Does your website leave a strong online impression and attract those premium clients you’ve been dreaming of?
To build a website that continues to bring new & premium clients, you need to take a strategic approach.
In today’s episode, we delve into the key elements that can make or break your interior design website. Our special guest, Robyn White of RDW Design Studio, shares her expertise and insights on how to optimize your website to attract premium clients. She emphasizes the importance of consistent branding, and the use of a clear call to action (CTA) to guide visitors towards the primary goal of your website. She also highlights common mistakes to avoid when designing a website.
So, if you are an interior designer looking to optimize your website, don’t miss this treasure trove of invaluable insights and practical tips for creating a strategic and effective website that stands out in the competitive interior design industry.
What are you waiting for? Listen now!
Why you’ve got to check out today’s episode
- Answer the 6 questions you should ask yourself before updating your website
- Assess your existing website for blunders and make the necessary adjustments
- Design your website with the 5 must-have pages to attract premium clients
About the Guest:
Robyn White is the owner and founder of RDW Design Studio, a boutique website design studio located in Cape Cod. She offers a refined website design experience for clients who value quality and want a strategic, sophisticated, and simple website design so they can book more premium clients.
Robin specializes in helping interior designers, architects, builders, and stagers elevate their websites so that it reflects the high-quality work they provide and so their business has the online home it deserves.
Through her impactful and strategic website design, she positions her clients as the premium choice by making the right first impression online. She helps her busy clients go from overwhelmed to overjoyed with their websites by taking care of all the techie stuff without the techie duck through her supportive streamlined and stress-free design process.
Robin designs websites that are not just beautiful, but allow her clients to show up online with confidence and attract their ideal clients.
Connect with Robyn White:
Website: RDW Design Studio
IG: @rdwdesignstudio
Check out these episode highlights
2:45 – The 8 Steps Robyn took to start and grow her website design business despite having no prior experience or background
12:44 – 5 must-have pages your Interior Designer website needs to attract clients
- Homepage – It must be clear and concise and shares what you offer. Your offer should show how you help clients improve their lives or solve their problems and what they need to do to buy it, a.k.a. their next step.
- About Page – It must be unique to you. It should show what sets you apart and what makes you unique and special while sharing a story. Everything you write on your website should be about your ideal client, so position yourself on how you help them.
- Services Page – It must sell the transformation your service provides.
- Portfolio Page – It must highlight your best work. How to highlight your best work when you’re first starting and you don’t have jobs under your belt YET:
a. Use your home as your portfolio and take photos of your designs.
b. Create mood boards, layouts, and renderings, even for make-believe projects, because nobody has to know that initially.
c. If you have a client and a project coming soon, you can do something about that.
d. You can add projects to your portfolio to replace your initially shared designs as you get projects under your belt.
- Contact Page – It must have your contact and location information. Splatter testimonials throughout your website as well.
PRO TIP #1: Professional photography makes a big difference. As with everything in life, business and personal, you’re either going to spend money, or you’re going to spend your time. So ask yourself this: Can you spend money and hire a professional photographer, or can you spend your time and learn how to do it yourself?
PRO TIP #2: Professional photographers come in with equipment, lighting, and cameras you won’t invest in. Even if you did, theirs will always be of higher quality. To some, professional photography may not be an option initially, but it’s something to invest in as time goes on. The same goes for websites. You can invest your money and hire a professional, or you can invest your time and learn how to do it.
PRO TIP #3: If you’re starting and don’t have a budget, a templated website or DIY can be a great way to get something up there initially. Think of a website today as the yellow pages 30, 35 years ago; you HAVE to have one.
PRO TIP #4: If you don’t have a website, your potential clients will question why you don’t. They might think this is your hobby rather than a serious business. So it’s essential to have something out there.
PRO TIP #5: Hire a professional to do a custom interior design website only after you’ve attained clarity. Wait a little bit because, in the beginning, you don’t know what you don’t know. Often so much about your business and your brand can change in the first two years that sometimes it can be smarter to wait, hold off, and invest in a custom design later on.
18:29 – 3 ways clients can work with Robyn
- Custom website design
- Website template customization
- Website strategy boosts
20:50 – 7 common mistakes to avoid when designing a website
1. Making your website all about you and not about your ideal client. This is more of a content mistake than a design mistake.
- Avoid the I’s, where you went to school, and why you love Interior Design.
- Share your background and experiences (personal or work) that make you unique that will resonate with your ideal client.
- Show how you solve problems they’re struggling with.
