Confession time – do you have Website Shame? You know it when you have it – the hastily crossed out URL on your business card, the missing “website” field in your social networking profiles, the horror of someone you respect accidentally discovering your “still in progress” site, the botched attempts at “fixing” things that left you worse off than before.
If you’re reading this with a laugh of recognition it’s official – you’ve got The Shame and you’ve got it bad! We’ve all been there and the good news is it’s completely curable.
These ten strategies will take you from being ashamed to falling in love with your site again.
1. Recognize That You Are Not Your Website
If you’ve had a long-term case of Website Shame, why do you think it has hung around for so long? I believe all comes down to fear, and as silly as it might sound our websites can carry a lot of emotional baggage! They are our public face to the world. You might be frozen in inaction because you see your website as such a huge insurmountable task that will reflect badly on you if you screw it up. Instead, remember that your website is just one project that you can start to make progress on one step at a time.
2. Remember Your Only Two Choices
You can either learn to fix your site yourself (this applies to any area of your site that needs help – copywriting, graphics, programming) OR you can hire someone else to do so. Those are your only two choices. End of story! Getting stuck because you don’t know how to do it yourself but think you can’t afford help is a dead-end road. Instead, empower yourself to move forward down one path or the other.
3. The Website Fairy Ain’t Coming
Related to your two choices above, let’s get real for a second – are you waiting for the Website Fairy? Do you plan on getting to your site “someday” when you have more time and money? Do you have a secret fantasy that the world’s most talented designer/developer might show up in your inbox one day offering to fix your site for free? Or that even better you’ll just wake up one day to an entirely different website? It might sound funny but honestly most of us have had these thoughts! The sooner you stop waiting for the Website Fairy to arrive the sooner you can get in gear on creating your fabulous new site without her.
4. You CAN Afford a Designer
I’m always surprised by how many people tell me that they know their site sucks but they can’t afford to hire a designer. If you’ve ever had that thought, it’s time for a serious reframe. You might think than an overhaul will be a drawn-out, multiple thousands of dollars affair, but in many cases one or two hours of professional design loving’ will make an enormous difference to a site. Until you start that conversation with a designer, you just don’t know what your options are.
Quality designers can easily be found for $35 – $75/hour, and of course you can find much lower rates overseas. So if you have ever spent $50 on dinner you can afford a great designer! Instead of telling yourself you can’t afford it, start exploring options – could you find someone talented in India or the Philippines? Could you barter? Could you find an odd job or new service you can offer that would net you $50? Stopping hitting a wall and start getting creative!
5. Get Back Control
Is there an area of your site that you’re totally in the dark about? Have you been “meaning” to learn how to install plugins or what FTP means for months? You don’t have to be a technical genius, but you do need to be able to confidently hold the reigns of your blog. And if you’re using a platform that doesn’t allow full control or customization, I’d strongly suggest that you switch to wordpress.org.
6. Stop Letting Past Mistakes Drag You Down
I see this one a LOT – people can’t bear to let go of an ineffective, disorganized, outdated site that they paid big bucks for. Listen – if you think your website sucks chances are the people visiting it hold a similar opinion! However, they don’t know that you spent $3,000 on it two years ago and frankly it doesn’t matter to them! I know this one can sting, but expensive mistakes in the past are no reason to let your site keep dragging you down.
7. Stop Making Assumptions For Your Visitors
People first come to your site with a blank slate – they have no idea who you are, what you write about or why your blog exists. When we examine our own blog it’s easy to overlook this, because what we do seems so obvious to us! You cannot overstate the purpose and overall theme of your website to first time visitors – so make it much more prominent than you think you need to.
8. Ditch The Jargon
Most of us are so accustomed to our own “insider” jargon it’s hard to remember a time when we didn’t know what “RSS” was. But if you write for beginners, any kind of jargon is going to lose and confuse your readers – especially when used in the navigation or categories of your site. Getting rid of jargon is an instant fix that will make your site much friendlier to new visitors.
9. KISS – Keep It Simple Smartypants!
Yes, I’m using “smartypants” instead of the more common version of this acronym (Keep It Simple Stupid) because most of us make our website difficult to use not because we are stupid but because we’re over-thinking things. You do not need 20 different items in your navigation. A post about vanilla cookies and vanilla wafers might seem quite different to you, but believe me by your readers standards they can go in the same bucket! When in doubt simplify and eliminate and your site will not only be easier to use but look much cleaner.
10. Clean Up The Junk Graphics
You know the ones I’m talking about! Jagged edges, weird white backgrounds that stand out from the color background of your site, too big or too small pictures that don’t quite fit how they are supposed to. These small “oopsies” add up to make your site look like the junk pile. Treat your site like a pro – if you wouldn’t be proud to send a graphic to your favorite blogger, do not put it on your own site.
Last modified: June 25, 2025