June 10, 2025 • 15 mins
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You poured time and money into a beautiful new website - sleek fonts, perfect colors, and brand photos you’re proud of - but somehow, your sales haven’t moved an inch. Sound familiar? In this episode, I’m diving into one of the biggest myths I see in the online business space: that a polished, pretty website is the key to more conversions. If you’ve been tempted to tweak your colors and fonts (again) instead of digging into the real issues, it’s time to rethink your website conversion strategy.
I’m sharing the top mistake I see digital product creators make on their homepage, why design alone won’t drive sales, and what actually turns browsers into buyers. Think of it this way: a stunning boutique without a checkout counter won’t sell a thing…and neither will a website without a strategy!
Don’t worry, I’m not against good design. I want your website to look amazing—but only after your strategy is in place. If you’re ready to create a website that actually converts, this episode will give you the clarity you need. And if you’re craving personalized support, book a free Website Gameplan call to map out exactly how your site can work smarter to get more sales.
02:12 - Why pretty doesn’t equal profit
04:46 - The biggest mistake I see people make on their website
06:00 - Getting clear on your website conversion strategy before tackling the design
09:05 - Three quick things to check to determine if your website needs updates
Links & Resources:
- Book your free Website Gameplan call!
- Follow me on Instagram @kristendoyle.co
- Check out my Everything Page: a one-stop shop for savvy selling!
- The Savvy Seller Collective
- Join my private Facebook community: Savvy Teacher Sellers
- More resources for growing your TPT business
- Rate & review The Savvy Teacher Seller on Apple Podcasts
Show Notes: https://kristendoyle.co/episode151
Tired of constantly hustling to sell your digital products? Check out my free 19-minute training where I show you how to turn all those products you already have into a profitable, automated business.
Get more freedom and less stress ➡️ watch now at kristendoyle.co/training
Check out my Everything Page at https://kristendoyle.co/everything
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristen (00:00):
Now picture this. You just spent a bunch of money and
(00:03):
time on a website redesign. Thedesign is perfect, the fonts and
the colors are on brand, andhonestly, it looks amazing. But
three months later, your saleshaven't budged, or they might be
worse than before. If thatsounds painfully familiar,
you're definitely not alone. Ihear this story all the time
(00:26):
when I first start working withnew clients.
Today, we are going to bust oneof the biggest myths in online
business, that gorgeous websitesautomatically equal more sales.
I'm going to show you why abeautiful website without the
right strategy behind it isnothing more than an expensive
vanity project. And moreimportantly, what you should
(00:48):
focus on instead to actuallyturn those website visitors into
paying customers.
Are you a digital product orcourse creator selling on
platforms like Teachers PayTeachers, Etsy, or your own
website? Ready to grow yourbusiness, but not into the kind
of constant hustle that leadsstraight to burnout? Then you're
(01:10):
in the right place. Welcome toThe Savvy Seller. I'm Kristen
Doyle, and I'm here to give youno fluff tools and strategies
that move the needle for yourbusiness without burning you out
in the process—things like SEO,no stress marketing, email list
building, automations, and somuch more. Let's get started,
(01:31):
y'all.
So what does this actually looklike in practice? Here's what
clients tell me when they firstreach out to me. They say things
like, I feel like it just looksDIY. They feel embarrassed by
what their site looks like rightnow. They tell me that it looks
(01:52):
outdated and they think a moderndesign or an update is going to
solve their problems. Orsometimes they say it just
doesn't look good, because theyreally can't articulate what's
wrong with their site right now.
They just know something is, andthey assume it's probably the
visuals. It's probably how itlooks.
(02:12):
The underlying assumptionbetween all of these is, if my
website looks more professional,it's going to convert better.
And I totally get why this is sotempting, the logic seems to
make perfect sense. See, thetruth is, professional
appearance does buildcredibility. We see beautiful
websites and we assume that theyare successful businesses
(02:32):
because of how professional andpolished their website looks.
And lots of design agencies andespecially DIY platforms really
reinforce that message, becausethey are constantly telling you
that your site is going to bebeautiful when you work with
them, as if that's the end goal.
But the end goal of your websitereally is to get sales for you,
(02:55):
whether that looks like bookingclients or selling products,
getting those visitors toconvert into buyers is your end
goal. And let's be real, it isreally just fun to play with
design things. For most of us,it is a whole lot easier to
focus on how we want our site tolook than it is to do the
strategic planning to make surethat it works. Maybe we don't
(03:18):
even understand all of thatstrategy that well. See, a
beautiful website without aclear plan, is like having a
gorgeous store, but people can'tfind the cash register. It looks
amazing, but it's ineffective.
