Your website is the digital front door to your design business. Whether you’re showcasing a portfolio, selling a home decor collection, or sharing design expertise, your site isn’t just a pretty display – it’s a working tool that requires the right setup and regular care to stay functional, beautiful, and profitable.
Before we talk about upkeep, let’s start at the very beginning: what your website actually needs to exist in the first place.
Website Essentials to Get Started
Step One: Secure Your Domain Name
Your domain name is your web address – what people type into their browser to find you (like yourbrand.com).
- Keep it short, memorable, and easy to spell.
- Avoid hyphens or complex words that are easy to mistype.
- Check availability on sites like Domain.com or GoDaddy.com.
Pro Tip: If your business name isn’t available, consider adding a keyword (“interiors,” “studio,” or “design”) so it’s still brand-appropriate.
Step Two: Choose Reliable Hosting
Hosting is the service that stores your website files and makes them accessible online. Think of it as renting space on the internet.
- Shared hosting is budget-friendly but slower and less secure.
- Managed hosting (great for WordPress users) offers speed, backups, and security updates.
- E-commerce hosting (like Shopify or Squarespace Commerce) is tailored for selling products.
Look for hosting with good uptime (99.9% or higher) and responsive support – especially important if your site is a key sales tool. Our recommended hosting companies:
- SiteGround – Excellent speed, top-rated customer service, and strong security. Great for WordPress users who want managed updates.
- Kinsta – High-performance cloud hosting for WordPress with expert-level support – ideal if you expect high traffic or global visitors.
- Flywheel – Managed WordPress hosting with beautiful, designer-friendly dashboards and built-in collaboration tools.
If you decide to build your website with us, we offer great hosting & maintenance packages. If that’s what you need, you can skip this step!
Step Three: Pick the Right Platform (and Weigh Lock-In)
When building your site, you’ll need to choose a platform – also called a Content Management System (CMS) – to create and manage your content. The right choice depends on your goals, technical comfort level, and long-term flexibility.
Main paths:
- WordPress – Open-source, highly customizable, with thousands of plugins and themes. You own your content and can take it to any hosting provider. Most web designers and developers work with WordPress, so you can get support quickly.
- Wix & Squarespace – Popular all-in-one website builders that are easy to set up and manage without technical skills. They include hosting, templates, and built-in tools. However, they are closed ecosystems, meaning you’re tied to their platform. If you ever want to switch, you’ll need to rebuild your site elsewhere.
- Proprietary Website Builders from Agencies – Custom systems created and controlled by a single agency. They may look polished but come with bigger downsides: limited flexibility, higher costs, and complete dependence on that provider unless you rebuild from scratch.
For most businesses, WordPress is the best choice. It’s widely supported, flexible, and you retain control of your site.
NOTE: Many agencies offer you their own CMS solutions, often at a very low price. Here’s why they’re generally not recommended:
- You’re locked in – If you leave them, you most often have to rebuild from scratch.
- Limited flexibility – Custom CMS platforms often lack the vast plugin libraries and integrations that WordPress or major builders have.
- Higher long-term costs – Agencies may charge for every minor update because you can’t do it yourself easily.
- Slow to make updates – Agencies do take their time to make even the simples updates…
Step Four: Choose Your Words With Intention
Your website copy is the most important part of your website, as it tells visitors who you are, what you do, and why they should work with you. Beautiful design will draw people in, but clear, compelling words will move them to take action.
- Write for your audience, not yourself – Speak directly to your ideal client’s needs, desires, and challenges.
- Be clear over clever – Creative taglines are fun, but clarity wins when someone is scanning your site for answers.
- Highlight your value – Show what makes you different from the dozens of other designers they could hire.
- Use headings and short paragraphs – Make your text easy to scan, so visitors can find the key points quickly.
- Include calls-to-action (CTAs) – Every page should guide the visitor to a next step: book a consultation, view the portfolio, request a quote, or shop a collection.
- Include important information such as location, service area, opening hours.
- Optimize text for search engines so more people can find you.
Good copy doesn’t just “fill space.” It creates connection, builds trust, and helps turn a curious browser into a committed client. And no, your pictures don’t “do the talking”… humans need words to understand what you do, what’s in it for them, and how they can go about to get started with you!
Step Five: Adaptable Design That Works
Your design should reflect your brand but also serve your visitors.
- Keep layouts clean with plenty of white space.
- Make sure your website is adaptable – it needs to look great on ALL devices: laptops, big screens, mobiles, iPads…
- Make your calls-to-action (book now, shop now, get in touch) visible without scrolling.
