Why a good-looking website can still fail

I once ran a business with a beautiful website that barely brought in clients. Looking good and actually working turned out to be two different things.

A few years ago I ran a photography business on the side. I built the website myself: nice photos, clean layout, the kind of site that looks good in a portfolio. I was proud of it. It also did not bring in the volume of clients I expected.

The occasional job came through. Weddings, portraits, here and there. But the traction was never there, and eventually I stopped pushing it. For a long time I assumed the market was just crowded.

It was never a design problem

Years later, working as a product designer, I understood what had actually gone wrong. The site never communicated who I was, what I offered, or why someone should pick me over the photographer three suburbs over. It looked capable. It did not say anything.

That is a strategy problem wearing a design problem’s clothes. And it is remarkably common. Most of the local business sites I look at are not ugly. They are quiet. They open with a photo and a company name, list some services, and leave the visitor to work out the rest on their own.

What visitors are actually doing

Someone landing on your site is not admiring it. They are answering three questions, fast: Is this the right kind of business for what I need? Can I trust them? What do I do next? If your homepage does not answer all three in the first screen, they leave, and they rarely come back.

The uncomfortable part is that a worse-looking competitor who answers those questions clearly will win that visitor. Good businesses lose to worse ones this way every day.

So what do you do about it

Start with the customer, not the layout. Write down who you want to reach, what they are worried about, and what makes you a better answer than the alternatives. Then decide what each page has to say, and in what order, before anyone opens a design tool.

The visuals still matter. A site that looks careless undermines trust just as fast as one that says nothing. But visuals are the second decision, not the first. Get the thinking right and the design has something to carry.

‹ Launching is the start, not the finish

Strategy before design: what actually goes first ›

Recognise any of this in your own site?

Let’s talk about what it should be doing.

Ron Tarin
Web Design

Ron Tarin creates quality websites for businesses who wants to attract the right clients. He is supported by with his lovely wife, his church community and his dog, Bagel the Beagle. On the side he enjoys doing photography, videography, reading books and learning calligraphy.