Improve your Content Marketing with a Text-Based Website Design

Want to know why text-based website designs (also called Content Sites) are increasing in popularity? First you need to understand the importance of the long-form sales letter.

For decades, the sales letter has been the dominant marketing tool. Expert copywriters have amassed small (and often, not so small) fortunes by using their persuasive talent to convince you to buy their products.

Although sales letters rarely arrive in your mailbox today, they are still everywhere you look. Email newsletters are a form of sales letter. Podcasts and videos are sales letters in audio/visual form.

Websites are also a form of sales letter. A text-based website is a collection of sales letters, with each individual page representing a single letter. This allows you to sell to visitors while also engaging them with strategically placed images and animations.

Moreover, a text-based website can easily leverage other staple marketing tools, such as keyword research (SEO), email marketing, and cross-posting to social media platforms.

Here’s how to get started designing a text-based website in three steps:

1. Define Your Audience

It is critical to define your audience before you opt for a text-based website design. Picture the average reader of your content—what do they look like? What problems do they have? Why do they need your product?

This image is your Avatar. Each piece of content you write should be directed at your Avatar, and the emotional state they are currently in.

This exercise will allow you to consistently create content that engages your target customer and maximizes your conversion rate.

2. Find the Right Text-Based Website Design

The most common problem with text-heavy website designs is that they are ugly and turn away readers. Here are some of the common pitfalls:

Uncomfortable font

Serif fonts are common (this post is in a serif font), but sans-serif fonts are often cleaner and easier to read on a screen.

The vertical space between lines must be appropriately sized, otherwise the writing will feel cramped.

Finally, the spacing between headers and paragraphs create a visual hierarchy that should be carefully considered—e.g., a header should be close to the next paragraph to denote a relationship, and far enough below the previous section to denote a section break.

Failure to account for cognitive load

Most website visitors will not read long paragraphs of text (check your analytics, I’m right).

Instead, you must break up long sections of text with images, graphics, or videos.

(Notice how I broke up these two sections with a banner?)

This is especially true of your landing page—the visual experience should be obvious, and the underlying sales letter less so.

Cognitive load also applies to writing. Short words are better than long words. Short, declarative sentences are better than long, complex ones.

Now, unless you want to become an expert in design, typography, and visual hierarchy, you will want to find a good text-based website design on a platform like ThemeForest or Figma and recreate it. If you want something more custom, you should hire a web designer and tell them you want a text-based design.

3. Install the Right Tools

It would be a big mistake to go to the trouble of designing a text-based website, not to mention spending hours writing content, and not take advantage of the many tools that can help your site grow.

First, install Google Analytics. You need to see where users are spending time and when they are scrolling past your writing to learn what works and what doesn’t.

Second, make sure there is a link to sign up to your newsletter on every post. Curating an email list will make it easier to market and sell, and will command a higher price for your business should you ever choose to sell it.

Third, include an RSS feed for your blog, and consider turning that content into podcasts or videos to cross-post to social media platforms.

Conclusion

A text-based website design is an excellent way to showcase your business’ value as sales letters in a pleasing and interactive manner. Add in analytics and a newsletter, and you have the blueprint to begin growing your audience and increasing your conversion rates.