Improve your website: tips for interior designers
Website design is something that many designers overthink.
Your website is a really important asset for your business because (unlike social media) it is a part of the internet that you actually own.
But a mistake many designers make is thinking they need to outsource this task. You can end up spending thousands of dollars on something you could just have easily created yourself.
I guide my clients and students to create their own website on platforms like Squarespace or Wix as I prefer them to put any start up money they might have towards more important early business tasks - such as legal work (which many people DIY and definitely shouldn’t!).
My main tip when you are creating your own website is to make it as good as you can in a timeframe you set yourself (e.g. give yourself one day) and not to overthink it or spend too much time on it.
You can really get bogged down if you're not careful and don't give yourself a deadline and this obviously won't help you move other things forward.
Here are some tips for designing your website.
1: Don’t try and be clever
One thing I often say is 'don't make it hard for people to do business with you'.
Make sure people can find the information they are looking for on your website as fast as possible. Also make sure you have a clear statement on your home page about who you help, what problem you are solving and how you solve the problem (e.g. your product and services). They need to know they are in the right place.
Here are some things that I see people do quite a bit that I think makes it hard for people to navigate or find what they are looking for:
have fancy cover pages for the website that means someone has to click in multiple times to actually get to the website. These cover pages sometimes take a long time to load and people are impatient - they will just click out if you make it too hard for them.
call things by the wrong names - e.g. they call a blog a ‘journal’ or a ‘note book’….Just call it a blog! That way people will know what to expect when they click there (and be more likely to do so!)
have too many images and not enough information that answers the questions that prospective clients probably have like:
how to work with you
how much it costs
how to get started
are you taking new projects
do you have to have a specific budget to work with you
If you want people to feel welcome on your website and not intimidated then give them the information they are looking for and don’t make it hard for them to do business with you.
Put yourself in the shoes of your potential clients. If you were searching for a designer what questions would you have and what would you want to know? Make sure your website answers those questions and don’t try and be clever or do what you see other designers doing (as many of them don’t have high performing websites!).
2: Use Calls to Action
Another mistake I see on many of the interior design/architecture websites that I look at is that people don't include any clear calls to action.
What do you want visitors to do next?
Most design sites that I see have amazing portfolios of the company's design work but there is no invitation for the visitor to do anything other than close out of the browser when they have finished looking around.
Some examples of calls to action are:
✅ book a consultation to get started (bonus points for actually having a booking system embedded in your website where clients can book in and pay for their initial consult with you)
✅ sign up for your free download
✅ sign up for your newsletter
✅ purchase something from you (e.g. an online package of some sort).
If you want people to take action and work with you then you have to remind them to do so. People need to be told what to do - so make sure you have lots of calls to action.
3: Your website is an extension of your brand
Make sure your website looks the same as any other branded collateral that you have.
For example:
✅ use colours from your logo as the colours on your website
✅ keep the aesthetic similar to what you have on other channels - e.g. your social media
✅ use the same fonts across your website and your other collateral
Think about your client journey:
perhaps they find you on Instagram and decide to click through to your website
they then look around and decide to start working with you
you send them out your Client Welcome Pack.
they work with you and you deliver them their design documentation
You want to make sure every touch point along that customer/client journey has the same branding and aesthetic so they feel like they are in the right place.
(By the way mapping your client journey is critical to improving your client experience - we cover that in my Upgrade your Client Experience short course for designers).
4: Make sure it is mobile friendly
My final tip is to remember to make your website mobile friendly!
Most potential clients will be looking at your website from their phone or tablet and you want it to look good across desktop and mobile.
The good news is that most website platforms are on top of this and their templates will work across all platforms, but before you go live with your website it's always worth seeing how it looks on your mobile and fixing anything up that doesn't work.
Business Short Courses for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
If you need help growing your interior design or architecture business then check out my business short courses and resources for designers and architects.
This is a bit like business school but more fun, less intimidating and created specifically for designers and architects and what YOU need in business.
Our courses and resources 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 moving past imposter syndrome.
You’ll learn strategies for finding more clients and we have heaps of support that will help you to drop systems and processes straight in to your design business so you can then be more professional and organised in the way you do business with those clients.
Find out more about the courses and resources we offer via the button below and feel free to contact me and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy