How to build a converting website for your design business
In this post I go over some basic principles behind creating a website for your interior design or architecture business.
I share the pages that I suggest you create when putting together your design business website and give you tips for how to help your website convert visitors in to paying clients.
Let’s get stuck in! :)
You aren’t IKEA…
The thing I want you to remember as we go through this post is that you aren’t IKEA or Chanel.
You don’t need to create a website that brings hundreds of thousands of visitors every month. What you need for your design business is a simple website that gives relevant information about who you are and what you do. A place for people who are interested in you to learn more about you.
And because that is the sort of site that we need the good news is that you will be able to create this website yourself using a website builder like Wix, Squarespace or Weebly, which you can do almost for free. I personally use, and have always used, Squarespace to host my websites and have done all of the design and customisation of the site myself over the years. You don’t need to do anything fancy as you get started but once you get used to using a website builder you’ll become more confident to add in more complicated bits and pieces on your site.
Given your initial website is going to be relatively simple I absolutely don’t think it’s necessary to be outlaying thousands of dollars for getting your website made by a designer, especially when you’re first starting your business. There’s much better things to spend any start up capital you might have on - like getting your legals in order or taking training that will upskill you and prepare you for working with clients.
The benefits of creating your own website on a website building platform like Squarespace is that you will have full control and ownership over the site. Once you have learned how to use Squarespace you’ll also have the ability and know how for being able to make changes to your website whenever you want to.
I remember back about 15 years ago now I was helping my mother start a consulting business. She had just retired from her corporate career but was branching out to consulting work in her retirement. This was before sites like Squarespace existed and I remember her paying around $15,000 to have an extremely simple website made by a design company. Over the years of owning her business every time she wanted to change a few words here or there, or even just simply update her contact details, she was forced to send over the changes to the design company, who then charged her by the hour to make the changes.
I absolutely don’t want you to be put in a situation like that because you think you don’t have the know how or skills to be able to make your own site. You absolutely can do this yourself and you will save thousands of dollars that way as well.
The only reason to pay a designer to create a website for you these days is if you have an incredibly complicated website with lots of moving parts or if your business is already very profitable and you don’t have time to make it yourself as you’re too busy delivering client work.
What we will cover
In this post what I want to cover is
why your website is so important
the psychology of visitors to your website
what pages your first website should have.
securing your domain name
We aren’t trying to create the most complex and complicated website. Instead we are looking at how to make a website that is clear and concise and (most importantly) will help you convert visitors in to paying clients.
Why your website is important
When people are first starting out in business they often think that the most important thing to do is to start building up their social media following.
And while this is important there is something that many people don’t intrinsically realise and that is that they don’t ‘own’ their social media following. Although it’s great to start building up an audience on a few platforms that you choose (e.g. Instagram or YouTube) you never want to be relying on these platforms as your main source of traffic to your business. The reason being is that the followers you accumulate on these platforms don’t belong to you – if they are on Instagram or Facebook they belong to Mark Zuckerberg, if they are on LinkedIn they belong to Microsoft, who owns LinkedIn and if they are on YouTube they belong to Google, who owns YouTube. So any time that any of these platforms decide to change their algorithms this could mean that they require you to then pay to access the followers and audience that you have built up – which is what Facebook did a number of years back – and suddenly all the work you put in to building up those followers goes away over night.
The only way to protect yourself from that is to have a piece of the internet that you own yourself, where you own the traffic that comes there and the audience that you are building up. And the two big areas where this is the case is your website and your email list.
Your website is also where you will want to be driving traffic and audience that you build up on your social media – either by sending them over to your website to download a free resource that you offer them (lead magnet), which you in turn will get their email address for, or simply to get them over there to learn more about your products and services and what you have to offer – so that they will in turn purchase from you or book in with you.
People who hear from you via word of mouth or referrals will also use your website as the place where they go to learn more about you.
So your website needs to be an extension of your brand and also a place where people can quickly and easily learn who you are and what you have to offer that will solve their problems.
Your ultimate aim with creating your first website should be to develop something that is as simple and clear as it can possibly be, while at the same being a true representation and extension of all of your other branding.
Give people what they expect
You want people to visit your website and immediately understand who you are and what your business offers. And the good news is that the anatomy of a clear and successful website is pretty basic. It has a number of core pages and doesn’t have to be complicated at all.
In fact most people are so used to visiting websites these days that they are used to these core elements of website anatomy and want to be able to find the information they are looking for as fast as possible. Messing around with this basic structure means that you will make it harder for people to find what they need and will mean you risk losing people by them clicking away or moving on to something else.
