Last Updated on October 11, 2025
Your Website Is Not for You
Last week, I helped a small local bakery update their website. They had great bread, passionate staff, and a loyal local following – but their site was built for the store, not for the customers.
“We don’t get many online orders,” they told me. I wasn’t surprised. The order form was buried three clicks deep, the images didn’t load on mobile, and there was no way to search for things like allergens.
It reminded me of something I often say in workshops: your website is not for you. It’s for your users.
UX and UI – More Than Just Pretty Pixels
Let’s get our terms straight.
User Experience (UX) is how people feel when using your site. Can they find what they need? Is the path clear? Does it make sense?
User Interface (UI) is what people see – the layout, the colors, the buttons, the fonts.
One is the journey. The other is the scenery. Both matter.
A beautiful website that’s hard to use? That’s like a recipe written backwards. A functional site with clunky design? That’s a piece of cake served on your hand.
“Did you know? Usability and user experience impact your conversions AND your SEO.” warrenlainenaida.net
Why It Matters (Yes, Even for You)
If you want people to visit your site, stay a while, and maybe even take action – buy something, contact you, donate, register – you need to make it useful, usable, accessible, and desirable.
Of course, first they need to find your website. Social Media and SEO to the rescue!
Good UX and UI increase engagement, build trust, and boost conversions. Bad UX and UI? That’s just a bounce rate waiting to happen.
Here’s something many site owners overlook: your design choices don’t just impact first impressions. They impact lasting decisions.
- A confusing checkout? Lost sale.
- A slow-loading gallery? Missed referral.
- A hard-to-read blog post? Forgotten, not shared.
And here’s the real kicker: so often, the temptation is to add too much. Too much design, too much content, too many features. We want animations, pop-ups, sliders, carousels, forms with fifteen fields, and three menus “just in case.”
But complexity doesn’t impress. It confuses.
Users don’t want to admire your work – they want to get their task done.
Clarity beats cleverness. Always.
Think of an overdone website like a line of 50 customers out the door. It looks good, but who is going to wait in it to get their bread?
“Good SEO brings people to your site. Good UX/UI makes them stay. Both work best when they focus on the user first – not the owner.” warrenlainenaida.net
Three Simple Tips You Can Apply Today
- Test with real users. Not just your team. Watch someone unfamiliar navigate your site. It’s eye-opening.
- Simplify navigation. Fewer clicks. Clear labels. Logical structure. Less content. Don’t make people think too hard.
- Design mobile-first. Most of your visitors are probably on phones. Design for thumbs, not mice paws.
Bonus tip? Use contrast. Your text shouldn’t need a flashlight to read, nor a dark room.
“Structured page layout (clear headings, logical information hierarchy) is recommended to make content skimmable and digestible, which helps both users and search engines.” warrenlainenaida.net
It’s Not About You. It’s About Them
I get it – we love our websites. We picked the colors, the fonts, the logo – we sweated the choice of images and content.
But the truth is: good design is invisible. It supports the message and makes space for the user’s needs, not the owner’s ego.
And if you’re not sure whether your website is working, just ask your users. They’ll tell you. Or better yet, watch how they use it.
In the end, UX and UI are not just design choices. They’re acts of empathy.
“Want to learn more? Try navigating your site with one hand, or in the rain on your phone. You might be surprised what your ‘user experience’ feels like.”
With thanks to unsplash for the image in this article. Photo by Elisha Terada on Unsplash.