How to avoid the #1 mistake solopreneurs make

You’ve probably seen it happen: gorgeous portfolio, frustrating project. Here’s why that keeps happening, and what to look for instead.

You want a website that works for your visitors as well as for your business. Without you you constantly tweaking it, apologizing for it, or feeling slightly embarrassed when you send people the link.

What gets in the way of all that? It is the one thing that every “how to hire a designer” article tells you to do: Choosing a web designer based on their portfolio.

It’s an easy mistake to make

You see a competitor’s site that looks polished and modern, ask who designed it, and hire the same person. But you don’t know if that site is actually working for their business. Maybe it’s beautiful and useless.

Or you collect recommendations, scroll through portfolios, and pick the one whose visuals you like best. But portfolios show you finished products, not what’s underneath. You’re judging a house by the paint color with no idea if the foundation is solid.

Or you end up on Reddit and follow the most common advice: “Just look on Dribbble.” Which is like hiring a chef based on food photography—with no idea if the restaurant is profitable or the kitchen is a disaster.

Why (almost) everyone gets this wrong: The web design industry trains you to choose this way.

Portfolios are easier to judge than process. Pretty sells faster than strategy. And designers know it.

Most designers optimize their portfolios to win projects, not to show you why they made design choices and what business results their clients got. This makes it hard to see what actually matters: does the site work for the business?

So you end up with a website that looks refreshed but still doesn’t move your business forward. It might even undermine your authority with small signals you don’t notice but your clients feel subconsciously. The good news? This is fixable.

How choosing on looks alone holds you back

As a solopreneur ready to move from a DIY website to a professional one, your goal is probably too attract more and better clients. And this is where choosing on looks alone becomes expensive.

Not just in money, but in missed opportunities and wasted time.

1. You pay for a “new look” instead of a business asset

A good-looking website feels like progress. It’s not.

I’ve watched solopreneurs invest €4K–€10K into a redesign, launch it with pride, and six months later realize: inquiries didn’t improve, visitors still seemed confused, and the site still didn’t support premium pricing. Same problems, prettier packaging.

When the problems persist, that’s not just disappointing. It’s expensive in ways that go beyond the invoice.

2. You get stuck in a painful project experience

When a designer doesn’t have a real process, the project becomes painful. Fast. Week 8 of a 6-week project. You’re on revision #12. The designer asks, “What vibe are you going for?” And you realize: nobody ever asked what problem this website needs to solve.

Endless revisions. Vague feedback loops. Decisions based on taste instead of goals. And the creeping realization that you’re paying someone to ask you what to do. Most designers can make things look good. Far fewer can run a strategic process.

Portfolios show you the end result. They rarely show you what the process felt like.

3. You end up with a site that slowly stops working

Without a solid foundation across strategy, design and tech, the site doesn’t fail all at once. It just slowly stops working:

• Maybe it’s slow, so visitors bounce.
• Maybe it’s hard to update, so you stop updating it.
• Maybe it’s unclear, so you’re still over-explaining on every sales call.

Two years later, you’re back where you started: shopping for another designer and trying to figure out what went wrong the first time.

So what separates a strategic designer from one who just makes things look good?

What to do instead: A smarter way to evaluate designers

My goal isn’t to turn you into a web expert. It’s to give you a filter. So you can ask better questions, spot red flags, and make a confident decision.

Strategy #1: Don’t hire on cheap gig platforms

A quick note on budget platforms like Fiverr: they optimize for volume, not outcomes. If you’re considering this route, know that cheap often becomes expensive later.

You’ll get a site. You won’t get strategy, support, or someone who cares if it actually works.

Strategy #2: Don’t evaluate designers on Dribbble alone

Dribbble is where designers make art. It’s a portfolio site for designers to impress, not to showcase real-world client work with real-world constraints. You’ll see concepts with bold visuals. You won’t see loading times, accessibility, or whether the site actually converts visitors into clients. It’s not useless. It’s just incomplete.

Instead, go straight to the designer’s portfolio. (If they don’t have one, that can be a first red flag. Why wouldn’t a web designer have a website, unless they’re just starting out?)

Strategy #3: Look beyond the visuals in the portfolio

When you do look at portfolios, don’t just look at how pretty the sites are. Look for evidence that the designer understands business. How to do that? Check if they talk about outcomes in their project stories:

• Did the site lift leads, sales, inquiries, or course signups?
• Are there metrics or qualitative improvements mentioned?
• Do they talk about what problem the site solved for the business?

