5 Myths About Designing Strategic And Effective Websites

Going from designing websites that are beautiful and fit within your coding abilities to creating something fully custom that’s meant to work for your client’s business can be intimidating. It’s a big change with what feels like a lot of extra steps and thinking involved.

I’m here today to tell you that you have nothing to worry about. To prove it to you, I’ll bust the 5 most common myths about designing strategic and effective websites.

My clients just want something pretty (and how to fix it)

When your current clients come to you, it’s possible that all they want is something pretty. Heck, to be honest, when I created my first website that’s all I wanted too.

It might take a small bit of repositioning, but all you need to do is show your potential clients the value of an effective design. The few minutes it will take you to write a blog post or add a section to your services page will be worth it for the extra excitement they’ll feel about working with you.

The best part? After those first few clients see results, their testimonials and referrals will lead you to getting new clients who are excited for a strategy. You can read a little more on that here.

Being strategic will take too long (and why it isn’t true)

Another concern is that trying to be strategic with your website designs will take too long and add extra time to your projects. However, that isn’t the case at all. You can create a strategic design in the current time it takes you to turn out a website.

The only differences will come in the questions you ask in your intake form and the planning you do ahead of time. If those two things are done correctly, the rest of the project will move forward just as it always has (except a happier client with better results will come out at the end).

If I go through all the work of creating a strategy, they won’t notice anyways (and how to fix it)

You might wonder why you should spend extra brain power on creating an effective design when your clients won’t notice anyways. Well…you shouldn’t!

When you’ve been careful to design a website that will benefit the business of your clients, you want to be sure they understand just how amazing your creation is. That’s why you should schedule a call with your clients to go over your design. You’ll be able to walk them through each step of the process and point out exactly which parts will be helping their business more than what they had before.

Even better? Collect stats (website, social media, and client bookings) before the project begins and again a few months after it ends. Having real numbers to compare and show will be even better!

I can’t charge higher prices just because of a strategy (and why you shouldn’t believe that)

If you don’t think you can charge higher prices for creating strategic websites you’ve got to change your mindset. Think about how much additional value you’re providing your client by giving them something that works, rather than something that just looks nice.

Each additional email opt-in they get because of your design has a value. Each product they sell or client they book has even more value.

The benefits your clients will see should be taken into effect when setting your prices. Once you have a couple of testimonials to show off and people out there talking you up to their friends, those higher prices aren’t going to phase anyone who understands the value of what you’re doing.

Creating a strategic website requires custom coding and I can’t do that myself (and how to fix it)

If you’re worried that your coding skills will hold you back from creating strategic websites, you can push that from your mind. If you’re currently designing off of Squarespace templates or pre-made WordPress themes, you can still do that. You’ll simply have to tweak the way you’re looking at things or change up the templates you were using before to give yourself more freedom.

There’s also the option to work with a developer who can create something fully custom so you aren’t at all limited.

It’s not as hard as it seems

Creating a strategic website for your clients isn’t as difficult as it seems. As we’ve talked about, it doesn’t add additional time to your project, your clients will benefit from it and see the value, and any of your current coding limitations can be worked around.

However, I get it if the whole strategic thinking part isn’t your thing. You want your clients to see amazing results, but aren’t sure about the strategy (and custom coding is more development than you ever want to do). In that case, outsourcing your strategy and development work will make the process much more enjoyable. Collaborations are always more fun than working on a project alone anyways, right?

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