Many design businesses make it too hard for people to find what they are looking for. They put up fancy landing pages that take ages to load (and means people will click away), they call their blog something weird like a notebook or whatever - they do things that make people have to think too hard. Don’t try to be clever. Just give people what they want and expect - especially when you’re first getting started.
As you business grows you may like to build upon these initial pages, but to get started you won’t need anything more than what I list out below.
Let’s take a look at the website structure and anatomy that I suggest.
The anatomy of a basic design business website
You want your website to have as few pages as possible and to be organised in a clear and logical way. So that is what we are aiming for with these initial pages.
Let’s look at the main pages:
Home Page
This will be where people land if they type in your full domain name. It’s the page that most inbound traffic comes to and is ultimately the first interaction they are likely to have with your brand.
Use your home page to give a concise overview of who you help, what problem you are solving and how you solve this problem – i.e. your products and services. But most importantly use your home page to direct people to where you want them to go on your site next. This is ideally towards either signing up for something free that you are offering in return for their email address – which is often called an ‘opt-in’ or ‘lead magnet’ – or to one of your paid products or services.
Basically if your website visitors can’t work out what you do within a few seconds, they will most likely leave.
But remember that people will be coming to your website for a particular purpose – it might be to find out more about you, learn about your services, read your blog or see if you sell a particular service – whatever the reason, make sure your home page easily facilitates the transition to where they might want to go next.
Also try not to confuse on your website. Don’t offer 15 different options for places to go on your site or links or buttons to click. This will be confusing and result in no action. You want to instead have one clear call to action as part of your home page that directs them towards exactly what you want them to do. That will ideally be to move them towards something that will help to build a closer relationship with you and/or to make you money.
If you don’t give them a call to action – a button to press or link or image to click – most won’t move beyond your home page. Don’t just assume that people will know what to do – most need to be told what to do in order to take action.
So your home page is probably the most important page on your website as this will be where most people land and where you need to grab and hold the attention of your visitors.
Products and Services
The next most important page on your site is your products or services page. This is where you’ll list out the products or services that your business offers.
How to choose your products and services and then how to price these are big topics and I cover those in detail inside my business short courses - particularly inside The Pricing System for Designers
But the basics here is you want to have 1-3 products or services to launch your business with.
Ask yourself what will make you stand out from the designer down the road who offers the same products and services?
Think creatively but also make these products and services achievable for the stage of business you are at. Don't launch your business with products or services that are going to be difficult or expensive to create.
To help you think about this and the sorts of products or services you might include here are a few ideas for you:
Colour consulting
Paint palettes (e.g. purchase done for you sets)
Mood boards
3D renderings (e.g. in SketchUp)
Shopping trips
Kitchen design
Bathroom design
Interior decoration
Full interior design services
Full interior decoration services
Online (e-design) packages
Design consultations
Group experiences (e.g. shopping/sourcing trips)
Online workshops
In person styling workshops
Floor plan designs
Floor plan reviews
DA approvals
Styling for sale
Decluttering
Organising
Space planning
Done for your design packages
Retreats
Seminars
E-books
Downloadable resources/checklists
Recorded trainings/videos
Resource library
Renovation kits/folders
Done for you templates
Online design consultations
Finishes selections
Accountability calls (keep them on track with their project)
Mini courses
Online courses/workshops
Renovation tours (of your previous projects)
Host a virtual summit
Renovation/remodel coaching/support
Once you’ve fleshed out some information about the services/products you will offer write those out on this website page. Don’t forget your call to action on this page as well. What do you want them to do next? Book in for a design consultation? Contact you for more information? Download your free guide? Make sure you tell them!
Portfolio and/or Testimonials pages
This next page helps build your credibility and shows your previous work. As you work in a creative field it will be where your potential clients are going to see examples of your previous work.
On this page you want to make sure your images are extremely well edited and look professional. You don’t need to necessarily get a professional photographer to take these, but you may need that if you aren’t confident in taking your own photos.
It definitely pays off to spend some time upskilling yourself in photography if you are planning on taking your own photos. The way your pictures look and appear on your website does really matter.
If you don’t yet have any completed projects to put up on your website then put up examples of your work - for example:
SketchUp or CAD drawings
mood boards
images of your own home (if it’s well designed and/or was designed by you)
design documentation examples
About page
People will click on the about page to learn more about you and to check that you have the experience required to help them solve the problem they have.
Use the about page to build trust and rapport with your visitors by making what you write on this page more about them than about you. Frame your personal ‘about me’ story as a story that they can relate to about them.
