Templates are supposed to make things easier for you right? WordPress templates, Squarespace templates, Showit templates… they are supposed to save you time and frustration. But… unless you are familiar with these platforms, it is still overwhelming and can be extremely overwhelming. If you are super struggling check out my custom website design where you have to worry about NOTHING.

If you are here on the struggle bus maybe because of finances, maybe because of your strong will to do it yourself, here are some tips to make your template amazing! 

1. THE first thing you want to NOT do is overwhelm your viewers with colors. We are going to choose three to four colors for our website. 

1. Choose one or two brand colors that will be seen the most throughout your website. 
2. Choose one brand color that stands out the eyes (think buttons). 
3. Then choose one more color that is neutral.

Take a look at this brand’s color palette. What colors would you choose? 

Thinking about the strategy I just told you about, take a look at the colors I’d choose.

There are many ways to incorporate the other colors in your website as well. When a person hovers over the yellow button, have it turn into the carmel color. If you need to highlight a text section in your website, Use the light green as the highlight. Those colors will be included in your website, but not overwhelm your viewers. 

2.Here a biggie:  DO NOT ASSUME.

Do not assume that people know what you do when they land on your website. I have many a time landed on a website out of curiosity about a product or service and was just confused on what exactly they do….They did not make it blatantly clear. Don’t make that mistake.

The first thing people need to see when they land on your site is exactly what you do. Don’t make them guess! Do you do social media management for eCommerce? Are you a chiropractor who serves athletes? SAY THAT. Say “I help eCommerce companies scale on social media” Or “Chiropractic care that helps athletes heal naturally”. It leaves no guessing as to if they are in the right place or not. If they are your ideal client and they land on your website and read that, they will think “sweet, they can help me”. 

3. The last and most common mistake I see is adding your social media icons to the top of your page.  Don’t do it! 

And here’s why. 

The purpose of your website is to have your ideal client click on your call to action button. To book a call, to purchase a service. So the one thing you DON’T want them to do is to click on your social media icon and leave your website. That defeats the whole purpose! It increases your bounce rate, and you lose clients and money. 

Let’s put it in your footer instead! That way, people will see your socials, but AFTER they have had the opportunity to look around your website and act on your call to action.