Designing a High-Impact Website for Your Creative Business
In today's digital age, your website is your storefront, business card, and first impression all rolled into one. As a creative entrepreneur and online educator, I quickly realized that a cluttered or outdated website could no longer represent the brand, voice, and products I had worked so hard to build. The importance of a high-impact website cannot be overstated – it's the cornerstone of your online presence, the platform where you showcase your artistry and expertise, and the tool that drives your business forward. Here’s how I transformed my digital space to reflect the true essence of my business and how you can do the same.
Identifying the Problem
Back in 2015, I had two separate websites designed on Squarespace. One was for jewelry retail and classes, CoveCoast.com, and the other was for immigration and education consulting, LizMcDonaldConsulting.com. While the templates were trendy at the time, they eventually became outdated. I tried to make edits myself, but without a background in graphic design, my efforts fell short. The sites were disjointed and didn’t convey the professionalism and creativity I wanted to showcase and, most importantly, where I am going with my business.
Analyzing Needs and Solutions
One solution was to analyze what I needed in a website. With the guidance of my Marketing consultant and after extensive research and discussions, we decided it was time for a major overhaul. We needed a template and wireframe for my pages that supported online courses, memberships, a blog, a gallery, landing pages, and email marketing. Integrating my Squarespace website with the Thinkific platform was essential to streamline my online courses.
Understanding the needs for my course and product sales cycle differed from where it stopped. I also required a home for my gallery and blog. Another significant component was the power of affiliate sales and the promotion of products I loved and wanted to share with my network. However, wanting my network to hear my story as a creative entrepreneur and understand my process was crucial to what I wanted to share and my vision for others coming to my website as they launched their creative businesses.
Letting go of the old sites was tough. I worried about losing the images of my jewelry, but we archived the old site and built the new one from the ground up. I retained CoveCoast.com but rebranded it as Cove Coast Studio to amalgamate my businesses under one cohesive identity.
Implementing the Plan
Laying out a Plan - A detailed plan and creating a wireframe that aligns with your business plan is crucial for building a high-impact website. Your website should have dedicated pages reflecting your revenue model, whether coaching, courses, products, or services. Each page should serve a specific purpose and contribute to your business goals. For instance, if you offer coaching, include a page with testimonials, session details, and a booking system. For courses, integrate an e-learning platform like Thinkific to streamline enrollment and delivery. Product pages should feature high-quality images, detailed descriptions, and a seamless shopping experience. Ensuring your website structure mirrors your business strategy creates a cohesive and effective online presence supporting your growth and success.
Tools and Resources - Handing the project to a Marketing Consultant was the key to my success. We planned how we wanted my ideal creative artist as a student and how they would interact with the site to prioritize user experience. Modern templates offered numerous page-type options, allowing us to expand and grow the business seamlessly. Integrating with Thinkific, using plugins for affiliate sales, and setting up a blogging platform were key steps in bringing the vision to life. Most importantly, this allowed me to share my online store of hand-selected products, my process for doing my art through my blog and gallery, and my courses and tools for creatives to learn from.
Gathering Assets - As my last blog about Brand mentioned, building a new website requires many new assets: copy, images, videos, typefaces, colours, headings, store products, and course landing pages. We had to determine which pages were necessary at launch and which could be added later. This meant aligning our website development with our business plan to ensure a smooth and professional launch.
Matching Your Brand - Using tools such as https://Coolors.co website, where you can test your colour palette on your website or upload your font to try before launching a full rebrand, was incredibly helpful. Realtimecolors.com allows you to see what your colour pallet and typefaces would look like on a sample website. These tools ensured our choices were visually appealing and aligned with our brand's essence.
Tools and Resources
Squarespace Website Templates: Squarespace offers many plug-and-play templates ideal for creative entrepreneurs. These templates are highly customizable and have numerous plugins for courses, blogs, online stores, and membership management. This flexibility allows you to build a website that looks professional and seamlessly supports various business functions. For more information, visit Squarespace Templates.
Namechk.com or Whois.com are great sites to see if your proposed domain name is available. These are excellent tools for researching and testing your business name ideas. Their domain search options help you find available domain names that reflect your brand and business focus, which is crucial for ensuring your business name is unique and memorable.
Rebranding to Cove Coast Studio: I deliberately rebranded Cove Coast Studio to focus on my studio and education platform for creative entrepreneurs. I kept the domain as CoveCoast.com; it is concise, has only two words, and is easy to remember. This new identity better encompasses the variety of my offerings, from jewelry retail to online education, under one cohesive brand.
Ah-Ha Moment
When your website reflects your product and your personal brand, getting the message right takes time. It's a continuous refinement process, but it needs to start with authenticity and a good story. Focusing on the ROI (Return On Investment) is crucial for my business, and I need to reframe my mindset. My website should grow with my business as I begin growing in a new direction and always reflect the best of what I have to offer.
High-Impact Redesign of CoveCoast.com
This transformation has been emotional but rewarding. Now, my website represents the image I envisioned but couldn’t create alone. It combines elements of marketing, web design, and user experience, and it took a dedicated team to bring it to life.
I aim to create an online studio of inspiration, education, and community for like-minded creatives. This is my passion, and my website brings this vision to life.
If you’re considering a website redesign, start by analyzing your needs, gathering the right tools and resources, and don’t be afraid to seek professional help. A website that looks great and supports your business goals is worth the effort.
Share your insights!
Visit CoveCoast.com to see the transformation and explore our blog, online store, and course offerings. Share your thoughts in the comments, and let us know how you’ve tackled your website challenges. If you’re ready to elevate your online presence and start planning your website redesign today, take a look at my course, Self-Employment for Creatives, where we walk you through the planning steps to get you there.