I spent more time making my site look good than focusing on what it says. This is how I approached my first website, and it can be detrimental to your growth if you're doing the same thing.
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I used to obsess over the tiniest design details. Things designers go crazy over. Typography. Padding. Spacing. Color. Everything had to be perfect. I had this preconceived notion that the design would impress people.
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My site looked great—but it didn’t say anything. And this is a major problem. One most founder websites face. They approach the website rebuild as a flex based on what they like. I did the same thing, I thought visuals were the message. If I could just make it look premium, people would get it. But when people landed on my site—they didn't buy.
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That’s when it hit me.
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If they don’t understand what I actually do, the visuals don’t matter. So, I went back to the drawing board and that's when everything changed. I picked up the book, Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, and it blew my mind.
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After reading this book, I looked at my homepage again. I started asking myself the hard questions. Was the message in the headline confusing? Did my ideal customers feel seen and heard when they landed on it? Did they even know what I was selling was for them? You have to zoom out from your business to see this clearly.
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​This was a wake up call for me. One that radically changed my business.​
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Now don't get me wrong—I love design. I love nerding out over typography, photography, and white space. It's massively important in establishing trust and credibility, but it's the second phase of your website process. One that is massively informed by the first part—your messaging. There is only one correct order to thinking about your website. It's messaging, strategy, and then the website. Any other approach is guaranteed to fail.
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Hear me out, design is ONLY effective when it's viewed in this linear path. When I help my clients with this process, we always start the conversation the same way. Your website design is not what you like or don't like. It's a direct result of the message and goals you are trying to convey.
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​I call this—say the right things, to the right people, in the right place.​
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Your website is the "right place" and it's a combination of aesthetics and words that make it work. Both connected in a way that guarantees you get results.

P.S. I launched my new website this week using this same approach. Message, design, website.

Check it out here => my website​