August 5, 2019
Graphic design legend Milton Glaser said, “The purpose of design is to inform and delight.” This is true because a great web design is all about making an impact on the viewer/user. But design alone cannot deliver or attract traffic. Content, when created and integrated seamlessly with the design component, can increase the visibility of your brand, generate traffic, and aid quicker conversions. However, finding the right balance between content, especially optimized content (SEO) and website design, is the trickiest part.
Read on to learn how to create content and design that complement each other.
Decide on the core objective
In the case of web development, this is the most fundamental and crucial question to ask – What do you want to achieve from this website or webpage? Do you wish this to be the landing page for a paid advertising campaign? Then you will benefit by prioritizing a streamlined user experience (UX) over an advanced SEO strategy. However, if you want the page to rank organically on search engine results pages (SERPs), you should focus on how to best optimize the content while providing a great UX simultaneously.
Focus on Content – See How Much is Appropriate
Remember you don’t need beautiful pages that lack important information. Similarly, you are better off without SEO-oriented pages with tacky designs as well. Although there isn’t a hard and fast rule to decide how much (content and design) is too much, the rule of thumb is ‘users know it’. Test out a few page designs and see what works best. Does reducing the word count on the page impact the click-through rates? How does it affect your keyword rankings? What happens when you add a little bit more information to the page? If your page is becoming more relevant and sticky and users are staying for longer, you have cracked the secret to a successful SEO-design combo. Experimentation is the only way to achieve on-page optimization.
Choose Fonts, Images and Animations Wisely
Fancy fonts, gaudy layouts, and flashy animations are a surefire recipe for website disaster. Use a minimum number of fonts and ensure they bring about symmetry in the page while also reducing the loading time. Similarly, following image optimization and merging images helps cut down the loading time and improve the aesthetics of the web page.
Accept that SEO isn’t all About Keywords
SEO indeed relies on using the appropriate keywords. However, it is also important to create content that is engaging and informative. Merely stuffing keywords into your content will not fetch good results, and may even backfire as some of the websites get blacklisted for keyword stuffing. Content experts say, “When you focus your efforts on writing what matters, your keywords will enter the arena naturally.”
Final Word/Conclusion
The need for a balance between SEO and website design is stronger today, more than ever, thanks to the ubiquitous presence of smartphones. Drawing site traffic is as difficult as making the visitor stay on the page/website. Only the perfect blend of design and SEO can help achieve both objectives. The user experience should be at the center of every design and content effort.