Creating a website is your chance to put your business out there, attract customers, and showcase what makes you special. But the process can lead to some unexpected challenges, the three most common of which I’m going to cover below:

1. Getting Everyone to Agree on the Website’s Direction

One of the first hurdles in creating a website is making sure that everyone is on the same page. Your site needs to serve the needs of your business and your users. You need a unified vision for how the site should look, feel, and function. That might sound straightforward, but it can involve a lot of discussion, especially if there are many voices involved in the decision-making process.

Why is this hard?
You need to balance the needs of your target audience with the goals of your business. It’s not just about making a website that looks good (though that’s also important)! You also need to consider what you want visitors to do once they’re on the site, like making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting your team. What would you ideally like your users to do on your site, and what experience do they need to have to make that action more likely? Getting stakeholders to align on these priorities can take time, as everyone may have slightly different ideas about what’s most important.

How to overcome this:
Start by identifying your primary goal. Is it to generate leads? Drive sales? Build brand awareness? Once that’s clear, make sure every decision ties back to this main objective. In my website planning process we use ‘priority guides’ to think about the site structure and content conceptually, before the wire framing process.

Who are your target audience: what do they need, and what will help them the most? Keeping these two factors front and centre can help guide your discussions and keep everyone aligned on the big picture.

2. Answering Big Questions About Your Organisation

Creating a website often forces you to confront some big questions about your business. These are questions like, “What makes our offering unique?” or “What’s our mission and purpose?” These seem simple on the surface, but they can require some deep thinking and soul-searching.

Why is this hard?
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of your business. Creating a website means you need to distill your business into clear, concise messages, and that means looking at your offering objectively, from an outsiders perspective. It can be tough—especially if you haven’t thought about these questions in a while.

How to overcome this:
Take a step back and spend some time reflecting on your business’s mission, values, and what makes it stand out from the competition. It’s important to discuss this with the whole team, and even outside consultants. I have a list of questions that I use to ignite this discussion and help get this thinking down on paper. The website process is often like holding up a lens to your organisation and it’s often a more difficult exercise than people expect it to be! It’s time consuming, but it’s essential to ensure your website communicates the right message. Once you’ve nailed down these key insights, it’ll be much easier to create the compelling content for your site.

3. Gathering Content and Assets

Finally, one of the most time-consuming parts of building a website is gathering all the content and assets you need. From photos and videos to product descriptions and case studies, there’s a lot to pull together—and it almost always takes longer than expected.

Why is this hard?
For many clients, the sheer volume of content that’s needed comes as a surprise. It’s not just about writing a few pages of text—you’ll need high-quality images, logos, customer testimonials, product descriptions, and much more. The process of deciding your offering and business vision, often means re-creating assets that fit this new position.

How to overcome this:
Start planning your content early. Make a checklist of everything you’ll need, and break it down into manageable chunks. If possible, assign different pieces to different team members, so no one feels overwhelmed. Outsourcing certain tasks, like photography and copywriting, is a really good idea if you don’t have the resources in-house. You need to treat your own website like you would a client project, and try to not leave it to the bottom of the to-do list. By having a clear content plan, you can keep your website project moving forward knowing exactly what needs to be created for launch.

If you’re planning a new website, get in touch and see if I can help you with it!