Nearly twenty years ago, websites were built by a special kind of people, usually multimedia designers, developers or programmers. At the time, design and technology took centre stage.
Websites had to look sleek.
The more gimmicky the better.
Then you, the client, would be asked to come up with content to fill in that shiny, sleek website design.
Back in those days, I was part of the group on the design and technology side of the equation and I used to ask my clients to fill in the content.
Thankfully, there is a better way to do it. The way I work with clients now is quite the opposite to the way we used to create websites.
These days, first I find out your story and what you do for whom.
That way, the content takes centre stage.
Your story and what you stand for (your brand) is decided before the design.
What good are sleek and shiny bells and whistles if your message is wrong/lost/not communicated?
The design needs to match your brand and what you offer.
Your website design needn’t be gimmicky but it needs to hold reminders that align with the story your audience recognises and buys into.
And programming? Most of you don’t even need to worry about hiring a programmer.
Because all that behind the scenes stuff is done for you and it no longer takes centre stage.
Your story does.
So please tell me that you’re not working in the way we used to do it 20 years ago.
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Here I give you two very good examples.
Patrick and I started working together to establish his brand since September. After a series of conversations, a photoshoot, training on his video (to post in LinkedIn) and working on his brand story for his website, it is now live.
http://www.access2insights.com
(Using Squarespace via one of its readily available themes)
Cindy and I began working on her story and setting the tone for her new direction since August. She is about to launch a Life & Leadership online program. In preparation for its launch we worked together on creating a suite of branding assets including her new website:
(Using self-hosted WordPress via bluehost, built using a WordPress theme)
As you can see both were built using readily available systems and pre-made ‘design’ that’s been customised to meet the clients’ needs.
