An often underestimated part of creating a web site is content development. The creative direction is given attention and technical aspects also are in the forefront, but content is often not addressed early in the lifecycle as it should be.

Content should be the first concern after planning has been completed. Designers can more easily visualize how to present the content if it exists than not. They can plan their layouts to accommodate the different formats of text and graphical information and eliminate the changes that always come with receiving content late in the design process.

When gathering and organizing content, the structure of the site also takes shape; the number of sections, subsections and pages often change from the proposed site map during this process. Content gets added, combined, edited and removed as it goes through the revision and approval process. It’s also far easier to revise and proof content in a text document than in web pages.

Beginning with database design, it’s also important to have content ready during development. The developer can tell what the data types, text character lengths, hierarchies and relationships are which is important to creating an optimized data structure. Programmers can use it as real, test data ensuring their code is sufficiently crafted to perform business logic and display the interface properly.

At crunch time, the end of the project, it’s far better to have content finished early, or as least in a “final” state, than to have to incorporate makeshift text and graphics into the site when functional testing, or when everyone is seeing the site for the first time. Poor copy distracts from the review process. There are so many other pressing issues at this time and having to create content late often causes the project miss deadlines, when it could have been avoided.

A particular situation where careful attention to developing content is crucial, is with small companies, or companies that are new to the web. Often they think they have enough information to make a good site, but when it is placed in the site the content is weak, incomplete, or does not fit well into how the site had been planned. Then what do you do? Change the site, or change the content? There’s a costly miss-match.

If search engine optimization and search engine marketing are important, content has to be created early in order for it to be optimized properly and the site built correctly. Although copy should be written so it reads well to the audience, keywords and search phrases should be incorporated. Any information hidden to search bots in graphics should be exposed by using the correct HTML attributes, or appropriate captions. Having both company specific information and general industry information helps round out content aiding in search rankings.

Source material for content can come from several areas:

Client – Have them gather information and past documentation.

Industry – Industry web sites and publications often have information that can be easily modified.

Competitors – Read the client’s competitor’s sites and collateral material. See how they are presenting their message.

Suppliers – If your client is a manufacturer or distributor, their suppliers and manufacturers have catalogs and sell sheets loaded with useful information.

Customers – Customers can provide a different perspective and may have unexpected information especially if looking for applications and uses of products.

Just as design and development specialists are required to make a good site, copyrighters are also important. Visitors spend more time reading than anything else so the copy must be well written to communicate effectively and project the proper image.

Do yourself a favor on your next web project. Concentrate on content. Afterall, it’s why you’re building a site in the first place, and the site will be better for it.