Last week, I shared all about how I just redesigned my whole Showit website from scratch after years of having the same design. I just kept adding pages to it over time! It was time for a total overhaul and I absolutely love the new website. Today, I'm sharing six things I learned from designing for myself that you can apply to your own business, whether you're redesigning your Showit website template (or using one of the Showit templates in my template shop!), or if you're simply updating your current website every now and then.
These tips will help you even as a non-designer. These lessons are fresh because I literally just launched as I'm recording this (the site went live yesterday). These are things that I learned in real time that you can apply to your business. So let's get to it.
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First for context, I shared last week all about my rebrand and new website, about how the whole project took about a year start to finish (with a 4 month maternity leave in the middle and with me working only part time in my business).
Some of that project time was the brand visuals — new logos, colors, fonts, patterns — for all of my sub brands and main brands. I also spent time on things like updating email signatures, freebie designs, course banners in kajabi, checkout pages, etc. It was only when all of those things were done that I started redesigning my website!
Here’s the surprising part? It actually took MUCH LESS TIME than you’d think. Even with over 100+ pages on my website.
We started the project in mid-June and it was finished mid-August, so it took about 2 months total, plus I’d tack on a third month for when I started on things last year before my maternity leave. Yes, I did have some team members helping too! But I still think that’s an impressively quick timeline for so many pages!
As I was doing this project, I was keeping notes to help YOU with your website design! My goal is to help you do this faster (while still being intentional and detailed throughout the process).
1. The order you design matters!
Some pages are harder to get going on than others. The advice I’ve always given for template customization is to start with your contact page. Why? Because first, it’s an important page, so you’ll feel momentum and like you got something done, but it’s also an easier page to design. So it’s a good “quick win” compared to things like your home page or course sales page which take more time and require a lot more decisions to be made!
Here’s what I started with:
- I started with my home page (against my own advice), and then stopped because it was too overwhelming.
- Then, the first page I truly completed was the contact page.
- Then, I moved onto the about page
- Then, I did all the freebies pages!
For things like the menu, footer, etc. I actually finished up toward the end of the project. I actually didn’t even finish the homepage until days before I launched. A lot of it was done before then, but for the hero section at the top I tried a bunch of different styles on and ultimately landed on what I did just days before going live.
Whenever I needed a break on thinking big and creatively, I’d do an easier/simpler page. So take that as my advice to you — start with your contact page and/or opt-in pages as your first focuses on a website design! It’s okay to let the homepage (or things like your menu and footer) be something that evolves over time!
Read more: How to Know When It’s Time for a New Website
2. Organize the project well, especially for a redesign!
I started on the website redesign in December last year, got things set up-ish, but then stopped to have a baby! When I came back to work on it post-maternity leave, the first thing I did was organize the project in ClickUp.
Once I got going on the overwhelming amount of pages, it felt so much easier. Plus, having it in ClickUp for tracking pages and stages was KEY because there were so many. You’d lose track of what’s done and not otherwise. This is huge when redesigning your Showit website.
Every page that needed to be done was in ClickUp as a task, by category of pages:
- Blog pages together
- Shop pages together
- Freebie pages together
I also had status the pages went through in my process!
You don’t need ClickUp for this, you could use whatever Project Manager you like! I love ClickUp (and in case you’re curious, you can hear me talk with Courtney, who set up my Clickup, here!).
3. Some days it will feel like you accomplished nothing, even though you spent hours working on it.
I felt like the entire process really reminded me of days I sometimes feel in motherhood where it can feel like, “wait, I was taking care of the small child (or these small children) all day, but I don’t feel like I really accomplished anything.” But you did. You were changing the diaper, you were feeding the baby, you were playing with him, you were doing all these things all day, but it can feel like you accomplished nothing.
I feel like that is how the website process felt for me some days. Some days it would feel like I made no progress. Maybe I worked an entire workday, which for me might not have been that many hours, but I worked on a whole page and then I leave the workday and the page isn’t even close to being done. It felt like I was NEVER going to finish.
I also had plenty of times where I spent a LONG TIME designing something only to decide I didn’t like it, and changed it later. That’s NORMAL.
I also had three times where I designed a canvas, had a glitch, lost it and had to redo. That’s OK. That’s part of the process. You WILL finish.
4. It is worth it to always design WELL, even if the site you’re on now isn’t your “forever site”.
All of last year, I knew this huge overhaul was coming, but we still focused on great design on the old site, so all the various pages I made last year for things like quizzes, sales pages, or opt-ins felt EASY to bring over to the new site because the design was good and it just needed updated branding.
My advice? Don’t get lazy just because you’re getting something new!
This really was huge for me because while a lot of the webpages truly needed a major overhaul, more of them actually just needed to be updated with my new branding.
When we think about template customization, this can truly apply — maybe the page on your current website has solid copy/images because you kept focusing on this while you saved up for a new website and so all it needs now is to be placed into the new design. EASY!
5. Keep multiple spots for you to put content ideas and inspiration as it comes to you.
Redesigning your Showit website takes time. I randomly would get inspiration for copywriting or design, and would add that little idea in a note on my phone. I like the iPhone’s notes app for this because it’s always with you!
I also had a bigger area in ClickUp where I was adding content ideas, my plans for what would go on each page of the website, and other things I wanted to make sure I did as they came to mind.
You will forget if you don’t write it down, so save the ideas somewhere! This is also a great idea as you prep for a new website before you even start. Have somewhere to save ideas.
6. You have to stop tinkering at some point and just LAUNCH.
I was so guilty of this! Once I got close to finishing the website, I’d go back to pages that I already marked “done done” in ClickUp and add more things. Specifically, I was doing this when I had some KEY AND DIFFICULT pages to still do! So for example, instead of designing my podcast page, I was procrastinating by adding a random color change on my terms and conditions page, for example.
It’s really easy to just keep adding an animation, changing a color, and rewriting the copy! It has to stop at some point and you’ve got to just launch. Stacey kindly reminded me at one point, “you’ve just been staring at it too long, it looks great!”
I want to give you this same reminder.
ALSO, remember that a website is never truly finished. That’s not a sad/bad thing. But while the project of the design is finished (like mine is), I will always do updates on my website. Whether it’s small like changing out the date in the footer, or large like adding a new page for a new product/offer, it’s always evolving.
Let the project part be done, even if you don’t have all the pages you ultimately want up. Even if you think it would be cool to do this random thing on this random page, go live with it. Then, keep a list of ideas for the future that you can tackle another time, but get the core thing live!
Read more: 3 Things You Need to Update on Your Website for the New Year (That Take LESS THAN 5 minutes!)
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