Top Website Tip for a Multi-Passionate Business
Building an effective website is an overwhelming project, and as much as feeling overwhelmed is not new to multi-passionate entrepreneurs, this absolute top tip will help your website (and your sanity) go a long way.
I got my first website 10 years ago, where I sold vintage clothes. Knowing nothing at all about online business, I trusted the recommendation of one SEO expert here in Denmark, and got involved with a TYPO3 open source system, set up controlled by an expensive web studio.
I paid - and lost - a small fortune that took me years to pay off, but I gained some valuable lessons about having a website for your business.
I’ll share some of these valuable lessons with you here to save you time and money on your own website journey.
“Websites promote you 24/7. No employee will do that.”
Make your website easy to use for your favorite muse
This one is HUGE. And it’s an often overlooked part of any website.
So here is it; the most important thing about your website is that it’s easy to use for the people you want to use it.
This is way more important than a smart design, and the platform you use.
Questions to help make your site easier to use can be:
Is it clear what you do, and who you do it for, and is it explained above the fold? (so you don’t have to scroll to understand what you do)
Is the value you bring to your customer clear?
Is it clear what you want your reader to do? (sign up for your newsletter, book a free coaching call, enquire about your services by getting your media kit sent?)
Is there unnecessary fluff around your site, just ‘cause you think it’s cool?
User experience is often overlooked because you know how to work your site. You don’t find it hard to find buttons to click, or where to get in touch with you. For you, it’s common sense. But it’s not common sense for the user who lands on your site for the first time, and doesn’t know what you do.
Our websites are one of the few things that don’t come with instructions.
When I land on a website for the first time, there’s no one to greet me at the door, like there is in a (good) brick and mortar shop, and ask how they can help me. There’s no one to guide me.
This is why you have to make as easy and clear as you possible can, for your favorite muse, to find what she’s looking for.
If we feel confused about anything on a website, we tend to feel stupid, so we click away.
Note: if you ever consider getting help with building your website, and the person doesn’t talk about the importance of user experience, don’t give them your money!
Your website has to work for your multi-passionate business
The website of a multi-passionate business has to be more flexible than a business with one offer.
If you sell an online class in calligraphy, and that’s the only thing you’re interested in, then your website doesn’t have to be as flexible as if you have multiple offers and topics your website has to cater for.
As a multi-passionate entrepreneur, you know you’re going to change and evolve. You’re likely not going to be talking about just one thing for years. Your website has to be able to grow with you.
Which is why…
Website control is a must!
You have to be able to work your site yourself.
The mistake I made with TYPO3 and the rude web studio that set it up for me was, that I could add new products, but nothing else. Any change in design or layout, even changing the color of a button, I had to buy expensive time from those dudes. And because I wasn’t interesting to them, my requests were way down on their priority list. Please, don’t make that same mistake.
In my opinion, it’s not about whether Squarespace is better than WordPress as a platform, but it’s about what platform matches your technical skills.
I’m not interested in tech, so my website love flourished when I moved from WordPress to Squarespace. There’s still a lot for me to learn about Squarespace, but the freedom I found on Squarespace is almost priceless.
Does your website feel good to you?
Your website is your online home and it should feel good and comfortable to spend time with it. Like your real home, you’ll most likely never be 100% satisfied with it, you’ll keep buying new things, move furniture around, maybe paint a wall or two.
If the idea of opening up your website’s backend makes you want to run away, that might be a hint, that the platform you’re on, is not the right one for you.
There is always a learning curve no matter what platform you’re on, that is to be expected, but it has to be a challenge you can handle.
A final tip to remember: Choose clear over clever!
If you remember just one thing from this blog post, it’s this: clear over clever.
If you’re not sure whether to add something or not, run it through the test of asking yourself:
Is it making things clearer and easier for my customer, or is it because I think it’s a bit creative and clever?
Easy and clear = yes
Creative and clever = no
Unless you’re writing a funny blog post, and that’s your thing. But when it comes to design and layout, clear and easy to understand is the way to go.
Hopefully, you’re getting inspired to be a little curious about your own creative capital.
If you found this post useful, I’d love for you to get my emails too. That’s a place I share most of what is going on in front and behind the scenes. .)
