E198:

Why Website Shame Is Costing You Thousands Every Month

CAROL: Are you a purpose-driven entrepreneur struggling to get web traffic that converts into paying clients? Stop wasting time and money. Discover how to position yourself as the go-to authority in your niche or industry, infuse your wow website with the best UN-marketing strategies, and drive traffic to your website that converts to leads and clients. Listen to the UN-Market Your Business podcast today and watch as your ideal clients find you with ease.

CAROL: Hey, how are you? I hope you’re doing well. I’m back again for the second week. You all better watch out — I launched last week’s episode and I’m coming back with more. It was a little long, I know, but there was a lot of information to get out there, and I wanted to make sure you had it.

We are talking about website shame today. And if you don’t know what website shame is, let me fill you in. What’s your answer when someone asks you for your website URL? Are you cringing before you send it? Or maybe even worse than that — avoiding the question altogether? Changing the subject? Don’t worry, you are not alone.

This is the silent business killer. Nobody is talking about website shame. Today I’m breaking down exactly what it is, why it happens, and what it’s really costing you.

But first — are you ready to become a bestselling author? I’m here to help you. I’ve done it ten times already, and a little bit more than that, because a couple of my clients have had bestselling books where I wasn’t listed as an author. So we’re talking close to 20 bestsellers total.

I have a new book coming out, and I told you about it last week, but I’m going to share a little more this week because we’re getting to the end of April. At the end of April, I’m going to stop taking coauthors — either when I get nine or when I feel the timing is right — because my new book, Perfectly Positioned to Soar, is coming out in August. You could be one of the coauthors.

I’m planning an interest meeting because so many people have been asking questions — how does it work, what about royalties, how much will I get paid? I have all the answers, and I’m doing that in a Zoom meeting next Wednesday. You can get there by going to UnmarketYourBusiness.com. You’ll get all the answers, and hopefully you’ll decide to become an author. But even if you don’t, you’ll still get the information — I don’t produce junk. It’s going to be amazing.

The authors who have already come in are excited beyond belief. You will definitely be in good company. Go to UnmarketYourBusiness.com. Registration is totally free — there is no charge for the interest meeting because you’re trying to get information, and I’m trying to give it to you.

CAROL: All right. It’s Tech Time!

My technology pick for today — I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m saying it again because this is one of my five partners in the Five Partner Masterclass I just did for the UN-Marketing Academy. My partner for the web design piece is Elementor. I’ve used it for several years, and they just keep getting better.

Don’t you love that? When you use a program or system or product and it just keeps getting better — adding useful things, not crazy junk you’d never use. Good stuff. So they are much more than a page builder, although that’s why I first got them, because I needed a way to design visually inside WordPress.

You know how in PowerPoint you can drag and drop something, move it over here, underline it, bold it, drop in a new picture? Elementor does that for your website. And if you know anything about WordPress, you know it can be very hard to manipulate. That’s why they have those boring, basic templates where you’re supposed to just plug your stuff in. Elementor takes that to a whole new level. They’re not just a program — they are a website transformation system. They have easy drag and drop, AI integration, template kits, and whole website kits where you can customize anything you want.

Of course, I use Elementor for all of our website work — our own personal sites, client sites, landing pages, everything — because they are just that versatile and that easy to use. You don’t have to sweat it.

So if you want to use Elementor, you don’t have to wait for me to design your website. Get it for yourself. Go to CSRCorporation.com/elementor and see for yourself. And guess what — you can start absolutely for free. I’m not sure what the current pricing is since I’ve been using it for years and things change, but go check it out. You will not be sorry. It will help you create the website you always knew you needed until you’re ready to bring in a designer who can really ramp things up. But there’s nothing wrong with DIY — go get it.

I will see you inside the studio so we can talk about this website shame thing. See you in a bit.

CAROL: Hey, welcome back. I hope you are ready for this, because I am about to lay some information on you, and you’re going to be so happy I did. There are probably things happening on your website that you don’t even realize. So make sure you have something good to drink — some water or whatever — and a notebook handy to take notes, because this is really going to help you. I promise.

