Content is king in digital marketing, but what if the king is nowhere to be found?
It's a common issue for digital agencies because most clients are too slow to provide website content. This often creates tension, and it can throw off your entire project timeline. But here’s the good thing — we’ll show you how to gather content for a website on time.
In this post, we’ll explain:
If you're tired of chasing clients or losing time to back-and-forth communications, this guide will help you establish a repeatable and professional content collection process.
Content Snare is a stress-free way to gather website content.
You’ll have all your client content in one place, and you’ll never have to send a reminder because Content Snare does it for you.
The content gathering process is a well-planned procedure for collecting content for a client’s website. That includes everything that will appear on the website, including text, images, videos, and other types of media.
Content elements you must collect vary from one website project to another. For example, an e-commerce site requires product descriptions and images, while a blog mostly needs articles and other types of written content.
The process also differs depending on whether the website is new or already active. When you design a new website, it’s important to work closely with clients to identify the types of content they want. That involves conducting market research and defining the overall purpose of the site.
When gathering content for an existing website, the process starts with the content inventory. You should review the current content to determine what’s working and what needs to be updated. It’s necessary to do the following:
After that, you can start collecting website content from your client.
If you don’t know how to get content for a website, we suggest using content gathering tools instead of relying on phone calls and in-person meetings. Here are some of the usual options for digital agencies:
The first option is simple — use email for gathering content from your clients. The advantage of this solution is that everybody uses email in daily communication, so you can start working right away. On the other hand, you’ll probably end up with a series of time-consuming back-and-forth emails, so we don’t really recommend this solution. It almost always turns into a mess, which probably led you to this post.
Members of Ranksey, a digital marketing agency, explain it perfectly in this case study:
Email was costing us 4 to 5 hours per client. Now we save 40–50 hours a month using Content Snare.
Online forms like Google Forms can be a practical solution for agencies that build simple websites for their clients. Your clients have likely filled out forms before, so they shouldn’t get confused. They can fill out the form in minutes and provide the necessary information with ease.
On the downside, Google Forms struggles with complex requests. The platform has limited functionalities, especially if you’re using it to gather files and information for bigger websites. In that case, Google Forms will slow down your web design process.
Content Snare is a dedicated data gathering tool for digital agencies. Thanks to our website design Content Snare is a dedicated data gathering tool for digital agencies. Unlike Google Forms and similar tools, Content Snare is designed specifically for complex document collection due to customizable workflows, automated reminders, and progress tracking.
Thanks to our website design questionnaire, you can request content and get information from your client in record time. This content gathering template will help you to maximize efficiency and meet client expectations.
So, how does it work?
The system enables you to get content in a step-by-step manner. Content Snare keeps everything together in one place, so you can approve and/or reject client inputs within our platform. The process is simple:
In the words of Michelle Tresemer, co-founder of Foundations First Marketing, the old ways of collecting content made the company look bad, but it all changed with Content Snare:
I had been looking for your solution for over a year. Content Snare has been transformative for my company — customers no longer send me angry and frustrated emails.
Content Snare offers templates for starter websites, landing pages, complex web design projects, and many more. The best thing is that you can customize questionnaires by removing or adding elements or requests.
Information and file gathering like you always wanted it to be: simple & stress-free
You’ll have to gather different types of content based on the clients’ requirements, but some elements are the same for all websites. Here’s a brief overview:
Text content includes everything from the main copy on the homepage and product pages to blog posts and FAQs. A big thing about textual forms is that they must align with the overall brand values and messaging.
Visual content is versatile, but most websites stick to the usual suspects — images, videos, infographics, and illustrations. Some clients may also deliver GIFs, charts, memes, and other formats. In each case, you need to check whether these files are high-quality and optimized for the web.
Optimization elements make websites visible and easily discoverable by search engines. That’s why you need to gather elements like meta descriptions, page headings, image alt tags, internal links, and keywords for optimization. You should also obtain keyworded URLs and outbound links.
Gathering content for your clients’ websites is always challenging, but you can streamline the process by using a dedicated tool. With Content Snare, you’ll save lots of time on all future projects.Â
Our readymade templates are easy to use and customize, so you can quickly obtain files and information. Content Snare gives you a stress-free way to simplify a website’s production lifecycle. Give it a try for free right now, and you’ll streamline content gathering once and for all.
Dražen Vujović is a journalist and content writer. More importantly, he is a father of two and a long-distance runner.
