Your Website Isn’t for You: Why Clarity Beats Personal Preference Every Time
When taste gets in the way of trust
Visual impact matters — absolutely. A site should look polished and professional. But here’s the catch: visitors aren’t zooming in to admire whether your body copy is 15px or 16px, or whether your logo is nudged one pixel to the left.
What they are paying attention to:
Can they understand what you do in five seconds?
Does the design feel trustworthy and current?
Is there one clear action to take?
Style supports clarity, but it doesn’t replace it. When “personal preference” overshadows usability, customers notice for all the wrong reasons.
Clarity is a business lever
Google’s Helpful Content guidance makes the point: people-first content wins. Clever tricks or self-indulgent copy don’t build trust.
And the way the page is structured matters. Clear hierarchy and skimmable formatting make decisions easier — which is what you want from a business website.
How people actually browse
Nobody reads your site like a novel. They scan. Headlines, subheads, and buttons either guide them or lose them. Nielsen Norman Group’s 5 formatting techniques for long-form content shows that skimmable structure — like bullets, subheads, and bold key points — keeps people moving forward.
Translation: write your site like a map, not a diary.
What really matters on the page
Most owners worry about personal flourishes — fonts, sliders, background video. But clarity is what moves the needle. Google’s SEO Starter Guide highlights the basics that matter: descriptive titles, clear headings, helpful content, and crawlable links. Everything else is noise.
Copy that carries its weight
Squarespace’s pros emphasize headings, hierarchy, and plain-language subheads in their guide to website copywriting. The message: words should guide, not decorate.
And clarity drives conversion. HubSpot’s value proposition playbook shows how direct messaging outperforms clever taglines. If someone can’t restate your value after five seconds, your copy failed.
The hidden cost of “fun” features
A flashy video header or a slider may look cool, but they usually slow down your site. Cloudflare’s analysis of speed and conversions shows the obvious: faster, simpler pages get more sales.
So before adding “fun,” ask: does this make the site clearer or faster? If not, it’s clutter.
The clarity checklist
One plain-English headline per page.
A single, consistent call-to-action.
Predictable navigation (5–7 top-level items).
Skimmable copy: bullets, subheads, short paragraphs.
Legible typography (16–18px body, strong contrast).
Fast-loading images and limited scripts.
Bottom line
Your website isn’t your personal art project. It’s a tool. When clarity beats preference, you get what actually matters: trust, speed, and conversions.
Want clarity baked in from the start?
That’s exactly what I do. Check out Holritz Website Design for clean, high-converting Squarespace sites in just 3 days — no fuss, no clutter, just business that works.