So let’s start with the main question: What is website shame, anyway?

If you’ve ever been in a conversation with a potential client, a referral partner, or a colleague, and they say, “Can I look at your website?” — and your stomach drops a little — that feeling has a name. It’s called website shame. And it is more common than you know.

Website shame is the quiet embarrassment you feel about your online presence when your website doesn’t quite match up to your level of expertise, your professionalism, or the transformation you actually deliver. It’s the gap between who you know you are and what your website shows the world. And sometimes that gap can be really significant.

You’ve probably, since you first got that website done, changed, grown, started offering different services. Or even if you’re offering the same services, you’re doing them better now. Website shame shows up as avoidance, hesitation, and apology. Something like, “Oh, my site is a little outdated — it’s not really looking the way I want it to.” But why would you tell someone who might possibly pay you thousands of dollars that your website isn’t all that?

You might say, why does that even matter? It matters because they want to go check you out. And if they feel like they’re going to see an older version of you from several years ago — do you think they would still hire you? Website shame is not about vanity. It’s not about wanting a prettier website. It’s about the very real, very costly disconnect between your value and your visibility.

What we’re going to do today is close that gap, so you can present a clear picture of who you are, why you do what you do, what kind of results people are going to get — and it’s all going to be right there on your website.

Now you may ask — how does website shame come about anyway?

First, you built your website a long time ago when you were just getting started, and you never went back. You hired someone who made it look nice, but they didn’t really understand strategy. Back in the day, website designers designed pretty websites, and web developers handled the conversion strategy side. But now, a good web designer — especially in light of ChatGPT and all the AI tools available — has to give you strategy. They need to talk about conversion, work through your colors and branding, and make sure that website is you, personified online in your web hub.

Maybe life happened. Clients kept you busy. The website just kind of fell behind. You kept saying, “I’ll fix it, I’ll fix it,” but that day never came. And the internet told you it was easy: just use a website builder, drag and drop. But your business is not drag and drop. Elementor makes it easy to drag and drop the elements, sure — but you’ve got to know what you’re dragging and dropping.

Your expertise is not a template. So the result was a site that feels a little generic, a little disconnected — not really you. You were doing the work that kept you from building the foundation that would let you do more work. Your website became the “I’ll get to it sometime” project, and that went from days to weeks to months to years. And now here you are.

Did you realize that I, as a website professional, can look at a website and tell you immediately if it’s out of date? Just like clothing, just like hair, website designs go out of style. Those big sliders that everybody had for a while — sliding left, sliding right — they don’t use those anymore. And if you have them on your site, you’re signaling to visitors that it’s been a while.

CAROL: So what are the side effects of website shame? Let me walk you through the five big ones.

Number one: you stop driving traffic. You avoid promoting your website. You don’t put it on social media or in your emails, or you put it there because you feel like you have to — because someone 300 miles away can’t just sit down with you in person — but you’re not excited about it. You stop doing anything to actively send people to your site, which means you go invisible. And invisible equals broke, or at minimum, not earning the income you want.

Now, some people will look past your website and say, “I’ve talked to her and she’s great — I’ll just go with that.” But that is not the majority. That is a very small percentage of people who already trust you. Your website is supposed to do the heavy lifting for everyone else, and it’s not.

Number two: you undercharge. A website that looks amateur signals amateur prices. Years and years ago when I first started doing websites, a young woman came to me talking about her services. I noticed she had a free website, and I mean it was visibly a free platform. She was charging $3,000 to $4,000 for her products and services. I asked her — gently — how she could charge that much while operating from a free website. Prospects don’t know what they don’t know — they judge by what they see. When your rates get questioned and you cave, you discount. You resent it. And before you know it, you’ve attracted the worst client you’ve ever had, and it didn’t have to be that way.

