AI & Automation
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
For the first few years of my freelance career, I was the architect of what I now call "digital ghost towns." I poured my energy into crafting pixel-perfect websites—brand-aligned, modern, conversion-optimized. Every client left our initial meetings thrilled about their upcoming digital transformation.
I treated each website like a premium sales representative for the company. The messaging was sharp. The user journey was seamless. The design made competitors look outdated.
But here's what I discovered after tracking results across dozens of projects: I was essentially training world-class sales reps to do door-to-door sales in an empty neighborhood.
The harsh reality hit me when I analyzed my client portfolio and found a painful pattern. Beautiful websites? Check. Professional brand presence? Check. Actual visitors coming to see it? Crickets.
Here's what you'll learn from my expensive education:
Why the "design-first" approach creates beautiful websites that nobody finds
The fundamental mindset shift from homepage-thinking to keyword-thinking
My exact framework for building websites that people actually discover
Real examples of how this shift transformed client results
When to use each approach (because both have their place)
This isn't about choosing ugly over beautiful—it's about building beautiful websites that people actually find. Let me show you the difference that changed everything for my clients.
Industry Reality
What every web designer has been taught
If you've ever worked with a web designer or agency, you've probably heard the same playbook. It sounds logical, professional, and it's been the standard approach for over a decade.
The Traditional Design-First Process:
Start with brand identity and visual direction
Design the homepage as the main entry point
Map user journeys from homepage to conversion
Focus on features, product pages, and company information
Optimize for conversions once visitors arrive
This approach makes perfect sense if you think about websites like physical stores. You design a beautiful storefront, organize your products logically, and create clear pathways to purchase. Every design decision supports the brand and user experience.
The conventional wisdom exists because it works—once people find your website. The focus is entirely on what happens after someone types your URL or clicks a link. It's about maximizing the value of traffic you already have.
Where This Falls Short in Practice:
The problem isn't that this approach creates bad websites. The problem is that it completely ignores how people actually discover websites in 2025. Most businesses assume their traffic will come from direct visits, referrals, or paid advertising. They build for the traffic they hope to get, not the traffic that's actually available.
I've seen companies spend $20,000 on beautiful websites that get 200 visitors per month. Meanwhile, their competitors with "uglier" sites are getting 5,000+ monthly visitors because they understood one fundamental difference: your website architecture should match how people search, not how your company is organized.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
My wake-up call came when I decided to actually track what happened to the websites I'd built. I was proud of my portfolio—every site looked professional, loaded fast, and converted visitors well when they arrived. But something was bothering me about the lack of follow-up success stories from clients.
So I did something most designers avoid: I dug into their analytics six months after launch.
The Brutal Reality Check:
Website after website told the same story. Beautiful design, terrible traffic. I'd created digital masterpieces that were essentially invisible to their target market. The most painful example was a B2B SaaS client who'd invested heavily in a complete rebrand and website redesign. Six months later, they were getting fewer leads than before the redesign.
That's when I realized I'd been solving the wrong problem. I was optimizing for what happened after someone found the website, without considering whether anyone would actually find it.
The Pattern I Couldn't Ignore:
Every successful website in my client portfolio had one thing in common—they'd invested in SEO and content strategy alongside design. The failures were the ones who'd focused purely on visual appeal and conversion optimization.
But here's what really hit me: I couldn't just bolt SEO onto a design-first website. The entire architecture was wrong. When you design for visual appeal first, you structure everything around your company's organization chart. When you design for search first, you structure everything around how people actually look for solutions.
The Moment Everything Changed:
I started asking a different question: "What if every page could be someone's first impression?" Instead of thinking about the homepage as the front door, what if every piece of content was a potential entry point?
This single shift changed everything about how I approached website architecture, and the results spoke for themselves.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After my reality check, I completely restructured my approach. Instead of starting with visual design, I started with search intent. Here's the exact framework I developed and tested across multiple client projects:
Step 1: Keyword-First Architecture
The fundamental shift is thinking in keywords instead of company structure. Instead of asking "What pages does our company need?" I ask "What problems are people searching for that we can solve?"