A lot of times what I see fromdigital product creators is a
(03:38):
beautifully designed websitewith a catchy hero section that
sounds really clever, but maybeit doesn't clearly explain who
they help or how, and then theyfollow it immediately by
sections full of products andcategories and blog posts
without a whole lot of copy thatactually draws those visitors
in.
(03:58):
Alright, so if pretty doesn'tequal profit, then what does?
Let's talk about what actuallyhelps to convert those website
visitors into buyers. See, whatpeople don't understand about
websites is that the design issupposed to support your
strategy on the site, not be thestrategy. See, when somebody
(04:19):
visits your website, they're notmaking buying decisions based on
whether your fonts are pretty ornot. They're buying based on
your words. You could literallyhave the most gorgeous website
in the world, but if people landthere and they don't understand
what you're offering or why theyshould care, they're not going
to buy. So bottom line, yourstrategy on the website is what
(04:43):
drives the sales, not how prettyeverything looks.
The biggest mistake I see, and Isee it all over the place, is
sites that just don't have anystructure to actually draw
people in and connect with them.
This looks like hero sectionsthat sound really clever, but
they leave visitors confusedabout what you actually do, or
they're so generic that it couldreally apply to anyone. And when
(05:04):
that strategy is missing, whatactually happens is that people
land on your website and theyare just confused. They either
can't figure out if you're theright fit for them, or they're
not sure what they're supposedto do next, and so they leave,
and they probably head to one ofyour competitors. And then
you're sitting there thinkingit's because your website
doesn't look good enough, whenreally it's a messaging and a
(05:27):
strategy problem, not a designproblem.
Even if the design does need tobe updated, the messaging and
the strategy behind it are whatis going to drive those sales. I
recently talked to somebody whohad their whole site redesigned,
and they loved the way itlooked, but they ended up with a
(05:47):
mile long homepage packed withanything and everything, but
with no clear strategy, and theyactually felt like it was worse
than before, because it wasn'tfocused and strategic.
Okay, so we've established thatpretty does not drive profit.
But I'm not saying designdoesn't matter. It absolutely
does. Here's what you shouldfocus on, though, instead. So
(06:10):
when a client comes to me andthey want a prettier website,
the first thing that I ask themis, I'll say, Yeah, let's make
your site gorgeous, absolutely.
But first, what do you need yoursite to do for you? So we figure
out the strategy first, and thenwe design something to support
that strategy. That way you'refocusing on the stuff that
(06:33):
actually moves the needle, notjust the stuff that looks nice.
So what are those things thatactually get people to buy? So
glad you asked. You need copythat actually speaks to your
people. Copy is the words on thepage. Talk directly to the right
(06:53):
people for your offers, theirreal needs and their pain
points, not just genericmarketing fluff that came out of
chat GPT. Your messaging needsto be so clear that when someone
lands on your page, theyimmediately know that they are
in the right place. Clear, notclever. Tell people exactly who
(07:14):
you serve and how you help them.
And for the love of all thethings, keep your call to action
buttons focused and targeted andsprinkle them in the right
places throughout your page.
Don't just rely on peopleclicking on an image or plain
text links. Make those buttonsobvious and clear and put them
in the right places. So manywebsites are missing some pretty
(07:37):
basic stuff, like actuallyexplaining exactly what your
business does and who it's forbefore you start showing off all
your products, using words thatconnect with people, instead of
just listing out the features.
If, when you look at your site,it's a whole list of what and
(07:58):
not a lot of why or how orconnection building, you need to
rethink the words that you'reusing. And then give people a
clear path that tells them whatto do, instead of just leaving
them with a ton of options wherethey have to guess and try to
figure it out.
And for goodness sakes,something, anything that makes
(08:18):
you different from every otherperson who does what you do. So
if your copy could fit anyone inyour niche, then you need to
make it more specific to you.
Don't be afraid to take a stanceon what you believe, why you
believe it, what makes youdifferent. Don't be afraid that
that's going to make you turnother people away, because while
yeah, it might turn some peopleaway, those people wouldn't be
(08:40):
your people anyway.
Now the specifics of how tostructure all that strategically
for your specific business,that's the kind of detailed work
that I do when I work one on onewith a client. But the general
principle is, your words mattermore than your fonts, your
colors, your graphics, yourlogo, any of those things.
(09:05):
So how do you figure out if yourwebsite falls into that vanity
project category and needs someupdates? Here are three quick
things to check. First, audityour homepage, look specifically
at your hero section, that's thevery top of the page, and ask
yourself, is it clear who thisis for and how I help, or am I
(09:29):
being too clever with my words?
