There are four key ingredients to building a rock-solid website strategy. The reality? Most businesses get some or all of these wrong. By understanding the impact of each and applying them consistently, especially when approaching a redesign or rebuild, you’ll rise above competitors and start winning their business.
Let’s start with the most important component: the words on your page and the story you tell.
Story
Why story matters
Narrative represents one of the most powerful and timeless ways to connect with people. Today, users consume more content than ever. If they can’t understand in seconds what you do and how you solve their problem, they’ll leave.
What you can do to build a better story
- Clearly communicate what you do and how you solve your prospective customer’s problem. Start with this in your homepage banner.
- Move away from “we” and “us” language. Focus on “you” language that centers your audience.
- Highlight your unique value propositions. Show how you make your customers’ lives better.
- Remind users of the challenge they’re facing.
- Express empathy. Let your audience know you understand their pain.
- Offer a solution that speaks to their needs.
- Use testimonials, case studies, and credentials to establish authority.
- Show what the process looks like when they work with you.
- Include a clear call to action on every key page.
- Keep it concise. You don’t need to include every detail. Build curiosity.
- Use FAQs to handle objections and address common sales questions.
Design
Why great design matters
Your website is often the first impression someone has of your organization. With just a few seconds to capture attention, your design and user experience must work alongside your message to provide clarity and confidence.
What you can do to improve design
- Use high-contrast, readable fonts.
- Make your primary call-to-action button clear and visually distinct.
- Avoid distracting or excessive animations.
- Ditch sliders. Only 2% of users view the second slide.
- Let your content breathe. Padding and white space improve readability.
- Keep navigation simple. Fewer options lead to better decisions.
- Break up content with short sentences, headings, and bullet points.
Technology
Why your tech stack matters
The platform you use should grow with you. If it limits your SEO, design, security, or speed, you’ll feel the consequences down the road. Think about your 2- to 5-year roadmap and whether your tools can scale with your goals.
What you can do to choose the right technology
- For SEO and performance flexibility, consider open-source platforms like Craft CMS, ExpressionEngine, or Statamic.
- If you need custom integrations or advanced security, explore headless CMS solutions or static site generators.
- If you’re a smaller org with minimal marketing needs, closed-source platforms like Squarespace or Webflow may be enough.
- Use caution with WordPress. It’s powerful, but poorly built themes and plugins often hurt security and performance. Choose an experienced developer who knows how to build it right.
Code
Why the right code matters
Google and other search engines analyze your code to determine speed, structure, and content clarity. If your code is bloated, slow, or structured poorly, your rankings and user experience will suffer.
This is even more important as generative search engines like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Google’s Search Generative Experience begin to rely on structured content to provide answers directly in AI-driven interfaces.
These platforms don’t just scan for keywords. They parse your site’s semantic structure to determine how helpful and credible your content is.
What you can do to optimize for both traditional and generative SEO
- Choose a platform that gives you full control over your site’s code.
- Avoid bloated page builders or low-quality WordPress themes that add unnecessary code.
- Make sure you can customize your heading hierarchy and structured data (schema markup).
- Keep your CMS and plugins up to date to avoid security risks and poor performance.
- If you want your content to show up in AI search tools, use clear, conversational language, strong internal linking, and semantic structure.
- Learn more about optimizing for AI search in our full article on how AI search tools like ChatGPT are reshaping SEO.
Conclusion
These four components (Story, Design, Technology, and Code) are the foundation of a successful website. They not only impact how your site looks and functions, but how well it performs, how clearly it communicates your value, and how easily people can find it.
When done right, your website becomes more than a digital presence. It becomes a high-performing sales tool that works while you sleep.
