I’m Donovan, a designer and creative director with decades of experience across advertising, design, and marketing. This podcast is a branding field guide for business owners. It’s built from a book I wrote called The Business Owner’s Guide to Branding. And the whole point is simple: to help you understand how creatives actually think, so you can build a brand that’s strong, memorable, and actually sells.
If you’ve been with me from the start, welcome back. Let’s get into it.
Our last episode was a mouthful. Why professional photography isn’t optional. You can’t put lipstick on a pig, and no amount of Photoshop can save a bad photo. Now, those fantastic new headshots of yours, they need a home. And that brings us to today’s episode, a whole new chapter. Website design.
Not long ago, your printed materials were the most important face of your company. Your brochure was your handshake. Your annual report was your credibility. Then the internet happened.
Today your website is ground zero. It’s the first place every potential client goes before they call you, meet you, or trust you with a single dollar. It’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in every time zone, on every device. And it never calls in sick. It represents you constantly, whether you’re paying attention to it or not.
So here’s the question you, the business owner, should be asking. What is my website actually saying right now to every potential customer visiting?
David Ogilvy, the father of advertising and a personal favorite of mine, put it best 60 years ago, and most websites still haven’t caught up with his wisdom. When you sell fire extinguishers, open with a fire.
Your customer has a problem. That problem is exactly why they landed on your website. The single most important job of your homepage is to prove within five seconds that you understand the problem and have the solution. Not your company history, not your mission statement, not that award you won in 2019. The fire. Lead with the fire.
Most websites do the opposite. They open with who they are, what they’ve achieved, how long they’ve been around. The visitor doesn’t care. Not yet. They care about their problem. Show them you understand it, show them you solve it; everything else can wait.
So do you actually need a professionally designed website? Yes, no question. Your website is your primary digital storefront, the modern replacement for your tri-fold brochure, trade show booth, and cold call. It’s where every potential client goes before they go anywhere else. A poorly constructed, confusing site doesn’t just fail to impress. It actively drives away the leads your branding worked hard to attract.
You can have the best logo, the strongest colors, the most disciplined typography in your industry. But if your website lets the team down, none of that matters. The investment you made in your brand deserves a website that’s actually worthy of it.
Question. Can you build your own site on Wix or Squarespace? A perfectly reasonable place to start. These platforms allow a small business to get online fast, cheap, and without a developer on speed dial.
But here’s something Wix won’t put in their advertising. You do not own the SEO. The search rankings you’ve built live on their platform. The moment you outgrow it and migrate to a proper site —and trust me, you will —those rankings disappear. You start from zero again. You have to weigh whether to rebuild your authority from scratch against the cost of starting fresh with a professionally designed site.
Clarity trumps cleverness. Or, to quote my personal design philosophy, simple sells. If a visitor cannot tell what you do, who you do it for, and what to do next, within five seconds of landing on the page, your pretty website is worthless. Remember the fire extinguisher. Your customer showed up with a problem. Show them immediately that you solve it. Everything else is decoration.
Here’s an old advertising mantra from my days in the trenches. Don’t make your customer think; make them act. I see so many websites with parallax scrolling, 3D animations, and menus that shift and slide, and that take 10 seconds to load. By the time the cool animation finishes, your customer has already closed the tab and found your competitor.
There’s a reason so many sites are cluttered with flying logos and spinning elements that serve no actual purpose. Inexperienced designers often reach for movement to mask the absence of good design. Can’t solve the communication problem? Dazzle them instead and hope nobody notices. My friend Ian McCall, a creative force of nature, describes this with Shakespearean accuracy. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
You are not Nike. You are not Apple. Stop trying to win art awards. Start trying to win customers.
So keep an eye out for an update. Next episode, we dive even deeper. What actually makes a website good? And how do you know if yours is failing you?
That’s it for this episode of BRAND:NEW. Thank you for spending a few minutes with me. I don’t take your time for granted. If this helped you, share it with a business owner who needs it. And if you’ve got 10 seconds, please leave a rating. It would really mean the world to me.
