5 Reasons Why Your Website Isn’t Done Yet

Overwhelmed by building your website?

Somewhere along the way, you may have lost interest or given up on your website. You are not alone.

If building your own website feels like running uphill in mud, don’t give up. Keep your energy going and launch your website, even if you are a beginner, by recognizing 5 reasons why your website isn’t “done” yet. 

I’ve seen plenty of small biz owners get excited about (finally!) creating a website. They call a developer. They make the first payment to get it started. Or they jump into building their own website.

But then they lose interest midway through the project. They lose direction.

• They are no longer jazzed about writing content or expressing themselves via branding, photos, colors, or a personal story.

• They draw a blank when it comes to describing how their unique product or service can benefit so many people.

• They get frustrated by all the details involved in building a website.. things that nobody told them.

• They get tired of all the Googling to get the next thing to work, and the next.

They become EXHAUSTED.

And then the project is officially dead.

Or things just kind of come up, and the website becomes a low-priority item on a perpetual to do list. The kind that slowly suffocates you.

Sound familiar?

Disclaimer: Sometimes the reason why a big project gets stalled or never gets off the ground  could be due to lack of cash flow and a genuine lack of time, and I get it.  Building a website requires a combination of the big 3 universal resources: Time, Money, and Energy. I’m going to talk about how to get past this challenge… I actually have a great soluton!

And sometimes there are other reasons, or patterns we fall into, that prevent us from creating the things we desire.  Patterns that lead to PROCRASTINATION.

I’m going to explore these patterns in my next few blogs. Believe me, you are not alone. I also explore my own tendencies to fall into these patterns from time to time. Our websites are a reflection of ourselves, and both are works in progress.  There is NO judgment here.

These articles will give you some insight and hopefully encouragement so that you can create the perfect website for  your wellness practice or creative business.

I’m also going to reveal the #1 way to get that website (finally) done, so read on…

 Here are 5 reasons why we procrastinate in getting our websites and marketing strategy “out there.”

1. Overwhelm

Let’s face it, there’s a lot that goes into building a website.  The subscription-based website builders love to sell “easy, quick, cheap, and beautiful” solutions. But much like promoting oneself on a dating site, they aren’t always honest, and perpetuate several myths that I’m going to bust once and for all:

Myth #1: Building a website is HARD. Too hard unless I just build it on Wix, Weebly, or  SquareSpace.

The reality is that it’s just as easy to create a website on WordPress using a builder like DIVI, Thrive, or Elementor. The drag and drop experience is virtually the same as the services that still claim that building a website on other platforms requires an advanced degree. However, they are far more robust and even required for a growing business.

Myth #2: As long as my site “has a good vibe” I can wing it and learn as I go. “If I build it, people will come.”

There is a detailed process that goes into planning, setup, and optimizing a website. Newbies simply aren’t taught what these steps are, so they either skip most of them or go about the process in a random fashion. The result? A “cheap, pretty, but pretty dumb (meaning not very functional) site.

Myth #3:  I’m just a tiny business. I don’t need “all that fancy stuff” like email or funnels. I’ll wait until I need them.

This is like waiting till you get in better shape in order to go to the gym. It’s simply backwards to think this way.

The truth: when a website doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do or the business owner needs to do something specific, the result is more overwhelm, added frustration, or even a sense of despair that keeps them from moving forward. Who likes to realize one day that their website can’t do what they need it to do, and that they may even need to move their site or start all over again?

We as humans tend to avoid overwhelm and frustration and despair, so we invent all kinds of ways to accomplish this (rather than getting a big project, like a website, done) so we get trapped in the second reason:

2. Addiction to busywork and “putting out fires”

This can also alternate with spending time on “safe” and passive things like reading books, taking workshops, fiddling with stuff that doesn’t have an impact on the bottom line, or spending HOURS doing something poorly that could be passed on to an expert that could actually accomplish the task with MUCH better results and yes, for less money.

If time is money to you, and if you have a real business, it IS. Spending hours and hours building a website may or may not be the best use of your time, unless you like geeking out on websites as much as I do.. and if so, I get it!

This is one I’m prone to, and the reason why I created a solution for this common challenge, which I will reveal at the end of this article.

Then, there’s the everyday drama that shows up. I’m not saying that most of it isn’t real, but some of it is just merely.. compelling.

It’s almost honorable in our culture to be “strong” and “handle” what is urgent but not really important. We often neglect what is truly important for long-term growth.

 That’s why a lot of us stay stuck on an endless rollercoaster. 

