In today's episode, we are talking about website tech, the tech stacks that we
use, and how we approach that within our work and how it benefits our clients.
And I wanted to touch on tech shaming as well, because if you've been around
for a while, the chances are you are going to have felt tech shamed
at some point by another developer saying that they do it differently
or doing it wrong or whatever else.
Well, this episode has been created especially for you.
Hello and welcome to another episode of Websites Made
Simple with me, Holly Christie.
I am a website designer, I am a website designer's mentor, and I am here to help
you have a really happy website career.
So let's get started I have so many stories about tech shaming, particularly
because I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn And there are people of all calibers
there who are people who have been designing and developing, like, like
since they were really tiny, and people who are doing it for a second or third
career, people who use page builders, people who are coding from scratch,
and absolutely everybody in between.
And everyone has a different opinion.
I have been told in LinkedIn posts that my opinions are irrelevant by people who
have much smaller communities than me, do much smaller projects than me, and,
um, I often have thought that it's not necessarily that, uh, my opinions or my
processes or my thoughts are irrelevant.
And as this podcast is recorded, um, we've had nearly three hundred and eighty
thousand downloads of it, so it kinda tells me that, yeah, maybe I've got some
stuff that we're gonna talk through.
And I have my Sparks mentoring group, and if you're new to the podcast and
you haven't heard of Sparks, it is a mentoring weekly session for website
designers, developers, SEO specialists.
We even let some copywriters in sometimes.
And it's a weekly space where we can jump on Zoom, you get some
mentoring from me, we have master classes, and we talk through anything
that's come up that week as well.
And the real focus of Sparks is... and really the real focus of my work, is that
it's about collaboration, not competition.
There are enough seats at the table, but the way to get your seat is to
work to best practices, and that's what I am here to help you to do.
And the very first thing that I wanted to talk through is when we
are delivering websites, it's not about the tech that we've used.
It's not about whether it's Wix or whether it's WordPress or
Squarespace or React or it...
whatever else.
It's not about that.
It's about what we are delivering to the clients.
Are we delivering what we promised?
Are we delivering a website that converts, that brings in leads, that
makes sales, that gets found by Google?
And usually as web designers, we offer all of these things as
standard, but at the same time, we can only work with what we've got.
So if we get something and the copy's absolute crap,
then it's not gonna convert.
But it's, it... We have to find the way that we can deliver on what
we've promised, and that is having all the setup right, having the SEO
right, and all that sort of thing.
And whether we are doing that on Squarespace, whether we're doing it on
WordPress, whether we're doing it on any of the other platforms, doesn't matter
because we are just using different tools to achieve the same end result.
And one of the really big end results and one of the really big factors that
I like to have in with my websites is, is it easy for the client to use?
Because Most clients are a little bit afraid of website tech.
Their website isn't something they're on every day.
It's not tech that they're used to using every day.
And what they need is something that's very easy for them.
And it might be that they want to add a blog post, or it could be that they
want to, uh, change some text, or add an image, or, you know, they wanna
put up a new page, or whatever it is.
Are they able to do this?
Now, some people will use page builders, and they'll teach
them how to use page builders.
That's my method of doing things because I work, um, I particularly work with
lots of coaches actually, and coaches are so often creating new offers and
one-off workshops and things like that, that they need quite a lot of access
to their website, and a page builder is often a really good way to do that.
And I know other people who say, "No, I want to lock down the design. I
want to lock down the frame. I'm just going to use advanced custom fields
and, uh, pet it out so that the client can do what they need to do without
breaking anything else on the site." And then you've got those assholes.
You're gonna cut that, aren't you, Neil?
I will say something else.
Well done.
And then you get ... Sorry to throw myself up.
They are assholes.
People who do this are absolute assholes, and I know right now you
don't know what I'm talking about.
And then you get people, developers who hard code a website all into
the database and no one's really able to do anything with it.
And I sometimes feel that the developers do that so that the client needs to
come back to them if they are having, um, something they want to update
on the website or whatever else.
And whilst I'm, yeah, I'm not into tech shaming, I'm not into saying that you
shouldn't do this or you shouldn't do that, that, that there is a thing that
if a client has paid for a website, that website belongs to them and they
should be able to access it and they should be able to access it easily.
And I would generally say try and find a method of working, so not necessarily
with tech, because you know, lots of people who hard code websites are using
WordPress to do that, but try and find a method that is a good middle ground so
that your clients can, you know, A, walk away really happy because happy clients
come back to you for more work as well.
So it is really important that we give them that good experience as well
And we've all heard the case of the disappearing developer where a client
says, "Oh, I've had my website built, but I just can't get ahold of the
developer to make changes or to, you know, they ghost me or they take a long
time." And, ugh, trust me, I get it.
