Your website is making an argument about your business. The question is whether it's making the argument you actually want people to believe.
Before I became a brand strategist, I taught writing and rhetoric. And one question I wrote in the margins of student essays constantly was: What are you arguing?
It turns out that question is just as useful when looking at a website.
In this episode of Name Brand, we're talking about what your website communicates beyond the words on the page, why even beautiful websites can send the wrong message, and how to tell whether yours still represents the business you're running today.
Your website is making a case for something
Think about everything someone encounters when they visit your website.
Your headlines, photography, portfolio, testimonials, services, navigation, and even the things you've chosen to leave out are all contributing to their impression of your business.
And whether you've planned it or not, those decisions are making a case for why someone should choose you.
When I taught writing, we broke arguments down into three essential pieces: a claim, evidence to support it, and an audience.
The same thinking applies to your website.
You might want visitors to believe you're an established creative professional known for thoughtful, high-touch work. But does the evidence on your website actually support that?
Or is your homepage making one promise while the rest of the website tells a different story?
When your website represents a business you've outgrown
Here's something that happens all the time.
Your business evolves. You refine your services, raise your prices, develop stronger opinions, attract different clients, and get clearer about the work you actually want to do.
Meanwhile, your website stays largely the same.
You add a new testimonial here, another portfolio project there, maybe an additional service page. Eventually, your website becomes a collection of everything you've ever done rather than a clear representation of what you want to be known for now.
And sometimes the hardest things to remove aren't the outdated or poorly executed pieces.
They're the genuinely good projects, testimonials, and services that no longer support the direction you're taking your business.
You can be proud of work without continuing to market it.
What we're talking about in this episode
We're looking at how to evaluate your website through the same lens you'd use to evaluate an argument, including:
The claim your website is making: What visitors are actually being asked to believe about your business, whether you intended it or not.
The evidence supporting that claim: How your portfolio, testimonials, services, and overall website experience reinforce or contradict your positioning.
The business you've outgrown: Why keeping every past accomplishment on your website can make it harder for people to understand what you do today.
The audience you're speaking to: How over-explaining certain things can unintentionally attract or signal the wrong kind of client.
The disconnect between your marketing channels: What happens when your website, social media, and other brand touchpoints communicate different versions of your business.
I also walk you through a simple, three-question website check you can use to see what your homepage is communicating before you start changing anything.
Listen to Episode 2 of Name Brand
If your business has changed significantly since you last updated your website, this episode is a good place to start.
Because sometimes the problem isn't that your website needs a redesign.
It's that you haven't decided what this version of your business needs to communicate.
And if you discover that the bigger question is what your business should be known for in the first place, that's the kind of work we can explore together through Sunday Strategy.
One question to keep in mind as you listen: If you opened your website alongside five of your competitors and removed everyone's logos, would you still recognize yours?
