Mistakes, I make them. I know it’s hard to believe but I do. Especially, I have noticed, when it comes to promoting myself. You would think I’d be able to promote myself, it’s my industry after all. However, I’ve made the errors many of my clients have made – wanting to put too much into one small space. Ugh.

Clients are notorious for cluttering up the space. It’s understandable. They want to say as much as they can in the limited amount of space they have to say it. As professionals we were coached to do this, “what is your elevator speech?” That still haunts me, elevator speeches. I still don’t have one.

Anywho, I recognized my blunder as I read an article this morning. The title, something about first impressions of your website and I scrolled down before digging into the first paragraph to two flashing images: a cluttered, dated design and then just one luxurious lifestyle picture of a couch and a view. That reminded me when I was looking for images for my homepage earlier in the week I was looking for a similar image. I’m not selling furniture but a great photo makes all the difference. I love a view and a horizon line. I didn’t find one and went in a completely different direction with a tangent about the services I offer. I also wanted to add as many design elements from my brand as I could. I had cluttered things up. I’ll post my before and after headers in this post.

I haven’t read the article yet as I write this (I’ll link to it here), but I know what it’s going to tell me. Make your first impression with a moment of calm (by not saying too much) and WOW factor (by giving them a glimpse of the service or product you offer in the lifestyle they want), introduce yourself slowly and win them over and you don’t do this by shouting in their face or dumping your fears and insecurities upon them (which is what clutter is all about).

We all need to just take a deep breath. Breath in the knowledge that we have the skills, talent and services that our clients seek. Breath out our fears, thoughts of lacking anything, or scared our clients wont get all the information they need to make the right decision and hire us. They know they need you. Present to them your best self with a responsive, clean, speedy and modern design. Make sure they find you when they need you, with competitive SEO methods. And, guess what…I offer both of those services to help you thrive.