website needs more photos.â Now, there are two different reasons why the designer may need some photos. This could be for products or the layout of the site, in which case, they probably need more photos. They could also be asking for it for the same reason a client would: to fill space or create visual interest. Photos and photo collages are really just digital rugs for you to cover up the pet stains.
I assure you, more photos will not improve your website
When I hear a client say, âOur website should have more photos!â I hear, âOur website isnât interesting.â And theyâre probably right. So really, people are asking, “Will more photos make my website more interesting?” The answer is most assuredly “No”.
The website probably isnât very interesting or dynamic. But more photos will not fix that. Collages most certainly won’t help (I hate collages with a passion I can only describe as religious). People already go to Facebook and Instagram for constantly changing photos. Slapping a photo gallery youâll update once or twice a year isnât going to cut it.
If the client says that, the designerâs job is to explain the deeper problem, propose a plan, and run with it. Sometimes weâve proposed ideas to make sites a little more interesting, but the time commitment to actually writing content for a site on an ongoing basis goes nowhere. If a web designer proposes more photos in galleries to âmake things interestingâ and âbring back visitorsâ, show them this post.
So what do we do about website content?
This is actually one of those problems thatâs very easy to solve, but wonât, because it requires time and money. But hereâs the answer: write stuff.
If youâre the client, you need to work with your design team or a content person to write stories, articles, share news, and be your cheerleader. This could be anything from sharing recipes to how-to articles or features on local people or workers. This takes time and costs money.
If youâre the designer, you need to work with your client to write stories, article, share news, and be their cheerleader. This could be anything from sharing recipes to how-to articles or features on local people or workers. This takes time and costs money.
If time or money is not available, in any capacity, then you should be prepared for a website that isnât going to attract a ton of traffic or repeat visitors. But no, you canât fix that with some photos of kids eating watermelon or a cat riding on the back of the dog. Best case is the client has to pick up the job of writing content. If they don’t want that, then they’ll either have to pay for it or accept the reality of not having an interesting site.