See, when somebody lands on yourpage, they need to get it right
away. They shouldn't have to digaround, scroll to the bottom,
click through multiple pages tofigure out what you do and what
you offer them.
One really big red flag, andI've already mentioned this a
couple of times, if your herosection could literally apply to
any digital product creator inyour space, then you're being
(09:51):
way too generic. So get clearabout exactly who you serve or
what problem you solve. Like ifyour teacher website says, Save
time lesson planning and loveteaching again, yeah, it tells
them how you help. Butliterally, every teacher seller
could use that exact same lineno matter what subjects they
(10:12):
create resources for, no matterwhat grade levels they are in
their target audience, anyonecould use that. So get specific
and make your site unique.
Second, make sure that you arefocusing on the copy and the
layout before the design. Sofocus on what you're going to
say before you worry about howyou want it to look. Like I
(10:33):
said, you could have the mostbasic looking website in the
world, but if your words connectwith people and tell them what
to do next, it's going to work.
So write out what you want tosay first, then worry about
making it look pretty.
And then third, let's thinkstrategy. When people get to
your website, what is the onemost important specific action
(10:54):
you want those visitors to take?
Do people know immediately thatthat's what you want them to do?
And how do they know that? Ifthey don't know, then what needs
to change to make this clearerand more obvious?
See, what I notice is that a lotof websites are trying to do
everything at once because theydon't want to miss an
opportunity, but what they'redoing then is leaving people
(11:18):
with tons of options, instead ofguiding them toward the one best
thing that you offer. So pickthat one main thing you want
people to do, and make sure thatpath is crystal clear on your
website. Sure you might havelinks to other things as well,
like your full storefront or arange of services you offer. But
if you have that one main thingthat is the biggest, best thing
(11:41):
that you do, then make the pathto that really clear and obvious
for people.
Now, if you're listening to thisand you're realizing your
website might be more vanityproject than a strategic tool
for your business, then don'tpanic. This is all fixable. In
fact, it doesn't even usuallyrequire a full redesign of your
site. I just personally noticedsome of these problems popping
(12:06):
up on my own website as it'sevolved over time. It's really
easy as our site changes, tokeep adding more and more things
and tweaking things and not lookat the big picture. So when I
noticed this on my own homepage,I went in and I redid some of
the copy, not the entire page,just the sections that needed
it, and redesigned just thoseparts of the page to make sure
(12:28):
that things flow really well andto make sure that it's really
obvious what I want to guidepeople towards.
See I had added more services,and my site had just grown to
the point that the homepageespecially was just offering
people way too many things, toomany options. So like I said,
don't panic. This doesn't meanyou need a whole redesign. It is
(12:48):
actually pretty easily fixablewith the right strategy and some
smaller tweaks.
Now, if you're ready to makeyour website work strategically
and look pretty, but you don'twant to tackle it all by
yourself, and you know you needsome expert support and
guidance, then I would love tohelp you figure out a plan. You
can book a free Website GamePlan call with me, where we'll
(13:10):
create a strategy for how yoursite can actually convert those
visitors into customers, andwe'll talk about how I can help
you make that happen. You canbook your call at
kristendoyle.co/gameplan, orcheck the link in the show
notes. I'll talk to you soon.
Now picture this. You just spent a bunch of money and
(00:03):
time on a website redesign. Thedesign is perfect, the fonts and
the colors are on brand, andhonestly, it looks amazing. But
three months later, your saleshaven't budged, or they might be
worse than before. If thatsounds painfully familiar,
you're definitely not alone. Ihear this story all the time
(00:26):
when I first start working withnew clients.
Today, we are going to bust oneof the biggest myths in online
business, that gorgeous websitesautomatically equal more sales.
I'm going to show you why abeautiful website without the
right strategy behind it isnothing more than an expensive
vanity project. And moreimportantly, what you should
(00:48):
focus on instead to actuallyturn those website visitors into
paying customers.
Are you a digital product orcourse creator selling on
platforms like Teachers PayTeachers, Etsy, or your own
website? Ready to grow yourbusiness, but not into the kind
of constant hustle that leadsstraight to burnout? Then you're
(01:10):
in the right place. Welcome toThe Savvy Seller. I'm Kristen
Doyle, and I'm here to give youno fluff tools and strategies
that move the needle for yourbusiness without burning you out
in the process—things like SEO,no stress marketing, email list
building, automations, and somuch more. Let's get started,
(01:31):
y'all.