- Sell the transformation your services provide
2. Being inconsistent with your brand visuals. Clients look for consistency because it helps build trust.
- Use the same color palette across all of your marketing platforms.
- Use the same fonts across all of your marketing platforms
PRO TIP: A logo is not a brand.
3. Unclear CTA (call to action) or no CTA at all. What is the number one action you want visitors to take? There’s no right or wrong answer. Your CTA is unique to your business.
For most Interior Designers, it will be to contact you to schedule that initial discovery call with you.
Have a clear call to action on every page and post of your website, gently guiding visitors to take that action. Why? Because if you don’t politely let them know what you want them to do, they wouldn’t know what to do.
PRO TIP #1: You can’t assume the client will take the next step automatically. They might not even know what it is.
PRO TIP #2: Have CTAs on your social media posts to drive traffic back to your website
4. Not being mobile responsive. The design should shift to fit different screen sizes and should work on desktops, laptops, tablets, and cell phones.
5. Pages load slowly. Nobody will sit there for 10 seconds and wait for your page to load. Ensure quick page load time. Google likes it, so it’s good for SEO.
6. Fonts are illegible.
- Script fonts are lovely, but some of them are hard to read. Use it sparingly.
- Ensure, especially in the body text, that it’s dark enough. Avoid light gray on a white background.
- Make sure it’s big enough as well.
7. Confusing navigation. Navigation means your Main Menu at the top of the page and how your whole page is laid out with buttons linking to other pages
- Make it simple and easy for visitors to find the information they’re looking for
- Avoid having 10 items at the top of the website in your Menu.
- Have a secondary Menu at the bottom of the page in the footer for the less critical, non-moneymaking pages.
- Have a Resources page at the bottom of your website instead since it’s nice to have, not a money-making one.
- Services should be up there.
- Avoid using cute words to name your pages in your menu. If you have a Blog, call it a Blog; don’t call it Thoughts or Journal. Use what’s conventionally known to make it super easy for your clients. Why? Because everyone’s in a rush and they’re going through it quickly to find the information they want or need.
PRO TIP: If you find conventional names boring and want to spice it up a little, i.e., Journal instead of Blog, call it Blog in the Menu, but on the page itself, it’s called Journal. Same with your About page, call it About in the Menu, then Meet the Team on the page. You can still be creative while using conventions in the navigation to save space.
27:58 – 6 questions an interior designer should ask before hiring a website designer
- What platform do they specialize in (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Showit)?
- What is their process? What is the timeline?
- What is the cost? What is included with that?
- Does their design aesthetic match yours? Look at their portfolio. Check out their best work. Check out the kind of work they want to attract more of
- What do their clients say about them? Read testimonials either on their website or on their Google Business Profile. Take note of certain words that appear over and over again. Ask yourself if those are important to you.
PRO TIP: Check if they have worked with your industry before. Some website designers specialize in a specific industry, while some work with anybody. Realize you’ll have a learning curve with them if they need help understanding your industry. It doesn’t mean they can’t do an excellent job for you, but it’s something to consider.
6. What will they need from you?
PRO TIP: You must invest time and money in a strategic website. There needs to be more time than two weeks. It would be best to ask potential website designers thoughtful questions since you’ll spend a few months with them. You should ensure they know what they’re doing. You should also ensure you have a good relationship with them and that you like their personality since you will work closely together. For it to be successful, it needs to be a collaborative effort.
33:50 – How often should your website be updated, and the 6 questions you should ask yourself before every update
PRO TIP: Overhaul your website every five to six years. Avoid trends and use a timeless and classic design instead.
6 questions you should ask yourself before updating your website:
- Has your ideal client changed?
- Have any of your services changed?
- Do you have new projects that should be added to your portfolio?
- Do you have new client testimonials that should be added to your portfolio?
- Do you have new photos of projects?
- Is the photo of you on your website up to date?
35:15 – How to get the Instant Website Upgrade from Robyn
Links Mentioned
Next Steps
Grab your freebie:
QUIZ!! Find Out What Type of Interior Designer You Should Be!
- Your Roadmap to a Career in Interior Design
- 3 Things I Wish I had known when I started my career
Join the Design Mentor to kickstart a successful career in interior design!
Check out the best books every interior designer should have here.
Enroll in Business of Design with Kimberly Seldon or DesignYou with Tobi Fairley today to scale your interior design business!
Email me at [email protected] if you have suggested topics
DM me on Instagram at @rwarddesign if you have a burning question
Leave me a rating and review! Click here.
Thanks for listening! I hope this helps you discover if interior design is the career for you. See you next week…