It’s REALLY important to have a good website today as a wellness professional. But important things aren’t always a priority. We  as humans tend to become addicted to urgent but not important stuff.  This feels good. Like we are doing the “right thing.”  It can be much harder, in our minds, to justify investing in a website or anything else that seems scary, or that we don’t understand, but will actually help us grow. 

Why do we let “emergencies” and drama rule our lives,  or the satisfaction we get from being “busy,” while ignoring what is important, like creating a website?

• It could be that the last few years brought with it a LOT of stress and even trauma. As I write this, many things are still pretty damn uncertain.

• It could be the adrenaline rush. This rush is what keeps a lot of people going.

• It could be a way for some of us to feel as if we are actually important or worthy of acknowledgement.  This is a timeless issue.

• This mindset is simply embedded in our culture.

I would even say that Americans are obsessed with a cycle of busywork followed by interesting ways to assuage stress, ranging from self-care to unconscious habits of numbing and escapism.  This cycle is reactive, and keeps many of us stuck.

It’s really, really  easy to justify endless cycles of  “emergency” and “self care” to the point where we do it unconsciously and excessively. It creates an exhausting roller coaster pattern that’s hard to get off of.

When done in a state of full awareness, those things do have a place, but when marketing and steady growth is ignored, it’s the equivalent of eating all of your seed crop or burning your furniture.

Bottom line: explore the payoff, and whether a state of emergency is REALY where you want to be all the time.  Spend more time on the “important but not urgent” tasks in your business to reduce stress in the LONG run. 

3. A fear of failure AND success

Whoa.. what?

Yes. It’s easy to imagine why it may be scary to go live with a website if you are afraid of “not getting it right” or have a form of “imposter syndrome.”

But just as easily, once you start getting traffic to your website,  you might actually have to answer phone calls, emails, or watch the booking calendar fill and start to panic.

What if you aren’t.. READY? I think you probably know the answer to this one if you have been in business for any length of time.. You can TRY to be 100% ready, but you won’t be.

But you have to go ahead and do what scares the crap out of you anyway. You will probably fail at least a few times along the way. (and this is not a bad thing!)

Yep, fear of failure AND success. I know this sounds insane.. I mean, why would anyone resist having a thriving business? On a subconscious level, many do, because it can be scary. So we create another monster to slay this fear. I call it the “self-sabotage” monster. Obviously, this isn’t a great way to handle fear, but almost every human has done this at some point.

On the surface, this can also manifest as being “stuck” when it comes to creating content for your website. Is it really writer’s block, or is it fear of failure and/or success? (a classic reason for procrastination)

It can also take the form of excuses: “I’ll get started after life settles down, after my out of town guests leave, when the kids go back to school, after Mercury goes direct, when life is perfect,” etc.

..and stories we tell ourselves like “I’m not good at “tech stuff” or “I don’t know enough to put myself out there just yet.”

It’s not up to me to decide if this is a challenge for you. You’ll know. You know this is a problem when an important project that will directly impact your growth has been postponed repeatedly for months or even years.

It’s best to start where you are, and that includes your website. You just have to start. Otherwise NOTHING happens. Or you keep riding that stress roller coaster. Better yet, you can get a HUGE head start with just a little help that will help you avoid overwhelm, fear, and lack of resources. But first, let’s explore another reason why we tend to put our website and marketing plans on perpetual hold:

4. Not feeling “worthy”

I see this a lot in acupuncture circles, but in other businesses as well.

The “When I finally get this certification or degree, THEN I can charge a decent fee for my services“  syndrome.

This mentality hurts not only us, but our industries as a whole. The truth is, you are an expert, and you have something unique and desirable to offer.

Let’s take acupuncture again as an example. Provided you already worked hard on getting through school and passing board exams.. (which makes you an expert!) doesn’t it make more sense to focus on being visible first?

This way you can get more patients and experience.. and THEN invest in another workshop, course, or certification. Won’t it be more effective if you have the context of working in practice, on real patients or clients, rather than just theory, to maximize and leverage the education you’re paying for? 

If you keep on pushing aside experience in favor of more “preparation” it’s going to be hard to move forward. 

Guess what the root cause of “workshop addiction” is? Yep, fear of not being good enough.

This also often manifests as being broke ..and a lack of time and energy to invest in important things like a long-term marketing strategy that will bring you more cool things like money, experience, and a good reputation. (and workshops!!)

This is important as we get older and possibly face the prospect of having to work well past retirement age.