I’m Donovan. This has been BRAND:NEW. I’ll see you in the next episode. BRAND:NEW
Not long ago, your printed materials were the most important face of your company. Your brochure was your handshake. Your annual report was your credibility. Then the internet happened.
Today your website is ground zero. It is the first place every potential client goes before they call you, meet you, or trust you with a single dollar. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in every time zone, on every device, and it never calls in sick. It represents you constantly, whether you are paying attention to it or not.
So here is the question every business owner should be asking. What is my website actually saying right now to every potential customer who visits it?
Lead with the fire
David Ogilvy, the father of advertising and a personal favorite of mine, put it best sixty years ago, and most websites still have not caught up with his wisdom. When you sell fire extinguishers, open with a fire.
Your customer has a problem. That problem is exactly why they landed on your website. The single most important job of your homepage is to prove within five seconds that you understand that problem and that you have the solution. Not your company history. Not your mission statement. Not that award you won in 2019. The fire.
Most websites do the opposite. They open with who they are, what they have achieved, and how long they have been around. The visitor does not care. Not yet. They care about their problem. Show them you understand it, show them you solve it, and everything else can wait.
They open with who they are, what they have achieved, and how long they have been around. The visitor does not care. Not yet.
So do you actually need a professionally designed website?
Yes. No question.
Your website is your primary digital storefront, the modern replacement for the trifold brochure, the trade show booth, and the cold call. It is where every potential client goes before they go anywhere else. A poorly constructed, confusing site does not just fail to impress. It actively drives away the leads your branding worked hard to attract.
You can have the best logo, the strongest colors, and the most disciplined typography in your industry. But if your website lets the team down, none of that matters. The investment you made in your brand deserves a website that is actually worthy of it.
The investment you made in your brand deserves a website that is actually worthy of it.
What about building it yourself on Wix or Squarespace?
That is a perfectly reasonable place to start. These platforms allow a small business to get online fast and cheaply, without a developer on speed dial. — —
But here is something Wix will not put in their advertising. You do not own the SEO. The search rankings you have built live on their platform. The moment you outgrow it and migrate to a proper site — and trust me, you will — those rankings disappear. You start again from zero.
You have to weigh the cost of rebuilding your search authority from scratch against the cost of starting off with a professionally designed site in the first place. One of those costs arrives on day one. The other arrives on the day you can least afford it, right when the business has finally grown enough to need more.
You start again from zero.
Clarity trumps cleverness
Or, to put it the way I have said it for most of my career, simple sells. If a visitor cannot tell what you do, who you do it for, and what to do next within five seconds of landing on the page, your pretty website is worthless.
Remember the fire extinguisher. Your customer showed up with a problem. Show them immediately that you solve it. Everything else is decoration.
If a visitor cannot tell what you do, who you do it for, and what to do next within five seconds of landing on the page, your pretty website is worthless.
Do not make your customer think. Make them act.
That is an old advertising mantra from my days in the trenches, and it has never stopped being true.
I see so many websites with parallax scrolling, 3D animations, and menus that shift and slide and take 10 seconds to load. By the time the clever animation finishes, your customer has already closed the tab and found your competitor.
There is a reason so many sites are cluttered with flying logos and spinning elements that serve no actual purpose. Inexperienced designers often reach for movement to mask the absence of good design. If you cannot solve the communication problem, dazzle them instead and hope nobody notices. My friend Ian McCall, a creative force of nature, describes this with Shakespearean accuracy. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Inexperienced designers often reach for movement to mask the absence of good design.
You are not Nike
You are not Apple either. Stop trying to win art awards and start trying to win customers.
Your website is not a portfolio piece, nor is it an art installation. It is the hardest-working salesperson on your payroll, and it works every hour of every day without a break. So judge it as you would a salesperson. Does it understand the customer’s problem? Does it explain what you do in plain language? Does it tell people exactly what to do next? If the answer to any of those is no, no amount of animation will fix it.
That is the honest answer to the question. Yes, you need a professionally designed website, because the alternative is not a cheaper website. The alternative is a website that quietly turns away the customers your brand worked hard to earn.
This article accompanies Episode 20 of BRAND:NEW, the podcast based on The Business Owner’s Guide to Branding by Donovan Fourie.
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