Number three: you lose referrals you never knew you had. Someone mentions you to a prospect. That prospect googles you. They land on a site that doesn’t inspire confidence and quietly move on. You never even knew they were there.

Number four: you repel the right clients and attract the wrong ones. Clients who haggle, who don’t trust your expertise, who need excessive hand-holding — they’re more likely to stick around when your site lacks authority. They think subconsciously, “I might be able to get away with something here.” Meanwhile, your ideal clients — the ones who would have happily paid your rates without question — bounce before they ever reach out to you.

And number five: it erodes your confidence. This one might be the most expensive side effect of all. When you don’t believe in your own website, you don’t show up fully. You hesitate before every pitch. You apologize before every link. Website shame becomes self-doubt, and self-doubt costs you far more than any web design invoice ever could.

CAROL: So what’s the prescription? How do you stop this?

Here’s what I want you to hear: Your website is not a project. It is not a to-do list item. It’s not something you do once and check off. Websites are, as close as possible to anything nonliving, breathing beings. You have to feed them, help them, and adjust them — because they can be sending the wrong message at any time.

You need to look at your website as a business asset. And like any asset, it needs to be managed strategically.

Your website design starts with clarity — not design. Before you touch a single font or color, you need to get clear on three things. Who do you serve? What is their biggest number-one problem — the one that keeps them up at night, wakes them out of a dead sleep? And how are you going to help them? Most websites fail because they were designed before they were even thought through. You go straight to “I like the way that looks” or “those colors are pretty” — but you haven’t nailed down the who, what, and how. Design without strategy is just decoration.

Step two: speak to one person. The biggest mistake I see is websites that try to talk to everybody. The Bible hasn’t even been read by everybody on the planet — and we know what a great book that is. So how do you think you can serve everybody with your website? You need to speak to one person. Figure out your who, your what, and your how, and create your client avatar.

My avatar’s name is Angela. She’s progressed and is now 62 years old. The clients who come to me are more like Angela than anybody else, because Angela is me a couple steps back. You need to write every word as if you’re writing to that single person — that one ideal, perfect client. Because when a visitor feels like you’re speaking directly to them, they say, “She’s talking to me. I trust her. I’m ready.”

Step three: make the job of your website crystal clear. Every page needs one job. Your home page’s job is to get them to the next step — not to explain your entire life story. You can cover most of your story on the about page, because if they really like what they see on the home page, that’s the next place they’re going. Your services page’s job is to help the right people say yes and let the wrong people bounce — because you only want to work with the right people. And your about page’s job is not to list your credentials — it’s to make people feel safe choosing you.

Once visitors feel they’re in the right place on your home page, they’ll explore. If they don’t feel that, they won’t go anywhere.

Step four: plan before you build or rebuild. This is where most people waste thousands of dollars. They jump straight into building a website without a plan. That’s like building a house without blueprints — you’ll pay for it twice. That’s why I created the Wow Website Planner. It gives you all the information you need so you can build the site you want — the right way. You can get it by going to CSRCorporation.com/planner. It’s absolutely free. It walks you through every page you need, what to put on each one, and even covers graphics and legal considerations you probably haven’t thought about.

When you build on a solid foundation, the rest of it comes together. And it’ll stand the test of time — at least for a couple of years before you need to revisit it.

CAROL: So the prescription, as Dr. Carol says, is this: Step one, start with clarity, not design. Step two, speak to one person — your avatar. Step three, make the job of your website crystal clear. Your website needs to go out, find the people who want to work with you, bring them back to your site, show them how glorious you are, and get them on your list or into a purchase. Step four, plan before you build.

Now — people usually don’t buy on the first visit, even if they already know, like, and trust you. They usually have to see you a few times. A couple of blog posts, some social media content, your podcast. Which is why you never know who’s quietly watching and waiting.