5. Fear of loss: “What if I spend 6 or 7k on a website and get NO return on my investment?”

This one is more concrete. There’s 2 ways to look at this: 

1. You are focused not on what you can gain, but what you might lose. An example: I’ve seen many business owners who are so focused on saving $20 (and end up making $0) that they forget that spending $50 and making a profit, whether it’s $5 or $500, is a much better investment. I’ll be talking more about this in the near future, but I want to briefly mention that the “nickel and dime” mindset works both ways.. it can add up, but being super cheap and cutting corners isn’t helpful either.

There’s an old saying that playing to prevent losing, rather than playing to win, isn’t the path to success. I agree that there has to be SOME skin in the game in order to grow and succeed.

2. You don’t want to rush into spending large amounts of money without knowing what you’ll get in return, and how it will impact your business.

I don’t blame you.  My short answer:

First, I don’t think that most small, non-ecommerce businesses need to drop 6 or 7k on a website. Throwing a lot of money at a website doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be better.

However, websites can and should evolve and grow with your business. This means that if you need to start out with a budget of $6.95 per month and put in some time with DIY, then do that. And when it’s time to take it to the next level, do that.

Just make sure that:

1. Whether you are spending $6.95 or $6,995, have a clearly defined purpose for your site. Don’t just do what your colleagues are doing without thinking about how it will function for YOU. (Don’t just buy an “off the rack” site and blend in with your competitors.. good luck with that!)

2. You don’t cut corners and “cheap out” when it comes to your website if you want your business to grow and thrive. Treat it like a real business.

3. You understand that it’s not just about the website itself. It has to be functional, too. You want your message and copy to be crystal clear. You want to capture leads with opt-in forms. You want to connect it to all your social media channels. And more.

As it turns out, I’ve got a solution that works for many DIYer’s, so that they CAN build beautiful website that actually grows with their business. I’m going to talk about that in a moment, but first:

Here’s the #1 way you can get the website of your dreams: 

It’s not “sexy, ” but it’s true, and I’ll repeat it as often as needed:

Have a plan.  A proven plan with a beginning, a middle, an end. Even though your website will evolve over time, you don’t want to just “wing it” either.  I can’t stress this enough.

The difference between having a guide to get you through this process and trying to figure it out on your own could very likely make the difference between finishing your website and wasting time and money with nothing to show for it.

Having a plan for your website will also help you manage and even eliminate the reasons why your website isn’t getting done, and get rid of a HUGE amount of STRESS.

That’s why I created the Tell Your Story DIY kit. You don’t have to decide between leasing a website that you don’t even own.. (and won’t age well or grow with your business..) OR paying thousands of dollars on a developer.

Now, you have more options that don’t require you to sacrifice quality or time. You also have more options when it comes to how much to invest, depending on where you are at in your journey.

The kit includes:

• A DIVI template with a HOME, ABOUT, Products and Services page, and a Blog. It’s based on the StoryBrand framework. This is an actual modular layout, not just a theme. You’ll have an actual website that’s 80% done for you, so that you don’t need to start from scratch, but it’s built in such a way that you can re-arrange, add, and tweak easily, to your heart’s content.

• Complete step-by step instructions on how to set up your website and use the templates. (No coding required, and everything is so flexible and easy to customize and make YOURS) Everything is broken down into bite-sized lessons, including video and slide decks with screenshots you can follow along with.

• Planning: Before diving into creating a website, it’s necessary to nail down your message, what makes you unique, and your ideal client/customer/patient. This is all covered in the planning module.

• A copywriting prompt/cheat sheet based on the StoryBrand framework. No more writer’s block, or wondering what content to put where, and no more generic content that doesn’t set you apart from the crowd.

• Email, SEO, analytics, and pretty much everything you need IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. No more guessing, Googling, or wasting time trying to figure it all out.

• 2 separate modules for those ready to start scaling their business using courses, programs, or memberships

• Support from a private Facebook group to answer questions.

The kit is designed to eliminate the overwhelm, frustration, and fatigue for website DIYers,  make it possible to create the website you’ve always wanted, AND provide what is needed in order to grow, even if you don’t know what it looks like yet. (We’ll fill in those gaps)

It gives YOU control over your own website, with the least amount of effort. I know I say that websites are a lot of work, and they are, but a LOT of unnecessary work can be eliminated, and the entire process can be streamlined.

This is the perfect time to get your website finished.

Need help with your DIY website?

Whether you are a newbie, DIYer, or even seasoned marketer.. sometimes we all need a little help so that we can focus on what really matters and get the results we want with our websites.

The “Tell Your Story” DIY website kit is here, and you can become a founding member.

It’s an easy, effective, and affordable way to create a website that will actually grow with your business.

Learn more about the Tell Your Story DIY kit here.