So what does this actually looklike in practice? Here's what
clients tell me when they firstreach out to me. They say things
like, I feel like it just looksDIY. They feel embarrassed by
what their site looks like rightnow. They tell me that it looks
(01:52):
outdated and they think a moderndesign or an update is going to
solve their problems. Orsometimes they say it just
doesn't look good, because theyreally can't articulate what's
wrong with their site right now.
They just know something is, andthey assume it's probably the
visuals. It's probably how itlooks.
(02:12):
The underlying assumptionbetween all of these is, if my
website looks more professional,it's going to convert better.
And I totally get why this is sotempting, the logic seems to
make perfect sense. See, thetruth is, professional
appearance does buildcredibility. We see beautiful
websites and we assume that theyare successful businesses
(02:32):
because of how professional andpolished their website looks.
And lots of design agencies andespecially DIY platforms really
reinforce that message, becausethey are constantly telling you
that your site is going to bebeautiful when you work with
them, as if that's the end goal.
But the end goal of your websitereally is to get sales for you,
(02:55):
whether that looks like bookingclients or selling products,
getting those visitors toconvert into buyers is your end
goal. And let's be real, it isreally just fun to play with
design things. For most of us,it is a whole lot easier to
focus on how we want our site tolook than it is to do the
strategic planning to make surethat it works. Maybe we don't
(03:18):
even understand all of thatstrategy that well. See, a
beautiful website without aclear plan, is like having a
gorgeous store, but people can'tfind the cash register. It looks
amazing, but it's ineffective.
A lot of times what I see fromdigital product creators is a
(03:38):
beautifully designed websitewith a catchy hero section that
sounds really clever, but maybeit doesn't clearly explain who
they help or how, and then theyfollow it immediately by
sections full of products andcategories and blog posts
without a whole lot of copy thatactually draws those visitors
in.
(03:58):
Alright, so if pretty doesn'tequal profit, then what does?
Let's talk about what actuallyhelps to convert those website
visitors into buyers. See, whatpeople don't understand about
websites is that the design issupposed to support your
strategy on the site, not be thestrategy. See, when somebody
(04:19):
visits your website, they're notmaking buying decisions based on
whether your fonts are pretty ornot. They're buying based on
your words. You could literallyhave the most gorgeous website
in the world, but if people landthere and they don't understand
what you're offering or why theyshould care, they're not going
to buy. So bottom line, yourstrategy on the website is what
(04:43):
drives the sales, not how prettyeverything looks.
The biggest mistake I see, and Isee it all over the place, is
sites that just don't have anystructure to actually draw
people in and connect with them.
This looks like hero sectionsthat sound really clever, but
they leave visitors confusedabout what you actually do, or
they're so generic that it couldreally apply to anyone. And when
(05:04):
that strategy is missing, whatactually happens is that people
land on your website and theyare just confused. They either
can't figure out if you're theright fit for them, or they're
not sure what they're supposedto do next, and so they leave,
and they probably head to one ofyour competitors. And then
you're sitting there thinkingit's because your website
doesn't look good enough, whenreally it's a messaging and a
(05:27):
strategy problem, not a designproblem.
Even if the design does need tobe updated, the messaging and
the strategy behind it are whatis going to drive those sales. I
recently talked to somebody whohad their whole site redesigned,
and they loved the way itlooked, but they ended up with a
(05:47):
mile long homepage packed withanything and everything, but
with no clear strategy, and theyactually felt like it was worse
than before, because it wasn'tfocused and strategic.
Okay, so we've established thatpretty does not drive profit.
But I'm not saying designdoesn't matter. It absolutely
does. Here's what you shouldfocus on, though, instead. So
(06:10):
when a client comes to me andthey want a prettier website,
the first thing that I ask themis, I'll say, Yeah, let's make
your site gorgeous, absolutely.
But first, what do you need yoursite to do for you? So we figure
out the strategy first, and thenwe design something to support
that strategy. That way you'refocusing on the stuff that
(06:33):
actually moves the needle, notjust the stuff that looks nice.
So what are those things thatactually get people to buy? So
glad you asked. You need copythat actually speaks to your
people. Copy is the words on thepage. Talk directly to the right
(06:53):
people for your offers, theirreal needs and their pain
points, not just genericmarketing fluff that came out of
chat GPT. Your messaging needsto be so clear that when someone
lands on your page, theyimmediately know that they are
in the right place. Clear, notclever. Tell people exactly who
(07:14):
you serve and how you help them.
And for the love of all thethings, keep your call to action
buttons focused and targeted andsprinkle them in the right
places throughout your page.
