A website is not a website without content. The main reason someone will visit your site is to view website content. This is true. Be it your contact information, or more information about your services, etc. One of the most frustrating experiences I’ve had as a web designer is the pressure of a website needing to be urgently put up because the client claims that they might potentially lose business if it’s not up (because we all know ‘time is money’) – only to put it up but the client is late with content. It’s almost illogical to have a website up with no content.
I don’t know which is worse: to have a site without content, or to have a site with “under construction” or “coming soon” on it. It’s better to have a simple site full of relevant information about the company, with zero aesthetics (well, it’s not impressive, but at least it’s useful).
This issue is one of the most common service provider vs. client problem: one person is always one step ahead of the other.
As a web designer, it does not inspire me to have a website full of dummy text or temporary stock photos. It goes back to the whole ‘bad planning’ thing.
So remember, if you want a website designed and it’s urgent then get your content (at least as much as possible) ready. This also benefits you in the sense that many designers will help you upload initial data on the site. It’s prefered over ‘sample data’ which you or the designer will eventually have to delete, and this can be very time consuming.
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WYSIWYG! I'm a simple person trying to live the simplest life possible - it seems to be the most difficult thing to achieve! I'm an internet enthusiast and I've been a webmaster since early 2007. I like: blogging, developing sites using open source software, social media, computer games, '80s music, comedy & horror, animals, crunching on M&Ms peanut and Smarties!
