Someone suggests a new website to boost enquiries. Sounds sensible enough. But before anyone asks what the website actually needs to do, the conversation drifts somewhere else.
Fonts.
Colours.
Layouts.
Whether the homepage needs a video.
Before long, you’re tinkering with your current site and trying to work out what happened to that arrow that was in exactly the right place yesterday before it vanished into the digital equivalent of a hedge.
The wrong diagnosis
Once the conversation shifts to design, it’s easy to assume the website itself is the problem. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t. A website can look dated and still generate enquiries. But it can look beautiful and leave visitors completely confused.
The question isn’t whether the design looks good. It’s whether the website is helping visitors do what they came to do. A new logo might make the brand feel stronger. Better imagery might make the website feel more polished. A homepage video might help tell a story. But none of those things tell visitors whether they’re in the right place.
Every extra decision creates friction
When a website isn’t clear about its purpose, visitors end up doing more of the work.
Should I click Services or Solutions?
Why are there three different contact buttons?
Am I supposed to book a call or send a message?
When a website feels like an escape room where every click reveals another decision instead of an answer, most people give up before they reach the end. Unless you’re running an actual escape room, that’s a problem. Good websites don’t make visitors solve a puzzle. They make the next step obvious.
When expertise becomes a blind spot
Businesses build websites from the inside out. Visitors experience them from the outside in. That’s where many website problems begin. You spend years building expertise. Naturally, you want people to understand how much work has gone into it.
So the homepage becomes a history lesson. The founder’s story appears before the product. The brand vision gets more space than the services. The menu fills up with internal terminology that means something to the team but very little to a first-time visitor.
Meanwhile, the visitor is still trying to answer a much simpler question:
“Am I in the right place?”
The trouble is that visitors aren’t looking at your website the same way you are. They’re not trying to understand everything. They’re trying to solve a problem.
Can you help me?
Do you understand my problem?
What should I do next?
The best websites understand this. They don’t try to tell visitors everything. They focus on answering the question that brought them there in the first place.
Clarity now has a second audience
Clarity has always mattered. Visitors need to understand what you do, who it’s for and what they’re supposed to do next. But they’re no longer the only audience.
Increasingly, businesses are being discovered through systems that summarise, recommend and compare information before a human even reaches the website. That makes vague messaging even more problematic.
A statement like:
“We deliver innovative solutions for ambitious businesses.”
might sound impressive. But it doesn’t tell people what you actually do. And it doesn’t tell machines either.
The websites that perform best today tend to be the clearest.
They explain:
- who they’re for
- what they do
- how they do it
- what happens next
Lets get quizzical
When you’re looking at your website and trying to figure out what to change, ignore the fonts, colours and rewrites for a moment. That’s the easy part.
First, ask yourself:
What is this website supposed to achieve?
Generate enquiries?
Sell products?
Showcase your work?
Encourage someone to get in touch?
Once you’re clear on that, decisions about design, content and structure all become much easier. And you’ll spend less time worrying about the arrow in the hedge and more time helping visitors find what they’re looking for.
Not sure what your website is supposed to achieve?