Don't just rely on peopleclicking on an image or plain
text links. Make those buttonsobvious and clear and put them
in the right places. So manywebsites are missing some pretty
(07:37):
basic stuff, like actuallyexplaining exactly what your
business does and who it's forbefore you start showing off all
your products, using words thatconnect with people, instead of
just listing out the features.
If, when you look at your site,it's a whole list of what and
(07:58):
not a lot of why or how orconnection building, you need to
rethink the words that you'reusing. And then give people a
clear path that tells them whatto do, instead of just leaving
them with a ton of options wherethey have to guess and try to
figure it out.
And for goodness sakes,something, anything that makes
(08:18):
you different from every otherperson who does what you do. So
if your copy could fit anyone inyour niche, then you need to
make it more specific to you.
Don't be afraid to take a stanceon what you believe, why you
believe it, what makes youdifferent. Don't be afraid that
that's going to make you turnother people away, because while
yeah, it might turn some peopleaway, those people wouldn't be
(08:40):
your people anyway.
Now the specifics of how tostructure all that strategically
for your specific business,that's the kind of detailed work
that I do when I work one on onewith a client. But the general
principle is, your words mattermore than your fonts, your
colors, your graphics, yourlogo, any of those things.
(09:05):
So how do you figure out if yourwebsite falls into that vanity
project category and needs someupdates? Here are three quick
things to check. First, audityour homepage, look specifically
at your hero section, that's thevery top of the page, and ask
yourself, is it clear who thisis for and how I help, or am I
(09:29):
being too clever with my words?
See, when somebody lands on yourpage, they need to get it right
away. They shouldn't have to digaround, scroll to the bottom,
click through multiple pages tofigure out what you do and what
you offer them.
One really big red flag, andI've already mentioned this a
couple of times, if your herosection could literally apply to
any digital product creator inyour space, then you're being
(09:51):
way too generic. So get clearabout exactly who you serve or
what problem you solve. Like ifyour teacher website says, Save
time lesson planning and loveteaching again, yeah, it tells
them how you help. Butliterally, every teacher seller
could use that exact same lineno matter what subjects they
(10:12):
create resources for, no matterwhat grade levels they are in
their target audience, anyonecould use that. So get specific
and make your site unique.
Second, make sure that you arefocusing on the copy and the
layout before the design. Sofocus on what you're going to
say before you worry about howyou want it to look. Like I
(10:33):
said, you could have the mostbasic looking website in the
world, but if your words connectwith people and tell them what
to do next, it's going to work.
So write out what you want tosay first, then worry about
making it look pretty.
And then third, let's thinkstrategy. When people get to
your website, what is the onemost important specific action
(10:54):
you want those visitors to take?
Do people know immediately thatthat's what you want them to do?
And how do they know that? Ifthey don't know, then what needs
to change to make this clearerand more obvious?
See, what I notice is that a lotof websites are trying to do
everything at once because theydon't want to miss an
opportunity, but what they'redoing then is leaving people
(11:18):
with tons of options, instead ofguiding them toward the one best
thing that you offer. So pickthat one main thing you want
people to do, and make sure thatpath is crystal clear on your
website. Sure you might havelinks to other things as well,
like your full storefront or arange of services you offer. But
if you have that one main thingthat is the biggest, best thing
(11:41):
that you do, then make the pathto that really clear and obvious
for people.
Now, if you're listening to thisand you're realizing your
website might be more vanityproject than a strategic tool
for your business, then don'tpanic. This is all fixable. In
fact, it doesn't even usuallyrequire a full redesign of your
site. I just personally noticedsome of these problems popping
(12:06):
up on my own website as it'sevolved over time. It's really
easy as our site changes, tokeep adding more and more things
and tweaking things and not lookat the big picture. So when I
noticed this on my own homepage,I went in and I redid some of
the copy, not the entire page,just the sections that needed
it, and redesigned just thoseparts of the page to make sure
(12:28):
that things flow really well andto make sure that it's really
obvious what I want to guidepeople towards.
See I had added more services,and my site had just grown to
the point that the homepageespecially was just offering
people way too many things, toomany options. So like I said,
don't panic. This doesn't meanyou need a whole redesign. It is
(12:48):
actually pretty easily fixablewith the right strategy and some
smaller tweaks.
Now, if you're ready to makeyour website work strategically
and look pretty, but you don'twant to tackle it all by
yourself, and you know you needsome expert support and
guidance, then I would love tohelp you figure out a plan. You
can book a free Website GamePlan call with me, where we'll
(13:10):
create a strategy for how yoursite can actually convert those
visitors into customers, andwe'll talk about how I can help
you make that happen. You canbook your call at
kristendoyle.co/gameplan, orcheck the link in the show
notes. I'll talk to you soon.
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