One of the coauthors coming into Perfectly Positioned to Soar — I’ve known her for several years. She’s not even on my email list, but she’s been watching me on social media, engaging here and there. Last year she said, “Carol, are you bringing out another collaborative book?” I said yes, and she said, “Let me know when.” She’s now going to be a bestselling coauthor. You never know who’s sitting back in the corner, not saying much, but watching everything. The same is true for your website. You never know who’s watching you grow — and they can tell when you’re not growing the way you need to.

CAROL: Now let me talk about what life looks like on the other side of website shame — what happens when you finally conquer this and get a website you’re proud of.

Number one: you start sending people to your website on purpose. Not reluctantly, not accidentally — intentionally. You share it in conversations, on social media, in your email signature. You confidently share your link because you know what’s waiting for people when they get there. You can’t wait to work with them because you know they’re going to want to work with you.

Your website works while you sleep. I love that — something working while I’m sleeping. Clients discover you, qualify themselves, and reach out ready to hire you. You wake up to inquiries instead of silence — and sometimes you wake up to a payment notification. Who wants that? Me! I do!

Your prices get respected instead of questioned. When your website signals authority, your rates get accepted — not challenged. You stop apologizing for your prices because your online presence backs them up. They know you are the real deal, and you know it too. You confidently say, “It’s X amount of dollars for this,” and they either say, “Let me put that on my card,” or “Do you have payment plans?” Those are the answers you want.

You attract the right people. The clients who find you now are aligned. They trust you before they ever talk to you. You get better clients, easier sales, and more enjoyment in your actual work.

And your confidence shifts everything. When your website matches your expertise, something changes internally. You show up differently in pitches and conversations and how you position yourself in the market. Confidence is contagious, and it starts with knowing that when someone looks you up, they’re going to like what they find.

If you’re ready to stop avoiding your website and start using it as the powerful tool it was always meant to be, go to CSRCorporation.com/planner, download the Wow Website Planner, look at it, figure out how your business and the planner go together, build that foundation, and get to rolling. I know you can do it — that’s why I made this episode.

CAROL: Is your website ready for prime time? When your ideal prospects land on your site, do they see the true professional you are? Or are they greeted by something that’s not quite ready? For 30 years, CSR Corporation has helped coaches and service providers transform their online presence into powerful, client-attracting machines. We don’t just build websites — we create conversion engines that work for you 24/7.

Why choose CSR for your wow website? We’re experts in authority marketing — we help you convert web visitors into paying clients using our proven UN-Marketing strategy. We offer complete website protection, working hard to keep your site safe from hackers and accessible to all. And we deliver purpose-driven results, custom designed for coaches and service providers who want to make a real impact.

If you’re ready to make an impact with your website, download our free Wow Website Planner today. Inside, you’ll find everything you need to create your own wow website — whether you work with us or someone else. You need a website that converts web visitors into paying clients. Go to CSRCorporation.com/planner right now and download it free.

CAROL: My client success story for today is Toni Moore, the Legal Diva.

Toni is the first coauthor to say yes to the new book, Perfectly Positioned to Soar. Toni Moore, Esquire, is a business lawyer and strategist who went from financially distressed to what she calls an IP millionaire. Toni uses her BOSSED UP Framework to help entrepreneurs leverage their intellectual property to build real wealth — from the courtroom to the boardroom to the conference stage. She is living proof that your expertise and your ideas can absolutely fund your future. That’s what I’m talking about — your business funding your lifestyle.

You all are going to love Toni. Like I said, she’s the first author to come into the book, and I have another one I’ll be showcasing next week. I’m so excited, because Toni — the Legal Diva — helps you protect your intellectual property, and we all need to be doing that.

Would you like to be a guest on the UN-Market Your Business podcast? Go to UNMarketYourBusiness.com/podcast. And be on the lookout for your own spotlight — all you need to do is be awesome, either as a client or by letting me know you used or followed the advice you heard right here on a previous episode. Post it on social and be sure to tag me at CSR Corporation and use the hashtag #BestONMarketingStrategy.

CAROL: All right, I have a challenge for you — and it’s called the Website Shame Audit.

