Most businesses don’t wake up one morning desperate for a shiny new website.
Usually, it starts with something else – your enquiries may have slowed down, your business has a change of direction or competitors may start winning work that you thought you had in the bag as a signed deal.
Internally, everyone’s avoiding sending people to the homepage because it just doesn’t represent the business anymore and the conversation starts, ‘we need a new website‘.
Sometimes you do, but in my experience a lot of web redesigns focus far too much on making things look prettier but nowhere near enough on making them work better.
A new font, some animations and a slick video won’t magically fix confusing messaging, poor positioning or a website that leaves visitors wondering what you actually do.
This is because, the website isn’t the real problem – clarity and messaging is.
Most websites try to say too much; too many services, too many menu options, too many fancy words and often, too many internal opinions all stitched together over the years.
The end result usually means the customer lands on the site and has absolutely no idea where they’re meant to go next.
You’ve only got a few seconds to explain what you do, who you help, and why it should matter to them. If that’s not obvious quickly, they’ll leave….maybe to your competitor who’s breaking it down a whole lot more clearly.
It’s not about making it ‘pop’
I think that’s up there with one of my most shudder-filled phrases. I’ve genuinely had clients say ‘I do like it and I don’t have suggestions but I just want it to pop‘. I feel like popping off never to return again.
We’ve used many different style and formats through the years, but always go back to the same theory/framework. StoryBrand. This thinking helps us reframe websites and reminds businesses that they should never be the hero of their own story.
So many businesses say ‘we’ve been established since...’, ‘we’re industry leaders…’, ‘we’re passionate about…’ there’s nothing wrong with being proud but your customer doesn’t care about your history – yet. They care about whether you understand their problem and our website should make the customer feel seen, understood and reassured that they’re in the right place. You’re there to show them (or ‘guide them’ to use StoryBrand terminology) that you solve something frustrating, expensive, stressful or time-consuming.
Design to support strategy
A good redesign isn’t really about design first, it’s about positioning. It’s about knowing who you want to attract, what they’re struggling with, what questions they have before enquiring, and what’s stopping them from taking action. Then build the website around that – not around what the internal team thinks ‘sounds good’.
The fundamentals matter more than the look of the site, think:
- Clear headlines
- Simple navigation
- Obvious calls to action
- Proof points and testimonials
- Useful resources
- Content that answers important questions (not just filling space)
The fun bits need to wait a bit more, you need to think:
- What’s this website supposed to do?
- Are we trying to generate more enquiries or just modernise the brand?
- Who are wetrying to attract now? Has our audience changed?
- What genuinely makes us different from competitors?
- What questions do our customers always ask before buying?
- What pages are people actually visiting?
- Are we giving visitors a clear next step?
The answers to those questions shape a better website than ‘can we make the buttons more modern?‘ or ‘can we make the text just pop‘?
It’s not just about the site
Even the best website won’t generate enquiries if nobody ever visits it. It still needs the right marketing to drive people there, whether that’s SEO, content marketing, LinkedIn, paid campaigns, email marketing or a combination of channels .
Your website has an important job, but it’s one piece of a much bigger picture.
The best websites are the clearest in that they explain things properly and remove any confusion. They build trust and make it easy for someone to take the next step.
A site shouldn’t be there to win awards or impress your competitors. It’s there to support your marketing and to help you generate enquiries.
That’s usually what drives results – not the fancy animations and the text that ‘pops’.