You want this page to tell a story about:
who you are - people like to hear your story but make this brief
how you got there - share how you got to where you are today but frame this as showing how you know your audience and what they need
how you can help them - add links to your products and services page and what you can do to help them solve their problems
how you have helped others - build your credibility by talking about any awards you have won or media you have obtained. Also link to your portofolio page.
the benefits of working with you - what makes you different and unique – why would someone choose you to work with over the designer in the other tab they have open on their browser.
Don’t make it all about you - remember you are making this an experience for your potential client – this isn’t about you. How do you want them to feel when they have finished reading this page?
Also make sure you include a photo of yourself!
So many designers leave this off their website and it’s a big mistake. Potential clients want to be able to picture who they are reading about. Plus they will want to see who you are before they book in to meet with you. So include an image that will attract your ideal client. Keep this casual if that is your market. Make it more polished if you are attracting corporate or high end clients. But importantly, this is one photo that is worth getting shot professionally if you can. Having a cropped image of yourself from last Christmas isn’t going to cut it here. There are lots of photographers who specialise in personal branding photography for relatively low prices these days – if you google that you should find someone close to your location who will be able to take a whole bunch of shots for you to use across your different platforms and for your different needs. This is definitely a worthwhile investment.
Finally - remember to add a call to action. Most people forget to include this on their about me page. But make sure you don’t let your audience leave before you send them where you want them to go next – is it your contact page? Or A button that links to your online booking form? Remember - people need to be told to take action otherwise they won’t!
Blog or Content Page
Having regularly updated and quality content on your site is important for a number of reasons. Firstly it helps you gain traction with Google via SEO (search engine optimisation) – and this will improve your search engine ranking and help you attract targeted traffic to your site. But having a blog that you keep updated around your area of expertise will help you to build your reputation and credibility as a source that can be trusted and someone who knows what they are talking about. Plus it shows you care about your website to keep it updated regularly.
If a potential client comes to your website and then clicks to your blog and sees you haven’t posted for more than a year this will be a red flag for them. So stay consistent with your content posting and have something new up there at least weekly.
Contact Page
And your final, but also one of your most important pages, is your contact me page. People must have a way of getting in contact with you. If you have an office or location you want them to visit you will include that here. Otherwise you’ll be including your email address or a contact form they can complete.
If you wish to set up an online booking system – for example for them to book in automatically for a design consultation or other service – then you can also include this on your contact me page as well. You may also like to include your phone number, if you are happy for them to contact you by phone.
Other website tips
So those are the basic pages mapped out for your website. But I want to finish off this post by just giving you a few other tips about your website:
Above all else you want to make sure that your website includes all the information that a person needs. Although I’ve been through the basics of what this might look like, ultimately you need to think about your ideal client and then create a website that will resonate with them and answer all their questions, get them excited about working with you and then point them in the direction of how to book in or get in contact with you.
Most people look at websites on their phones or tablets these days – so make sure your website is mobile friendly. If you go with Squarespace then most of their templates are automatically mobile friendly, but just make sure that you test this before selecting the template you want to use.
Don’t forget to include links to your social channels on different parts of your website. Good places to think about including these are in your footer, at the bottom of your about me page, as part of your home page and also on your products/services page. But remember that you don’t want to confuse people with too many actions or steps. So if your social media buttons are cluttering your page – save them for a different area of your website.
Where possible make sure you include an area – or ideally many areas – where visitors can give you their contact information – i.e. their email address – so you can keep in contact with them and follow up with them in the future.
And most importantly – make sure you include multiple calls to action in all different parts of your website.
My final tip is to not spend too much time on building out your first website. You should be able to do this in about a day or so if you put some time aside. The most important thing when you’re starting a new business is to start getting revenue in the door as fast as possible. Your website is important - but it’s not as important as actually doing lead generation and driving new leads in to your business. So don’t procrastinate over this process or get bogged down in it. Make something good enough to get started with and get back on with the important task of finding clients!
If you need help generating leads in to your new business then my Lead Generation short course is what you need. This is what works for designers right now and you’ll get clients straight away if you implement some of the strategies taught in the training.
Professional Email Address
One final mistake I see many new designers make is having hotmail or gmail email addresses as their business email - e.g. [email protected]
There is nothing that looks more ‘hobby business’ than a non-professional business and it costs very little and is very easy to set up an email address that has your custom domain in it. i.e. [email protected]
So I highly encourage you to do Google how to set this up as it is much more professional than having an @gmail email address.
Action Steps
So here are your action steps for getting your website set up:
Decide which pages your website is going to have
Create a framework or outline of the content that you plan to include on each page – ideally including any written content that you will be using.
Register your domain name
Create your website using Squarespace or another website building platform
Set up your professional email address
Launch your website - but don’t take too long with it - get out there and find clients!!
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy