What Building My Own Website Taught Me About My Clients

There is something different about building a website when you’re the client.

I’ve built websites for other people for years.

I know what it’s like to sit down with a client, talk through what they need, figure out what isn’t working with their current website, and start turning all of that information into something usable.

But building my own website has given me a completely different perspective. Suddenly, I was the one making every decision. And it made me realize something:

I understand my clients a little better now.

It’s harder when it’s yours

When you’re building a website for someone else, there is usually some distance between you and the project.

You can look at a layout and think about whether it works. You can make recommendations. You can explain why something might be better a certain way. You can move on to the next decision. When it’s your own website, every decision feels a little more personal.

What do I want people to know about me?

What work should I show?

What should I leave out?

How do I describe what I do without sounding like everyone else?

What actually represents me?

And suddenly, something as simple as writing a paragraph can become surprisingly difficult.

Because it’s not just a paragraph anymore.

It’s you.

I realized how easy it is to get overwhelmed; I live there more days than I should.

One of the things I’ve learned from working with clients is that they don’t necessarily know all of the technical pieces that go into a website.

And that’s completely reasonable. That’s not their job. But when you’re building your own website, even when you know the technical side, there can still be a lot to think about.

Content.

Structure.

Design.

Images.

Navigation.

Mobile layouts.

Forms.

Accessibility.

SEO.

Hosting.

Updates.

And then there are all of the tiny decisions that nobody sees.

It can become a lot.

That made me think about what it must feel like for a business owner who doesn’t work with websites every day.

They aren’t just handing you a list of pages.

They’re trying to explain their business.

They’re trying to figure out what they want their website to say.

They’re trying to make decisions about something they may not fully understand.

And they’re trusting someone else to help them make those decisions.

That’s a pretty big responsibility.

Sometimes people don’t know what they need yet

This is probably one of the biggest things building my own site has reminded me of.

Sometimes you don’t know what you want until you see it.

You can talk about a layout.

You can describe an idea.

You can have a general direction in your head.

But once you actually see it on a screen, everything can change.

“I don’t like that.”

“That feels too busy.”

“That doesn’t sound like me.”

“Can we move this?”

“I thought I wanted this, but now that I see it, I don’t.”

Those aren’t necessarily signs that the project is going badly.

They’re part of figuring it out.

And I think that is important for both sides of the client relationship.

A client isn’t always going to have the perfect answer at the beginning.

Sometimes they need to see the possibilities before they know what feels right.

It’s not just about making something look good

This has always been important to me as a designer, but working on my own website made it even clearer.

I can look at a website and appreciate a beautiful design.

But a beautiful website isn’t automatically a good website.

It still has to communicate.

It has to be easy to navigate.

It has to make sense.

It has to help someone find what they’re looking for.

And most importantly, it needs to represent the person or business behind it.

When you’re building your own website, you feel that responsibility differently.

You aren’t just trying to make something that looks good.

You’re trying to make sure someone who lands on the site understands who you are, what you do, and why they should care.

That is exactly what my clients are trying to accomplish.

It made me more patient

I think that’s another lesson I didn’t expect.

When you’re working on your own project, you realize how many decisions can take time.

Sometimes you need to walk away.

Sometimes you need to come back to something later.

Sometimes you need to see it a few different ways before you know which direction makes sense.

That made me think about client feedback differently.

A question that seems simple to me might not feel simple to someone else.

A decision that seems obvious from the design side might have a completely different meaning to the person who owns the business.

Their website isn’t just a website.

It’s their business.

Their reputation.

Their first impression.

Sometimes it’s something they’ve invested a lot of money and emotion into.

That deserves patience.

I’m still figuring out my own website

And honestly, that’s probably the best part of this whole experience.

My website isn’t going to be perfect forever.

It will change.

I’ll learn something new and want to change something.

I’ll look back at an old design and wonder what I was thinking.

I’ll find better ways to explain what I do.

I’ll add new work.

I’ll take other work away.

And that’s okay.

Because businesses change.

People change.

Skills change.

Websites change.

A website should be able to grow with the person or business it represents.

Building my own site reminded me of that in a way that working on someone else’s site never could.

Sometimes being the client is the lesson

I think every designer should experience being on the other side of the process at least once.

Not because it makes you a better designer automatically.

But because it reminds you what the process feels like.

It reminds you how many decisions there are.

How difficult it can be to explain what’s in your head.

How easy it is to second-guess yourself.

How important it is to have someone who can take all of those ideas, questions, and sometimes complete confusion and help turn them into something real.

That’s what I want to remember when I’m working with my clients.

I’m not just building them a website.

I’m helping them take something that exists in their head and turn it into something other people can see, understand, and use.

And now that I’ve been the client too, I think I understand that responsibility a little differently.

Sometimes the best way to understand your clients… is to become one yourself.