Yes, getting started on your website can feel pretty scary and website overwhelm stops many business owners from getting online at all. So, if you’ve got this in your head….
Maybe you’ve tried something before and ended up completely tangled up in the tech. You have no idea how to get out or you’ve tried to get started on your website only to be confronted by the white screen of death! By the end of this blog, my five fixes will get your website finally off the ground and less ‘argh’ and more ‘a-ha’!
5 fixes to stop Website Overwhelm!
I’m Katherine from the business beautician and I help business owners get profitable online without getting tangled up in all the tech. Let’s get you started!
Tip 1: Identify your website’s purpose.
The first thing you need to consider when creating your website is what is your website for? What do you want it to actually do for your business?
It’s no use getting a website just because you think “I need a website!” if you don’t know what it’s going to do for your business. Do you need a shop? Do you need to sell products on there? Or do you need to show people where you are? Do you need to include a map with directions to your shop? Do you need to have sign-ups? Are you going to be concentrating on list building? Identify the function of your website because if you don’t know what your website is for, then you may as well not have one.
You can do very well reaching your audience on Facebook or TikTok or whatever is your thing. You don’t necessarily need a website to do that. Yes, I know I am a website builder and I am telling you that you may not need a website! However, that might be the case. If you don’t have a purpose for your website, then don’t get one. So, to begin, write down exactly what you are looking for from your website. What your objectives are. This cuts down your options and it cuts down exactly what you’re going to include on your website. Then you can get super focused when it comes to building that website.
Tip 2: Get planning
Step two for starting a website with no overwhelm is to plan it out.
Now, this may seem obvious but it is so often the step that business owners skip over. They go straight into the “I want a pretty template and things all looking lovely” mode. You wouldn’t sit down to write a book when you hadn’t sorted out who the characters are, what the beginning is, what’s going to happen in the middle let alone what’s going to happen at the end! You wouldn’t start writing a book that way and you shouldn’t start writing your website that way either. People like to be taken on a journey from A to B so you really need to step back and plan out exactly what you want your website to include. What pages do you want on there? What do you want those pages to do for your business? Or what actions do you want people to take once they’ve landed on those pages?
Once you’ve got that figure out, you’ve started to build up the shape of your website, considerably cutting down the overwhelm of starting out your website. Having a list of what your business needs on there and not what the template says you need means you won’t be trying to fill out all the little bits and pieces just because it tells you to. This is your business’s website and it should be planned as such. At this stage of your website building, I would keep it simple, simple, simple! Start with a couple of pages, up to five pages and a blog. Make sure you are not giving yourself a mountain to climb when you start because remember, it’s not set in stone and you can develop it as you go.
Tip 3: Choose your platform
The third step to building a website without overwhelm is to choose your platform.
Now you might be thinking at this stage ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to choose what I’m doing right now and invest lots of money and it might all go wrong!” This is often where people really do get stuck because the many options can cause website overwhelm! Do you use WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace…what do you choose for your website? This is where people can then get stuck in the overwhelm of searching through templates, trying to find the best thing that fits their business. Luckily, after you’ve done the first two steps on my list, you will have a plan of what you need and know exactly what your website needs to do for you. With that information, you’ve already made some of that decision.
You know whether you need the flexibility of WordPress or whether Squarespace would do for just having a very good-looking website. Or if you need a shop, maybe you want to go for Shopify. So, you’ve got a little bit of the answer there about which tech (sorry I said the tech world!) would actually be best for your website. If you’ve got some experience in any of those, then maybe that’s the one to go for. However, don’t worry this isn’t a huge commitment that can’t be undone. This is something that you can work with, develop and as your business develops so will your website. So, if you start out on Wix and find you hate it, you can move! You can move your domain name, you could go to a different platform and making a commitment now to one of these platforms isn’t for life.
Wait…
You may be thinking “hang on I thought you were going to show me how to build a website” This blog is not about how to build a website. It’s about showing you how to beat website overwhelm because the overwhelm tends to happen before you have chosen how you’re going to build your website! Most of the overwhelm and the reason that people get stuck with building a website and don’t even start is because they haven’t chosen how they’re going to do it. This blog shows you how to overcome this and this leads me on to the fourth step.
Tip 4: Get learning
The fourth step in how to build a website without overwhelm is to learn how to use your website.
Learn how to build it go on and find something that is going to help you! Googling everything as you go along is just going to tangle you up and confuse you more. Find a tutorial that will take you step by step through the exact process you need to build your website. There are thousands of tutorials on all of the platforms that can help you do this. You don’t have to do it alone, you don’t have to google every single little thing and guess how to do things and get yourself all tangled up and in a mess. You can get somebody to hold your hand and take you through every single step.
Most of getting rid of this overwhelm has already been done for you! You’ve already made the big decisions that are going to enable you to buy or even find a free tutorial that will take you through step by step. Then, you can build that website confident that you’re doing it the right way for your business. Yes, I do indeed help people to build websites and I have a DIY step-by-step course. If WordPress is your thing and you either want to build a WordPress shop or just a simple site then I do have tutorials and follow this link to find out more.
and Tip 5 to beat website overwhelm: Have fun!
My fifth fix for cutting the overwhelm with website building is to expect to have fun with it.
This is playtime, this is where you can get creative! This is where you can take everything in your business online and show it off to the world. However, your website does not have to be perfect straight away. Everything you do will change, it will develop, it will grow with your business. If your website isn’t changing and growing then your business is not doing too well. It needs to constantly change and a great website is never finished. It’s never perfect and it never should be, it is a continually evolving thing. It will continually develop with your business but doesn’t that take the pressure off!
Another thing that might make you feel better is to see how other people’s websites have evolved. Below is what Marie Forleo’s website looked like before she became famous:
For those wondering, this was mine!
You see, it doesn’t have to be perfect it just has to get out there, so get started! If want to know how you can tell whether your website’s a success, you can read my previous blog here and it might not be what you think it is.
Like and comment on this blog, I would love to know what your biggest overwhelm is with your website so I can help you out!
Kat x
