“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solutions.”
A prospect came to us a few weeks ago for a website audit.
At first glance, the site looked decent. Clean layout, professional photos, a logo that didn't embarrass. Nothing that would make you wince in visual pain.
But after 20 minutes on a call, we got to the real problem.
***
Yeah … her copy was written for the wrong person.
Benefits that should've been front and center were buried. And what was there didn’t match how she actually talked about her method, her pricing, OR who she was trying to reach.
The design was basically holding up the walls of a house with no foundation.
She'd been wondering for months why people weren’t reaching out, and why the ones who did weren't converting.
A redesign alone would never fix those underlying issues.
***
That’s why, beyond the visuals, here’s what we look for with every site audit:
Headlines
Does it say who this is for — not just what you do?
“Helping mid-career executives build six-figure consulting practices” is a headline. “Inspired business coaching” is a placeholder.Message hierarchy
What's the first message your eye goes to? … What's the second?
If the answer isn't, “the problem we solve” followed by, “why we’re the ones to solve it,” the order is totally wrong.Social proof placement
Credibility signals, quotes and results need to show up before skepticism does … not buried at the bottom of the page.ONE clear next step
Not six ways to work together. Not a newsletter signup … AND a discovery call … AND a free download.
ONE thing. The thing you actually want them to do.
***
For this client, we rewrote and restructured her homepage — then handed it back to her team to implement.
The thing is, she came to us thinking she needed a full redesign. She'd already been mentally pricing it out, prepping herself for the scope and cost of starting over.
One conversation changed the diagnosis completely.
That's what our audit actually does. Not just tell you what's broken, but tell you why.
Make sure you're solving the right problem, first.
***
Your website's fixed. Now what about your team?
What happens when your website finally says all the right things — and your team is what’s slowing you down?
My friend Ryan Batchelor knows a thing or two about that. He’s a 29-year Navy pilot, founder of Crux Leaders, and genuinely one of the sharpest people I know when it comes to building teams that actually execute.
He put together a free 3-step guide to help you align your existing team and turn your long-term strategy into daily action.
I participated in 30 Days of Growth last year and used Chenell’s tactics to grow Monday Mantra from zero to over 1,000 subscribers!
Starting TODAY, and for 30 days straight, she’s sending out one tactical way to grow or optimize your newsletter. Short, actionable, and proven to work (with the creator creds to back it up!)
Some tips will help you get more subscribers. Others will help you get more from the subscribers you already have.
Either way, you’ll walk away with a stronger, smarter email growth strategy.
Victory Points
By: Mike Shary
My board-game-loving, copywriter extraordinaire and mentor, Dad ❤️
Fountains : A stunning tile-laying game for 1–5 players
Fountains is a tile-laying game for one to five players where you’re building a grand fountain and adding features. This game looks awesome on the table and delivers a feeling of satisfaction win, lose or draw.
On your turn, you move one marker around a rondel, take the tile where it lands, and add it to your fountain. Some pieces widen your design. Others let you build on top of what’s already there. That matters because the higher decorative items sit in your fountain, the more they score. So building upward isn’t just for looks. It’s how you turn the same pieces into better points.
Progress in Fountains doesn’t come from having more pieces. It comes from using the same materials in a smarter way. Anyone can keep spreading outward. The better play is seeing when it’s time to layer over what you already built so those features become more valuable than they were on the ground floor.
Branding works the same way. Most businesses don’t stall because they lack content, offers, or ideas. They stall because they keep adding the wrong things. A strong brand strategist helps you work with what you already have, then elevate it so your message carries more weight, lands more clearly, and creates more value without starting from scratch.
If you enjoy attractive puzzle games with chunky pieces and the satisfying feeling of turning a simple structure into something more valuable with each layer, Fountains is a fun, enjoyable way to make smart changes feel very rewarding.
Make it a great week! 🙌
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