As a designer, as someone who's creative, as someone who spends hours
and hours and hours building websites, and then by the time you sign it off,
you kind of think, "Oh, I never want to see that website again." And then
the client's like, "Hi, me again.
Can we just do this?
Can we just do that?" It's one of the reasons that my follow-up process is
so robust because I want the client to feel really empowered with their website
because when they feel empowered with their website, they don't come back
to me to make changes to the site.
So it's win-win.
And have a think about, or have a really good look at how you
currently sign off your website.
And that means looking at internal processes like
checklists and things like that.
And I do have an episode on how to sign off a website really well so
you don't miss any of the steps.
It also has a checklist, um, download to go with it as well.
So that might be something that you'd be interested in here as well.
But also, how are we handing it over to the client?
Are we handing it over with an admin login?
Are we doing a recorded Zoom session, for example, teaching
them how to use the site?
Do we have a user manual, which is what I use?
You know, we don't want to just hand over a site, say, "Here's
your admin login," and run because, uh, it never goes well as well.
And so when we're doing that, we really want to make sure that whether it's the
client or whether it's another designer or whether it's a VA they've got working on
the website, 'cause that happens more and more, um, can they log into the website?
Can they manage it?
Can they make changes to it?
Because trust me, locked down websites just end up a really
big headache for everybody.
And so that's really what I wanted to come to you about in this episode
today, is when it comes to the tech we're using, it's not about what
we're using or really even how we're using it, it's about how we make it.
So really when it comes down to the tech, it's not really about what you're
using, it's about how you're using it.
And when we are building websites, we are always building our websites with
two people in mind, the client who has commissioned us for the website build
because this website belongs to them, but also the user and the visitor who's
coming to the website, the other end.
Can they navigate it easily?
All the sorts of things that we know that we need to cover as well.
But one of the reasons that I think, or I feel that people tech
shame is because there's so much imposter syndrome in website design.
So many of us are self-taught, including the really techy developers as well.
And we're not always sure that we're getting it right and we're
in a really competitive industry.
And within that really competitive industry, we're winning some
projects, we're losing other projects.
We're going up against lots of other people for projects at times.
And sometimes you... It might be that you built using Elementor and you've
lost a project to, you know, a techy developer who's hard coding something.
And it doesn't mean that the way that you were doing it is wrong.
It just means that the person decided to use that other person for...
The client used that other person for whatever reason they chose to.
And sometimes it's just a personality thing.
And, you know, I'm lucky I have a waiting list of clients and my clients are there
really from a personality point of view that I often get told by clients that
the website build was more money than they wanted to pay, but they wanted
to work with me and so they were going to pay the money to do that as well.
And if you are feeling like, "Oh yeah, Holly, that's it," that I just feel
that maybe my website's not good enough or, you know, I'm happy with my tech
stack, but I feel exposed when another designer or developer, you know,
talks about it or something like that, then I've got an episode on imposter
syndrome and I think it's called something like When Every, Every Web
Designer Feels Like a Failure At Times.
Go and have a listen to that.
I think it will really help you.
We've all been there and you're not alone and your tech stack's not broken.
You're not doing it wrong.
And if you just keep having those two people first and foremost at heart
when you are building your website, so you are building for your client
because when that website's built in four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks,
you get to go and live your life.
You don't have to worry about it again.
But this is the client's investment.
It's their online representation of them and it's something that they're only
going to want to be doing every few years.
So we want to make it a really good experience for them and when
they're ready to come back for their new site in a few years time, you
want them to choose you again And I tell you, that feels really good.
I've just booked a really big couple website projects with an existing client
who said to me, "In 20 years of working with, with web designers, I've never
gone back to the same person twice until now." And, um, that's not about the
tech stack we used, it's about having the client in mind at all times and the
visitor the other side of the website, because we want those websites to convert,
and really good user experience coupled with very good SEO is what converts.
So that's all from me today.
I would love to hear from you.
I would love to hear about what tech stack you're using,
what you really like about it.
I'm always up for trying more things, learning more things,
discovering new things as well.
In fact, I am currently working in a different website page builder.
I'm using... Well, I'm trialing Beaver Builder, which a couple of my Sparky's,
uh, members, my Spark groups use, and, uh, one set me up with it and said, "You know,
have a go, see how you find it." And, um, let me know how you're doing with your
tech stack as well, and if you feel like you've been tech shamed, how it's made you
feel, or if you're feeling brave enough.
We've all been there when we've tech shamed one and gone, "Oh no, I'm not going
to use that." Tell me about that too.
You can find me at hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk.
You can find me on LinkedIn at Holly C. Christie.
And until next time, no tech shaming