What comes first? The chicken or the egg? Or more to the point, the website design or the content? While most people think that the most important aspect of their website is the design, in reality its the content. Ever heard the phrase, content is king? Its used for a reason. People engage in your services or buy your products due to the content you provide them, the images that they see of your products etc. But more to the point, the content then drives the design of the site. Try designing a website with no conte...What size should the home page be? Where should the images be placed? What should be included in the navigation bar? Sounds like we have a problem!

I'm not saying design isn't important. In fact, the opposite is true. However, designing without the end result in mind is a recipe for disaster, resulting in continual site design redevelopment (a costly exercise if someone is designing the site for you) or the modification of content to fit the design (a definite no-no!) .

So what content do we need to provide before we can start with the design? I would definitely have a plan for each page of the website that you plan to build. Then, for each page, outline the objectives that you are trying to achieve for the page - that will help you identify what content should be on the page. Finally, write the content and determine which images need to go with the content. What I haven't mentioned so far is determining what the overall objective is for the site?what are you trying to achieve?what would you like the visitor to do on the site once they have arrived? Sign-up for a newsletter? Buy a product? Email the sales team?

Once the pages have been determined and the content is written, we can now add the other missing elements required to design the website. What branding exists within the company (ie. Logos, corporate colours etc). Do you have any pre-existing ideas regarding the look and feel of the site? Are there any sites you have seen that reflect these ideas? Will contact forms, shopping carts or email lists be required?

Once you have gone through this process, you will have dramatically reduced the cost and headaches of site design...resulting in a website that will meet your objectives and be something that you are proud of and willing to recommend to your clients.