It’s okay if your website is ugly
Your website does not have to be this perfect, beautiful thing in order to convert and get you clients. But it does need to answer 3 questions that potential clients are asking when they’re on your website.
It is 100% okay if your website is ugly.
Obviously, if you’re a web designer, you might want to put a little extra effort into your own website. But even if that’s the case, your website does not have to be this perfect, beautiful thing.
I bet that you choose to work with businesses all of the time, even though they have crappy websites.
I know that I do.
Here are three businesses that I have very happily given money to, even though their websites made me cringe.
A health coach who helped me reverse my pre-diabetes and get my period back
A private car hire company that drove me across the Singapore-Malaysia border and then back in just a few hours when I needed to make an emergency visa run
A French tutor who helped me feel really confident about carrying one on one conversations with Sean’s grandmother, in just a few months.
All of these businesses were really good at what they did. And even though their websites were a little sketchy, I got everything that I needed from those websites.
Your website is just a business tool.
It's there to talk to potential clients so that you don't have to, so that you don't have to have the same conversations over and over again.
There are only three things that people really want to know when they come to your website.
The 3 questions are:
How can you help me?
Why should I trust you?
How do I work with you?
Here’s how the health coach that I chose to work with answered these questions on her website.
How can you help me?
She had really clear information about her online course, and how that included weekly group coaching calls.
So I knew that I could get all the information I needed from the online course. And as I got my blood work done, and implemented lifestyle changes, I could get the support I needed by attending those group coaching calls. Easy.
Why should I trust you?
On her website, this health coach shared her story about being a high performance triathlete, and her struggles with polycystic ovarian syndrome. I could relate to this story and I felt a connection with her. I felt like she would just kind of get what I was going through.
She had also invested a lot in educating herself about nutrition science and women’s health and had degrees in these areas. While I don’t think that a formal degree is always necessary in order to show your expertise in an area, because we’re talking about health and medicine and biology, I really found this reassuring.
She also had a lot of testimonials on her website from a pretty diverse client base. The coach herself was a white cis woman, and seeing testimonials from non white people, including people who looked like me, made me feel reassured. I also really liked seeing testimonials from clients who were medical doctors. I already knew from experience that most doctors weren't sufficiently educated or equipped to help me with my issues. And I kind of liked seeing that reflected in the testimonials on this coach's website.
So once I had figured out that this health coach could help me with her online course and group coaching, and I decided that I trusted her, the only question left was…
How do I work with you?
Even though her website was a little messy, it was pretty easy for me to find the “Buy Now” button and go through the checkout process.
Because she made it so easy for me, I was happy to pay good money to work with her, just as I was happy to work with the private car hire company and my French tutor.
They all answered the three questions I wanted answers to, which are: How can you help me? Why should I trust you? And how do I work with you?
I’m super curious to hear your take on ugly websites.
Tell me in the YouTube comments: When’s the last time you bought from a business even after you saw that they had an ugly website?