How do you know if you have website shame or not? Here’s how you find out. Look at your website with fresh eyes and ask yourself these three questions — as if you’re a potential client seeing it for the very first time.

Number one: Does this site clearly tell me who you help? Is it stated right at the top of your homepage — “I work with,” “I help,” “I teach” — without someone having to scroll around to find it?

Number two: Does this site make me trust you? Is it updated? Does it have the correct copyright year? Does what you’re saying reflect where you actually are in your business right now?

And number three: Does it tell me exactly what to do next? Is the next step crystal clear?

Write down your honest answers — not the answers you want them to be, but what they actually are. That’s your starting point. If it doesn’t feel right, first thing you can do is call me and we’ll have a session to look at your site together. But if you’re not ready for that, or you want to figure it out on your own, you need to download that Wow Website Planner at CSRCorporation.com/planner, because after the first seven seconds someone spends on your website, you’re either wasting your time or making your time make money for you.

So make sure you do that challenge. Write down those answers. And if you don’t like what you find, go to CSRCorporation.com/planner and download that planner right now.

Would you like free coaching from me? Simple — go to UNMarketYourBusiness.com/podcast.

CAROL: Now let’s recap what we’ve been talking about today.

Number one: website shame is a revenue problem, not a vanity problem. When your online presence doesn’t match your expertise, you stop promoting yourself — and an invisible you is a broke you.

Number two: your website is a business asset, not a to-do item. It should be working around the clock, attracting the right clients and filtering out the wrong ones. If it’s not doing that, it’s costing you. Because working with the wrong client is one of the worst things you can do for your business.

Number three: strategy before design. Always. The websites that convert aren’t necessarily the prettiest ones. They’re the ones that were planned with intention. Start there. What do you want your website to do for you? Do people know you? People buy from people they know, like, and trust. They don’t buy from logos or mission statements. Be human on your website.

Website shame is not a vanity problem — it’s a revenue problem. Fix it, and you’re going to start seeing money come in. Look at your website as the business asset it is. A website with us starts at around $5,000 and can go up to $15,000 or $20,000. That’s a significant investment — we want to make sure it’s working for you.

Now that you have your marching orders, go do what you need to do.

CAROL: All right, I want to tell you about one more book before we close — Prayers and Inspiration for Moms. I brought this out in 2023 for Mother’s Day, and with Mother’s Day coming up, it would make a wonderful gift for your mom. Six authors share how their mothers inspired them to become entrepreneurs and how that’s shaped what they do today. Not all the mothers were entrepreneurs themselves, but they still inspired their daughters to step into their purpose. You can read their stories and then journal about how you, as an entrepreneur — even as a mom yourself — are going to build your business and find your success. Get it at CSRCorporation.com/book.

CAROL: That is all I have for you today, and I want to make sure you join me next time — because we’re going to continue this website conversation. My next episode is Your Website Has Seven Seconds — Here’s What to Do with Them.

What I mean by that is: from the moment someone hits your website, you have about seven seconds for them to feel like, “Do I know this person? Am I in the right place?” Research shows that you have seven to ten seconds before someone decides to stay or leave. So what do you do with those seven seconds? That’s exactly what we’re covering next week — and you do not want to miss it.

Thank you for joining me. Thank you for being here. If you received value from this episode, please do me a favor and leave a review on whatever platform you’re listening on — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, wherever you are. Like it, share it. That would help me so much in getting this podcast in front of other purpose-driven entrepreneurs who need it. Please share it, please review it, and please tell people about it.

Thank you so much, and I’ll see you again next time. Bye for now!

CAROL: Thank you for listening to the UN-Market Your Business podcast. If there’s something you want to take action on, check out the show notes at UNMarketYourBusiness.com/podcast. Be sure to like and subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode. Please do me a favor and leave a review on whatever platform you use to access this podcast — it really helps us spread the word and get this content in front of the entrepreneurs who need it. See you next episode!

UN-Market Your Business Podcast with Carol J. Dunlop UNMarketYourBusiness.com