Talking to clients and business owners, I’ve noticed some people spend a lot of time worrying about the wrong details at the wrong time.
If any of these are at the expense of your products or services getting out into the world and making sales, then they shouldn’t be the priority.
I’ve done all these for clients, and it breaks my heart to see all the time, effort, and expense put into something when it doesn’t work!
Here are some questions people ask me that don’t matter as much as you might think.
? “I want to move my website to WordPress, SquareSpace, Shopify or Wix. Can you help?”
People often ask me about different website platforms because they saw another website they liked the look of.
Every website builder and platform has their own pros and cons.
Some do certain functions better than others so it’s a good idea to choose the right one based on what you want to achieve…
…but they’re all quite capable and if done right, all will look and work great.
They look cool because the content they’ve used has been carefully planned and designed that way.
No matter what platform you use, it will mostly come down to the content you put into it, your branding and message, and what you plan to do with it.
The platform used will have little to no impact on whether your customers engage with you if you have goals and a plan.
? “Can you add [x, y, z] feature to my website?”
I have clients ask me to add features like online shopping, credit card payments, booking calendars, membership areas, learning management systems, and more.
I have clients ask me to add features like:
- online shopping
- credit card payments
- booking calendars
- membership areas
- learning management systems
- and more…
There is a lot going on behind the scenes with all of these and it’s never as quick and easy as flicking on a switch.
Adding any of these without a proper plan will end up taking longer than you think and most likely being a waste of time.
There are tonnes of ready to go systems out there that you can use to test if an idea is worth pursuing before investing time and money into building your own version of them.
? “Can you just make these small changes?”
This is a BIG one that can make projects drag on for months!
- obsessing over irrelevant details
- moving things around for no reason
- changing colours then changing them back
- making everything looking absolute perfect on 100 screen sizes
Yes things often need to be tweaked to get them right, but they can be irrelevant and throw a project right off track when they interfere with the flow or original plans.
It could be a form of procrastination or trying to feel productive.
Or it could be simply not knowing what to focus on and when, and being bombarded with choices.
Some of the points above might sound counterintuitive, especially coming from someone who spends a good chunk of time designing and building websites and everything that goes with them.
At the end of the day I want my clients to get the best results possible, so I’m always honest about what I think is worth spending time on.