I’ve been working on websites lately and see the same disturbing pattern. Want to know what it is? Template tyranny. Figuratively or literally, it creates havoc when you can't choose which cup to use when serving hot chocolate.
We all want our websites to be customer-centric and full of relevant information. Content should be easy for readers to find and digest. Yet often website templates dictate the content more than the content creators do.
Why does that happen? It’s a battle of Order vs Chaos. Webpages are built with modular templates that you can mix and match to fit the content you need to make. But each module tends to be stringent so your website doesn’t stray regarding font, size, margins and spacing – things that give your website a professional, we-know-what-we’re-doing look.
You want that. But you also want good content. Templates that limit good content are in no one’s best interest. Not yours. Not your customers’. Not even the agency’s (the one who built the website for you).
Here are three tips for building websites from someone who wishes she hadn’t learned this the hard way:
1. It’s better to develop fewer modules with more flexibility in each one.
For example, don’t limit yourself to one headline size. Yes, it’s great to have a large headline font. But not if it limits you to 25 characters per line. That turns your headline into a label. Don’t let templates prevent you from making headlines meaningful.
At the risk of stating the obvious, what would you rather read?
Our patents
Then comes a lot of fine print where we have to write a minimum of 140 characters so the paragraph looks like a paragraph and explains what’s important about patents.
or:
We prioritize patents because that’s the best way to protect your cutting edge business
2. Make sure that at least some of the modules expand to include the content needed.
Otherwise, a 2 or 3-line headline can remove the ability to include clarifying content. Or you’ll need to write more than necessary just to fill the space.
And that’s before you start translating. You may have heard that English is wordy. (Have you ever compared an English user manual to practically any other language?) Our propensity for details is cultural, though, and not dictated by grammar. English is succinct and most translations take more space. A good rule of thumb, for example, is that German translations take 20% more space.
3. Reserve 5% of your budget for a programming fix and schedule it in advance for 3-4 months after your website is finalized.
Everything looks rosy when your website is first built; it’s only when you start creating your own content that you realize what you didn’t build. 5% will allow you to request the small fixes and updates to solve the things that are driving you nuts. If you specify this early in the process, your agency should be able to accommodate this.
And at the risk of stating the obvious, websites are not "won and done" projects. Be sure you and your upland are aware of this. Budget an amount in year two and a smaller amount every year thereafter so you can afford the fine-tuning needed to stay relevant.
If you are about to throw yourself into a new website or website-update project, I hope the above points give you food for thought. Write a comment if you have experience with any of the above or have additional tips to avoid some of the missteps no one talks about.
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