Why Wanting Just A “Basic Website Design” Is Killing Your Business

About 1 out of every 5 people that reach out to me for a new website tell me that they're…...
Why Wanting Just A "Basic Website Design" Is Killing Your Business
February 4, 2022

There’s a strong chance that I sent you this blog post because you told me that you’re “just wanting a basic website design”.

About 1 out of every 5 people that reach out to me for a new website tell me that they’re just wanting a “basic website design”. Unfortunately, whenever someone reaches out to me for a “basic website design”, 9 times out of 10, I decline to take on the project.

Why? Because a “basic website design” doesn’t get results. Period.

I know that there are plenty of developers out there who will build you a “basic website design” for dirt cheap, or even for free sometimes. I also know that when you get stuck in the perpetual vortex of “basic website design”, you can’t really move forward. You’ve got a static, non-interactive website that is only getting the bare necessities that it needs to exist, without actually helping you grow your business.

But today I’m not here to talk about why a basic website design is terrible for your business. Today, I want to tell you what they are, and more importantly… what they aren’t. Because once you understand this, you’ll be able to make better decisions next time you’re shopping around for a web developer.

Why would someone want just a “basic” website design”?

Why Wanting Just A "Basic Website Design" Is Killing Your BusinessThere are a lot of reasons why someone would just want a “basic website design” and I’m going to list a few reasons why they tell me this.

  1. They might not have a good budget for a professional-grade website
  2. They might be overwhelmed by the design learning curve (like learning how to code)
  3. They’ve never seen the true capabilities that a website can provide
  4. They don’t think there’s much to it, so therefore “just some basic design” will do.

I find it funny when people tell me they want a “basic design”, because generally speaking, they don’t know how much work goes into that “basic” website.

While some developers *are* capable of making some pretty impressive websites for cheap, I can almost guarantee you that the majority of development companies out there do not specialize in conversion optimization, sales funnel design, and business growth.

Design is only the tip of the iceberg

I think it’s important to take a step back and understand what you’re getting when you hire someone for web development these days. For the longest time (decades), websites were generally nothing more than “brochure-ware” meaning that they were primarily designed to provide information about who your company was, what you did, where you were located, etc. There wasn’t much interactivity involved, nor was there much room for customization beyond changing out some text here and images there.

So what’s changed over the years?

Web developers today are increasingly expected to master a wide range of skills, including marketing-related tools like landing page design and building conversion funnels. Aside from the increased emphasis on website functionality that actually works towards increasing conversions, there are also increasingly complex requirements all across the board.

Here are some examples:

It’s pretty clear that with the current expectations of websites these days, it takes more than just “a basic design” to really get things moving forward for any company.

What’s the difference between a “basic website design” and a “conversion-focused website design”?

In most cases, the difference between a “basic” website and a “conversion-focused” website is the client, not the developer. It’s the mindset of a company that wants to focus on results, instead of just aesthetics.

A client that wants REAL results will not reach out for a basic website design, plain and simple.

Basic Website Design Components:

A basic website design usually consists of a homepage, about, shop/services, blog, contact pages. Basic sites tend to have a lot of flaws and have no set expectations for the end-user (i.e., what is this website trying to accomplish? Where is it heading?).

Most basic websites fail to provide value to the visitors and talk mainly about themselves and what they provide. “We are ____ company. We do X, Y, and Z”

Conversion-Focused Website Design Components:

A conversion-focused website design may still have all of the same pages but will also add on a few landing pages where you’ll send traffic from specific ad campaigns with the goal of converting them from visitors into a lead.

Alternatively, conversion-focused websites provide value to the visitors and solve problems by talking about the customer, not about themselves. “You have this problem: ______. You get that problem solved by us.”

Basic vs. non-basic headline example:

Let me give you a real example of how I see basic websites vs conversion-focused websites.

Basic website design headline: “My name is Mario and I’m a website designer. I’ve been designing websites since 2001.”

Conversion-focused design headline: “Tired of spending hours working on your WordPress website just to get no traffic or sales? Get the strategy that turns low traffic websites like yours into gold mines”.

Does the basic website headline make you want to hire me for your website design? Probably not. But for the conversion-focused headline, you can see how I grabbed 1 major problem that the visitor is having and I’m telling them that I’m going to solve that problem. This is much more likely to result in a conversion.

It’s All About The Sales Funnel

Basic Website Design Sales FunnelWhat separates great website designers from the rest of them is not just their ability to create beautiful, perfectly functional websites. But it’s also their expertise in building funnels and increasing conversions. That means they’ll have experience with landing pages that pop out at you as soon as you land on a website and convert into leads with persuasion and value.

For basic websites, the psychological aspect of website conversions is not even considered. All that matters is that the website is live.

For conversion-focused websites, the psychological aspect of website conversions is a major consideration as to where the visitor goes, what they see, and how it makes them feel.

That’s why having a “basic design” doesn’t work for most businesses. Most businesses need to focus on conversions and sales funnels in order to be profitable online. You can market your product or service all day long but if you don’t have a solid sales funnel put in place after marketing efforts are complete, then expect to make no money off of those efforts.

You may not know anything about sales funnels right now, and that’s okay! Just realize that having a basic website design is hurting your business instead of helping it (and at the same time wasting your marketing dollars). Having a conversion-focused design will help your business increase revenue by increasing conversions, which comes from the psychology of the person visiting your website.

So are you still wanting “just a basic website design”?

So, I’ll ask you again… are you looking for a “basic design” or are you looking to exponentially increase conversions off of your marketing efforts? If you want REAL results instead of just aesthetics, then go with a conversion-focused design that will help solve problems for your customers and provide value to them so they can see why they should choose you instead of the other guys.

You don’t have time to waste marketing money on pointless efforts that result in your business earning no revenue. To increase revenue, implement effective sales funnels after marketing campaigns are completed so visitors turn into leads and eventually customers! That’s what it takes to be successful online today.

With that being said, if you’re no longer wanting a basic website design and you’re ready to kick your website into high gear, reach out to me so that we can work one-on-one on your website and sales funnel!

*Please note that some links on this page may be affiliate links. I may receive a small commission when you purchase anything from these links.

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