When doing a redesign, some organizations choose to simply pull their existing copy over from their old website into the new one. They may change some of their historical data, but overall they are more concerned with the look and feel and/or they feel they don’t have the internal resources to make wholesale changes to their content. Here are some concepts that might be helpful while doing due diligence in regards to a content strategy and also the burden on both your time and finances.

Content Migration: Any firm worth their weight in salt should include migration of your content as part of the project. Don’t think you are saving $$ by offering to do this on your own. The internal pull on your resources will cost more in the long run. What takes you 10 min, will take a web firm 1 min.

Content Curation: A more strategic firm should be able to help guide your existing content in a more intuitive way. You know your organization better than most and your content likely reflects that. Intuitively appropriating where that content should live or not live on your site is the main proposal in content curation. This seems to be a popular direction, as it addresses a more strategic need, while not costing an arm and a leg.

Content Creation: Brace yourself!! This is not cheap, nor should it be an expectation in a redesign. However, if it is, look at it as an additional line item. This requires a much deeper dive and should be autonomous to a certain extent. Website goals, audience, & site traffic should be the guide. Effective content creation, should be done in tandem with curation, but in some cases requires two different mindsets as one is more reliant on design.

There are strong cases for all three of these approaches, and ultimately your organizations needs will dictate the direction. Better to start with less and make changes over time. Content Management Systems are built for this. Test and Iterate! Test and Iterate! Test and Iterate!

If you have any questions, please reach out to us!