- Prioritize readability by avoiding overly small fonts or low-contrast text.
- Avoid popups that can’t be closed (check this particularly on smaller screens).
- Make is easy to navigate – always guide your potential clients on the right track!
Remember: a beautiful site that’s hard to use will cost you business.
Ongoing Website Care — Keeping Your Site Fresh, Secure, and Working for You
Once your site is live, it’s tempting to move on and never look back. But just like a beautifully designed space needs cleaning, repairs, and updates, your website needs regular attention to stay fast, secure, and relevant.
Here’s what to keep on your monthly and quarterly checklist.
Keep Content Current
Your website should reflect where your business is today – not last year. Even better: your website should reflect where you are going as a brand!
- Add new projects or collections as soon as they’re ready.
- Update service descriptions, pricing, and contact details.
- Refresh testimonials and press mentions to keep credibility high.
- Keep your contact details and footer info up to date.
Monitor Site Speed and Performance
Even a great launch doesn’t guarantee long-term speed. Over time, extra plugins, oversized images, or outdated code can slow things down.
- Test your site speed regularly using tools like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights.
- Remove unused features or integrations that weigh the site down.
- Keep image file sizes small without losing quality.
NOTE: Most designers and architecture firms have an abundance of stunning portfolio shots – often in large, high-resolution files from professional photographers. While those files are perfect for print, they can slow down your website if uploaded as-is.
Before you add them to your site:
- Resize for Web – Aim for a maximum width of 2000px for full-screen images and smaller sizes for thumbnails.
- Compress Without Losing Quality – Use tools like TinyPNG or JPEGmini to reduce file size while keeping images crisp.
- Use the Right Format – JPEGs for photos, PNGs for graphics with transparency, and WebP for modern, faster-loading images.
- Rename Files Descriptively – Instead of “IMG_4573.jpg,” use “modern-scandinavian-living-room-stockholm-sweden.jpg” to help with SEO.
- Add Alt Text – Describe the scene briefly to improve accessibility and search rankings.
Optimizing images before upload keeps your site fast, your SEO strong, and your visitors happy – so they’ll actually stick around to admire your work.
Update Software and Plugins
If your site runs on WordPress or any other CMS, the software and plugins will need regular updates.
- Schedule regular checks for updates.
- Back up your site before making changes.
- Remove plugins you no longer use – they can be security risks.
Back Up Your Website
Accidents and hacks happen. A backup means you can restore your site quickly without panic.
- Set up automatic backups (daily or weekly depending on your traffic).
- Store backups in a separate location, not just on your hosting server.
Keep Security Tight
Website security is like locking your showroom at night – it protects your assets.
- Use strong, unique passwords.
- Install security tools (like Wordfence for WordPress).
- Enable two-factor authentication for admin accounts.
- Review your site’s security log occasionally for unusual activity.
Track and Learn from Analytics
Your analytics show how people interact with your site, and where they drop off.
- Check monthly for top-performing and underperforming pages.
- Review conversion rates for contact forms or shop sales.
- Use insights to refine your offers, content, and marketing.
Schedule Deep Checks
In regular interwalls, take a closer look:
- Test all forms and checkout processes.
- Check for broken links and outdated pages.
- Review your SEO performance and update keywords if needed.
Plan for a Redesign Every 2–3 Years
Your website isn’t a “one and done” project, it’s more like a living space that needs refreshing over time. Design trends shift, technology evolves, and your business itself will grow and change. A site that felt fresh two years ago can start to feel dated, both visually and functionally.
Why redesign every 2–3 years?
- Stay visually current – A modern aesthetic signals that your business is active, relevant, and paying attention to detail.
- Improve user experience – As navigation patterns, devices, and screen sizes change, so should your layout and features.
- Adapt to business growth – New services, product lines, or markets might require a different site structure or new content.
- Leverage new technology – Website platforms and integrations improve constantly. A redesign lets you take advantage of faster load times, better SEO tools, and improved security.
When you plan a redesign, it’s not always about tearing everything down… sometimes it’s a refresh of fonts, colors, and layouts while keeping the core structure. In other cases, it’s an opportunity to completely reimagine how you present your work.
Treat your site redesign the same way you’d treat updating a showroom: keep it fresh, relevant, and aligned with your current brand vision so it continues to attract and impress the right clients.
Think of website care as ongoing brand maintenance. The time you spend each month keeps your site looking sharp, performing well, and converting visitors into clients or customers, so it continues to be a true asset to your business.
Need help with your website? That’s what we’re here for!
