Why Designing Your Website for Users And Not Your Ego Is the Key to Online Success

When most people approach us to build or optimize their website, they come in with a laundry list of personal preferences. “I want this color scheme, a flashy slideshow at the top, it needs to highlight my favorite service and show our mission and vision statement.” Sound familiar? I get it. It’s your website, your brand, and your baby. You’re emotionally invested.

But here is the harsh truth: your website isn’t for you—it’s for your users.

As the owner of an SEO and website agency, I’ve seen it time and time again: stunning websites that completely fail to convert. Why? Because they were designed around what the owner wanted to see, not what the audience actually needed to experience. I hear the same request constantly: “I want a site that pops and grabs the user’s attention!” And of course, no one has ever said, “Make me a boring, ugly, and hard-to-use website.” But here’s the thing—prioritizing flash over function is a recipe for failure. I’ve witnessed some wild examples of this. Once, a church spent weeks debating the exact color of red for their background. The goal? To find the perfect shade to represent “the blood of Jesus.”

As the website owner, every time you desire something on your site – regardless of the reason, ask yourself “How does this add value to my users?” If you have a valid answer, then that design element or feature probably needs to be there.

Let’s be real: do you think that painstaking decision made any difference in advancing their ministry’s mission? Probably not. Yet endless hours were wasted on a subjective detail that had absolutely no impact on usability or user experience. This is a prime example of how obsessing over personal preferences can derail the bigger picture. The real goal of your website isn’t to indulge in design debates—it’s to serve your audience, solve their problems, and achieve measurable results.

When Ego-Driven Design Backfires (And Why We Get the Blame)

Here’s the tricky part about letting subjective whims guide a website’s design: when the site doesn’t perform, it’s not the client’s preferences that get blamed—it’s our work as the agency.

I’ve seen it happen more than once. A client insists on design features or content placements that don’t align with user needs:

A homepage overloaded with text because “we need to say everything up front.”
A homepage with almost nothing on it “we need to keep it simple and clean”
A homepage with minimal information on it “we don’t want our users to scroll (why not?)”
A navigation menu that’s a maze because “all our services need equal visibility.”
Pop-ups and flashy animations added because “they’ll catch attention” (but they end up driving users away).

Your website is not a person or experience, it is a tool. Keep this in mind.

When the site launches and conversions don’t improve—or worse, they drop—guess who the client looks to for answers? It’s not their design preferences; it’s us, the agency.

The real danger here is this: A website that prioritizes personal taste over user experience is almost guaranteed to underperform. And as the agency, we’re left cleaning up the mess—or trying to explain why following user data would’ve been the better route.

This isn’t just frustrating; it’s a lose-lose situation. The client is disappointed, their investment isn’t paying off, and our expertise is undermined by decisions we didn’t recommend.

Your Website Is Not About You (Harsh but True)

I know that sounds brutal, but hear me out.

When users land on your website, they don’t care about how “cool” it looks (but of course as the website owner you think they do). What they DO care about is how quickly they can find the information they need, how easily they can navigate, and how clearly you solve their problem. Your website is a tool to educate, entertain and buy from. Take the red background on the church website example above. Having the “right shade of red” – what does this do for a user? What value does it add? What did they learn? How are they better off now then before they saw the ‘beautiful red background that looks like the blood of Jesus?” Did it cause them to become more moral and a good person? Of course not. The red background was owner ego and vanity – and had nothing to do with the user (even when they finally agreed on what red shade to use). The user AND owner, equally gained no value either way.

Here’s another example. Let’s say you run a local HVAC company, and your website’s homepage is a sleek, minimalistic design that highlights your company’s history. Cool story, but do you know what your users are actually looking for? It isn’t your story. Users ask questions like:

“Can I schedule a repair appointment online right now?”
“What areas do they serve?”
“How much is this going to cost me?”

When they hit your site they are asking “What can you do for me?” Your company history doesn’t answer that question, does it? Therefore anything DOES NOT answer that question really isn’t worth having on the first page – regardless of how much the owner disagrees. This isn’t my harsh opinion – this is your user’s daily attitude.

If your site doesn’t answer these questions quickly and clearly, they’ll bounce to a competitor who does. Your competition wins, you loose, but you have the pretty site you wanted – right? Yeah!

User-Centric Design Drives Results

Don’t get me wrong, aesthetics matter. A polished, professional design builds trust. But the foundation of any successful website is usability. But don’t hate me for saying it, instead, focus on how your users demonstrate it everyday.

A few things I’ve learned working with clients:

Your homepage is prime real estate. Use it wisely. Instead of cramming it with everything you think is important, make sure it guides users to the most critical areas: your services, contact info, and FAQs. Ask yourself “If I could have the user do one thing on my site, what would it be?” That answer is typically a great primary Call To Action to harp on and equals good ‘first-page’ things to do.
Simplicity wins every time. Fancy animations and bold graphics are fun, but they should never come at the cost of speed and clarity. Shinny things grab some eyes more than others, but no user will be okay sitting on your pretty site while it delivers no value. Think of Google and Apple – if the fancy flashy stuff was critical, these billion dollar names wouldn’t have ignored them.
Data beats opinion. I’ve had clients insist on features that we later found, through analytics, were completely ignored by users. This is why testing and tweaking and using actual customer feedback is so important. Your website is a tool for your users to connect with you. Make it do that first, and the rest is bonus.

Balancing Your Goals with User Needs

Here’s the good news: It’s not a competition between what you want and what your users need. It’s about finding alignment and balance.

When we design websites at my agency, we start with this question: What do you want your users to do? This answer quickly reveals what your users need to be presented with. Whether it’s buying a product, booking a consultation, or downloading a resource, we reverse-engineer the site to guide users toward that goal, then you make that path pretty. That is when you make sure every step of the user journey feels seamless and intuitive. From load times to mobile responsiveness to clear calls-to-action, it all comes back to creating an experience that prioritizes the user, as opposed to prioritizing a look desired by the owner.

The Ego Check Every Website Owner Needs

If you’re still thinking, “But my preferences do matter,” let me leave you with this:

Your website should be the bridge between what you offer and what your users need. If you focus too much on yourself, that bridge is going to collapse.

I’ve had clients completely change their tune after seeing the impact of a user-first redesign. Higher conversions, lower bounce rates, more sales and more profit—it’s proof that when you prioritize your audience, everyone wins. But keep in mind, what your audience and target market likes and needs, may not align at all with your personal visual preferences.

Ready to Put Your Users First?

To avoid this scenario, we’ve developed a collaborative approach. Yes, your input matters—it’s your brand, after all. But we combine your vision with user research, best practices, and real-world data to ensure the final product actually works. When you trust the process and focus on what your users need, we can create something that performs beautifully—because it’s driven by strategy, not just subjective preference. If you are just needing a human photoshop and HTML editor, many firms (think India, Upwork, Fiverr, etc…) are at your disposal.

In the end, we both want the same thing: a website that delivers results (profits). Let’s make that happen by putting your users first.

If you’re tired of a website that looks great but doesn’t perform, let’s talk. At Perfectly Optimized, we specialize in creating websites that not only reflect your brand but also deliver real results.

At the end of the day, a website that works for your users works for you, too.