What to refresh on your website first

Let me save you about fourteen hours in Canva.

If the first thing you want to refresh on your website is:

• fonts

• colours

• graphics

• mockups

• “vibes”

I need you to pause. Gently. With love. 😅

Because most people go straight to making it look fancy… and completely skip the actual point of a website.

Which is not:
aesthetic
slick
chef’s kiss colour palettes

The point of your website is to:
👉 give people the information they need
👉 help them decide if you’re the right fit
👉 and make it easy to take the next step with you

That’s it.

Never (and I mean never) have I had someone say to me:

“I booked with you because that font combo in that word banner halfway down your sales page looked so slick.”

Or:

“That gorgeous mockup of your products buried ten clicks deep in your portfolio?
Wow. The colours. I was sold.”

Nope. 100% no.

What people have told me is this:

• “I felt seen when I read your site.”

• “Your words made me feel like you understood what I needed.”

• “I had all the information I needed to make a decision.”

That’s why we got on a consult call.

Not because of vibes.
Because of words.

And here’s something people don’t always expect:

Even with very girly branding and colours, a ton of my referrals are men.

They’re not turned off by the style — because the information on my site creates enough credibility for them to:

• book a call

• meet me

• and confidently take the next step toward working together

If I relied on fancy graphics alone, I might really love how my website looks…

…but I’d probably have zero clients.
Which would be… less than ideal. 😅

And sometimes people don’t even book right away.

They might land on my website, download a freebie and join my email list... get entertained by stories and see me show up consistently.

And THEN when they are ready for marketing services or a website design... guess who pops into their heads? Duh, it's me!

That is the actual job of a website.

Not persuasion tactics or weird design voodoo.
And certainly not tricking someone into buying something they didn’t want.
Just clarity + connection + consistency.

Here’s the part that might sting a little:

Saying “my site is minimalist” is not a strategy, my friend.

Minimal doesn’t get you clients.
Minimal definitely doesn’t rank on Google.
And minimal without clarity is just… empty.

You still need to say something.

Before you touch the visuals, ask yourself:

• Do I know what I’m selling?

• Do I know who it’s for?

• Do I know what the client experience actually looks like?

Because if those are still vague, it’s going to be pretty hard for any web designer (even a very skilled one) to build you a solid foundation.

(Yes, I am speaking from experience. 😬)

And while I do help people map out their offers when things are unclear during a build…
I am not a magician.

I might be a little witchy.
But magician? No. 😂

So if you’re feeling the urge to refresh your website, start here:

👉 What are you actually saying to people?
👉 Are you giving them enough information to decide?
👉 Is your site doing its job when you’re not there to explain it?

Design matters. Of course it does.

But design comes after clarity... not before it.

Refresh the message first.
Then make it pretty.

💛
-Brittany