“I want to love it, but my website makes me cringe,”
This are the exact words that Samantha said to me during our consultation. She had a beautiful website, created by a great website designer, but looking at her website made her cringe and that my friends is never good.
Our story begins…
Samantha had been blessed in her interior design business. She had only been in business for herself for a few years, but already had an impressive portfolio and steady stream of projects. As everything was going well, she decided it was time to up her website game and hire a real web designer.
Through a network referral she found a designer who built beautiful websites. She was pricey but from everything Samantha had heard, she was totally worth it.
And as promised she built Samantha a beautiful website. A beautiful that Samantha hated. The website simply did not match Samantha and her style. Her designer chose the pictures to be used on the website. She decided what projects Samantha should display in her portfolio. The web designer even insisted Samantha get new pictures of herself that again did not reflect her style in life or business.
Essentially their visions did not align, and the end result was a website Samantha hated.
The web designer meant well…
This designer really did mean well, and wanted to display Samantha as an established and professional Interior Designer. But she lost sight of the most important part of the website… Samantha, the person behind the design.
After a year with her new website Samantha was starting to hate her business. And every time looked at it, her website made her cringe. The pictures of her felt fake and forced, and the projects she was highlighting were not the projects she wanted to attract.
Samantha trusted her designer, but she was afraid to speak up. She felt she had to keep things they way they were because her business had improved. But she still did not like her website or the direction her business was going and that was becoming a serious problem.
What could Samantha have done differently?
Samantha fell in a trap a lot of entrepreneurs fall into, myself included. Thinking that others know better than she does. Her web designer may have know web designer better, but no one knows the goals and dreams Samantha has surrounding her business better than she does. Here’s a few tips that helped Samantha…
- Had a conversation with her web designer
As I said before, her web designer meant well, and truly is a fabulous web designer. She just wasn’t hearing what Samantha wanted. By expressing she didn’t feel heard, she could have been able to have a much more real conversation with her designer. - Sticking with her style
Samantha loved her interior design business in large part because of the style of design she started off doing. Insisting on sharing the projects that she reflected her style would have helped her attract the business she wanted. - Being herself
Yes! Get the professional photos of you, but get ones that show the real you!
The moral to the story…
Whether you are hiring a web designer or building your website yourself, make sure that you are at the center of it all. From planning, to strategy, design and build. After all you are what your customers are looking for. Not just a beautiful website.
One of the things I love about my job is getting to know my clients. Not just their service descriptions, but more about them, their business, their goals and their dreams. By getting to know my clients on a more intimate level I am able to better provide them with a website solution that fits their needs. From DIY packages to custom design everyone is reflected in their website design. So if you are needing a little help or looking to do things differently I’d love to connect. Click to schedule you 15 minute chat below.