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Which is king, content or design?

by karlstech
35 replies
Hi there Warriors,

As the title suggests, I want to know what you think is king in the online world, design or content? Or both?

Please share your thoughts and why!
#content #content is king #design #design is king #king
  • Profile picture of the author Victor Edson
    Words sell stuff, not graphics.

    So I vote content.

    I've had great graphics with crappy content that didn't convert, but when I switched it to better content with no graphics, conversions started happening.

    Great graphics can help, but the words always do the hard work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Of course, it depends upon your purpose and what you're hoping to accomplish.

    Great design doesn't make lousy content any better.

    Horrible design can keep people from reading great content.

    It's never an either or choice - you can have both if you're smart about it.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author suggs
      In my eyes its a combination of both.

      After all you could have the best content in the world but if its on a crappy looking outdated site, no one is going to take it serious and i dare say the bounce rate would be terrible.

      Build a user friendly looking clean template with cracking content and your in a win win situation
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  • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
    I'm going to find out. I will pay top dollar to have a designer create a beautiful site. Then I will fill that site with Lorem ipsum content.

    Next, I'll pay top dollar to have a brilliant writer create wonderfully written articles. I will publish them on a site using the worst design principles.

    I will compare the results and report back here in two months.
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    :)

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  • Profile picture of the author butters
    It will always be both but if you have to choose, content always wins. No point having this amazing looking website if you got no words to populate it.
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  • Profile picture of the author GetBack2it
    Can't remember who said this but,

    Content is King, but Engagement is Queen and she rules
    It was something to that effect, what good is content if it doesn't engage the reader?
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  • Profile picture of the author corra02
    As said in previous posts, content is what you should strive for at the end of the day. Yes, website design can affect if people read your web page, however the content will be a bigger decider in whether or not people opt-in to your product. The biggest thing to focus on is quality content, although a high quality website helps as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Blue1234
    Its the content that will stick in their brain
    they wont remember your design or anything except for your report or info that you've given them
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    • Profile picture of the author IgniteFeed
      If budget is not the initial consideration then do some good design and then build out/concentrate on content creation. Do the content curation on a regular basis, focus on getting better every day (grammar etc.), and you be surprised what you can have within even on month.
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  • Profile picture of the author urangkb
    Content is the king. Design is the queen. or may be the prince.
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  • Profile picture of the author cianci1129
    Content. If your sales copy was just pretty pictures, how many sales do you think you would get?
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  • Profile picture of the author st0nec0ld
    This doesn't make sense but I don't want to make sense this time, once is awhile ahahaha

    A both for me, though content weighs 70% of my vote while 30% on design. But really? why do we have to choose one over the other if both are essential? IMO, every part, aspect, type, form or whatever it is that makes the online world as whole is important. There is no king or queen, internet doesn't run with internet alone, right? A website doesn't run with just theme or text or url? It has components which are essential whether they give a big or small amount of benefit.
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  • Profile picture of the author Esteban Gomez
    If I had to choose one it would definitely be content because people get value from content that will improve their lives not from nice graphics.

    Now, I do believe that having good website graphics are very important because they represent professionalism and give you more credibility.

    By having the combination on both, people are going to see you as an authority faster.

    I personally have trouble trusting sites that don't look professional so having good graphics is definitely an advantage.

    If you are working on both right know, dedicate a lot more time into content than into graphics because its definitely more important.

    Just my opinion...

    Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author Franklynn
    Content from an authoritative site is king.
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  • Profile picture of the author daviddifranco
    Content should always be your primary focus, but having a strong design definitely helps too. It should be your goal to captivate others, verbally and visually.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris-
    Someone said that "words sell stuff" which is mostly correct in hyped selling of IM products. For many other areas of selling, if the webdesign is anything less than professional looking, no words will sell it effectively because the trust will not be there.

    One of the biggest mistakes by newbies or small businesses is that they choose design they personally like, rather than the design being the strongest fit to the overall concept.

    Ideally one gets the words and the design working well together, although the balance will be very different in different areas of IM.

    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author sscot
    Visitor is sperm, Content is ovum, Design is fecundity, Website is uterus, Conversion is zygote, Profit is the baby.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      Originally Posted by sscot View Post

      Visitor is sperm, Content is ovum, Design is fecundity, Website is uterus, Conversion is zygote, Profit is the baby.
      I wish my parents would have explained the facts of life to me like that, I'd be farther along by now
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  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    I think both works together. A Content is an essential and vital part of a website and a Good design make a site more appealing and attractive to users.
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  • Profile picture of the author Svensonia
    Content and design goes hand in hand. Crappy design=No sales because nobody wants to look at an ugly page. Crappy content=no sales because nobody will want to even read through what you have to say.

    Regards, Sven
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      There is a saying "Form Follow Function" This is WHY we have Squeeze pages or home pages or blog pages or whatever else.

      To say that content is important is a bit of a understatement, but in the same breath it is a over statement as well. CONTEXT of the content is what should be considered to be the most valuable asset.

      To have a website dedicated to information about Cats, and then have a very well written piece of content in a pretty design written about Dogs, Is out of context, and overall self defeating.

      The context of your information you are providing is what draws people in. From there is it then a determination of good and or bad content.

      As I see it, this is the greatest error made in web pages. You can be an expert on all things social media and you can write GREAT content about G+ or Twitter, or Instagram. However, you have to understand that the user that pops on your site to read about G+ is specifically there to read about G+ and maybe not the other social sources.

      There becomes a disconnect of Context. By doing a simple search on a search engine you get a page with 10 results and then featured links and advertising links. Take a moment and look at all the information on that page. It is all related in CONTEXT to what you typed in to search.

      Now go look at a blog page, and look at all of the linked information on the page. Chances are better than GREAT, that most, if not ALL of the links on the page are related by a broader topic and not specifically by context of what the article itself is about.

      Context is the most under utilized aspect of page building. Context is what will draw a end user from reading one page to the next. Context is what develops the idea that the information on YOUR page is trustworthy.

      Context of your content in relation to what the end user is wanting and or needing is what produces conversion.

      Content maybe King, Design may be Queen , in my eyes that makes Context God.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Sarlo
    I think Content is King - the saying is true - poor design and great content you're likely to achieve some results, but fantastic design but poor content will get you nowhere... much like with copywriting fantasic looking site but bad copy will result in no sales but bad design and fantastic copy will still get you sales!
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave37
    You can read in many places that "content is king", but nowhere will you read that "design is king" and there is a good reason for that.

    It's not to say that design is not important, but it certainly comes in second plan after "content"

    Content by itself without design can generate a lot of sales, but it is difficult and maybe impossible to be the other way around.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pedro Lopes
    I think design will get them to come, but content is what will get them to come back.

    You need both really, but content is a bit more important for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author shuvoimtiaz
    With no doubt, "Content is King".
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery Moss
    So many people are focused on content, they forget about site design. The content and design are supposed to enhance the site user's experience. Yet, so many use site content for SEO purposes only and forget to make the site look good. When you focus all your efforts on pleasing the site user, you are likely to strike a good balance between these two that keeps people coming back.
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  • Profile picture of the author NickNimmin
    SteveB nailed it!
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      The bottom line is that you need both to be most effective.

      Trouble is, too many people equate "good design" with fancy pictures, widgets, tricky layouts, etc.

      You don't notice truly good design, but it makes consuming the content easier.

      If all someone remembers is the cool design, there's a flaw in the design.

      Since we're taking a dip in the analogy pool, here's one for you...

      A good design is like a good brassiere. It enhances the content without being a distraction.
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  • Profile picture of the author ibugu
    Architecture: Form Follows Function
    CyberSpace: Design Follows Content
    Many of my purchases are from poorly designed sites.
    I hunt for content.
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    Mastering Online Marketing Since 1996
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    Simple answer: both.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    I remember I was trolling my blog once, and wrote how traffic was more important than content.

    I got a ton of hatemail for that one lol...

    To be honest?

    I think content is important, and graphics are absolutely at the bottom of the pile.

    Knowledge Of Your End User > Copywriting > Content > Traffic > Graphics > *

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  • Profile picture of the author eham
    you need both but content is the king
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  • Profile picture of the author mattbanner
    Content is definitely king. While design is important visually, if the content created is lacking, nobody will want to read it, and your bounce rate will be very high. With a few catchy headlines, your visitors can stay intrigued, which outweighs design.


    Originally Posted by karlstech View Post

    Hi there Warriors,

    As the title suggests, I want to know what you think is king in the online world, design or content? Or both?

    Please share your thoughts and why!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9616947].message }}

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