For each client, I now start with keyword research to understand:
What terms their target customers actually search for
The search volume and competition for each term
The search intent behind each query
Content gaps their competitors aren't filling
Step 2: Content-Led Page Structure
Every page gets built around a specific search intent, not a company function. This means:
Instead of "About Us," I create "How [Company] Helps [Target Customer] [Achieve Specific Outcome]"
Instead of "Services," I create problem-specific landing pages like "[Specific Problem] Solutions for [Industry]"
Instead of generic "Contact," I create "Get [Specific Result] in [Timeframe]"
Step 3: The Multiple Entry Point Strategy
Here's where the magic happens. Instead of driving all traffic to the homepage, every piece of content becomes a potential conversion path. Each page includes:
Clear value proposition for that specific search intent
Internal links to related content
Multiple conversion opportunities
Trust signals relevant to that specific audience
Step 4: Design That Supports Discovery
The visual design still matters—it's just informed by search strategy instead of brand guidelines alone. Every design decision supports content discoverability:
Navigation optimized for topic clusters, not company hierarchy
Page layouts that encourage content consumption
Internal linking that matches user search behavior
Mobile-first design for search traffic
The Implementation Process:
I now approach every project with this sequence: Research → Content Strategy → Information Architecture → Visual Design → Technical Optimization. The design phase comes after we understand how people will actually find and use the website.
This isn't about creating ugly websites. It's about creating beautiful websites that people can actually discover.
Multiple Entry Points
Every page designed as a potential first impression - not just the homepage
Search Intent
Understanding what people actually search for vs. what companies want to rank for
Content Clusters
Organizing content around topic themes rather than company departments
Design Supports Discovery
Visual decisions informed by how people search and consume content
The transformation in results was immediate and dramatic. Within three months of implementing the SEO-first approach, client websites started seeing consistent organic traffic growth.
Typical Results Pattern:
Organic traffic increased 300-500% within 6 months
Homepage became less than 20% of total traffic (vs. 60%+ before)
Conversion rates improved because traffic matched search intent
Clients started getting inbound leads from content they didn't even know they had
But the most significant change wasn't in the numbers—it was in the sustainability. Design-first websites require constant paid advertising or networking to drive traffic. SEO-first websites build momentum over time and start attracting qualified prospects automatically.
The Unexpected Outcomes:
Clients started reporting leads from searches they hadn't even considered targeting. By structuring content around search intent instead of company structure, we captured "accidental" traffic from related problems and use cases.
One B2B SaaS client started getting demo requests from searches like "alternative to [competitor]" and "how to solve [specific problem]" - searches they'd never optimized for but that naturally fit their content structure.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After implementing this approach across dozens of projects, here are the most important lessons I learned:
1. Design and SEO Aren't Opposites
The best websites use beautiful design to support content discovery, not compete with it. Visual hierarchy guides users through content optimized for search.
2. Homepage Obsession is a Traffic Killer
Most businesses over-invest in homepage design and under-invest in content pages. Your homepage should be one of many entry points, not the only one.
3. Company Structure ≠ User Search Behavior
How you organize your company internally has nothing to do with how customers search for solutions. Structure your site around search intent, not org charts.
4. Content Quality Beats Design Perfection
A helpful blog post with average design will outperform a beautiful page with generic content every time. Focus on solving real problems people are actively searching for.
5. SEO-First Doesn't Mean Design-Last
Start with search strategy, but invest heavily in design that supports content consumption. The goal is beautiful websites that people can actually find.
6. Multiple Conversion Paths Beat Single Funnels
Instead of driving everyone through the same homepage funnel, create conversion opportunities on every page based on that page's specific audience and intent.
7. When Design-First Still Makes Sense
If you already have consistent traffic from other sources (strong brand recognition, word-of-mouth, paid advertising), design-first can work. But most startups and small businesses need discoverability first.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing this approach:
Create solution-specific landing pages for each use case
Build competitor comparison and alternative pages
Develop integration and feature-specific content
Structure pricing pages around search intent, not feature lists
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores using this strategy:
Optimize category pages for specific search terms
Create buying guides and comparison content
Build product pages around how people search, not just product names
Develop content for different stages of the buying journey