If a portfolio only shows you screenshots with no context about results, you’re looking at decoration, not strategy. The best portfolios tell you what changed for the business, not just what changed on the screen.

Red flags to watch for:

• All visuals, no mention of business goals or outcomes
• Inconsistent quality across projects (some look premium, others look rushed)
• Many sites look like the same template regardless of the client’s niche or audience

Green flags to look for:

• Case studies with clear goals and outcomes (not just “a modern look”)
• Clear explanation of their role: Was it just visuals or also strategy and development?
• A (brief) description of the process: What did the designer do when and why?
• Testimonials from clients who talk about business results, not just how nice the site looks

Strategy #4: Open the actual websites

Instead of just scrolling through mockups in the portfolio, click through to the live sites a designer has built. This is where you see what portfolios hide: how the site actually performs.

I firmly believe a designer should link the actual website at least somewhere in their portfolio. However many don’t because they don’t want prospects to leave their own website. In that case, you can google the business name and find the live site that way. Here’s what to check:

• Does it load fast? Open it on your phone with WiFi off. If it feels sluggish, that’s a problem.
• Does it work well on mobile? If the mobile experience is broken, the designer isn’t paying attention.
• Is the offer immediately clear? If you can’t tell what the business does in 8 seconds, neither can their visitors.
• Is all text readable and the navigation intuitive? Low contrast, confusing menus, and tiny fonts signal careless design.
• Are calls-to-action obvious and relevant to the business model? “Read more” and “click here” on a button are red flags.

You can even do a quick reality check:

• Google the business name. Does the site at least rank for it?
• Run a speed test with PageSpeed Insights.
• If you want to go deeper, check environmental impact with Website Carbon.

These tools won’t tell you everything, but they’ll tell you if the designer is paying attention to what matters.

Is the designer always at fault if something’s off? No. But it gives you an idea, and better questions to ask next.

Strategy #5: Ask better questions (this is where it really matters)

These questions separate designers who think strategically from designers who just make things look good. They’re based on my 5 Foundations framework. It makes sure that you cover all the areas important for a solopreneur website.

Strategy

Walk me through your process, start to finish.

A clear, structured answer signals a strategic approach. If they can’t articulate their process or it sounds made up on the spot, that’s a problem.

What happens before design?

If they jump straight to mood boards without understanding your business, that’s a red flag. A good designer will ask about your business, your audience, and your goals before touching any design tool. A great designer will talk these things through with you and challenge you if necessary.

Branding

How do you understand my audience and positioning?

If there’s no clear research or discovery process, they’re either guessing or using templates.

What parts of my brand should we change, and why?

A good designer will tell you what’s working before suggesting what to change. If they want to redesign everything “just because,” they’re optimizing for billable hours, not your business.

UX Design

How do you design with the visitor in mind? Give me an example.

If they can’t, or they say “I use a proven template,” that’s a red flag. Templates don’t account for your specific audience or business model.

Do you have experience with my type of business?

If not, they should be able to explain how their process adapts to new industries. “I’ve never worked with a coach before, but a coaching website is similar to project X because of Y” isn’t concerning. “I’ll figure it out as we go” is.

Technology

Some designers hand off mockups and expect you to find a developer. Others build the site themselves. Make sure you know which you’re hiring.

Do you build the site, or just deliver designs?

Trust me, there are different ideas about what a web designer does and doesn’t do. I’ve heard more than once: “I never said I was a developer.”

What platform do you use, and why?

If they say “whichever you want,” they probably don’t have deep expertise in any platform.

What happens after launch when I need updates?

If the answer is “You’ll need to hire me for every change,” you’re not buying a website. You’re renting one.

What ongoing costs are there after launch?

Watch out for mandatory maintenance contracts that lock you in.

Ethics & Sustainability

Many designers don’t proactively address ethics, inclusion, or sustainability. If these matter to you, ask directly. Otherwise use this question that shows their priorities:

How do you ensure the site is accessible and performant?

This is the test question for eco-friendly and inclusive design. “We can add that later,” translates to “it won’t happen.”

What’s your approach to analytics and cookies?

Google Analytics and intrusive cookie banners are the default, but they’re neither lightweight nor privacy-friendly. A good designer will have alternatives.

The right designer will have clear, confident answers to all of these questions.

If you’re getting vague responses, deflections, or “we’ll figure it out as we go,” that’s your signal. You’re not hiring someone who’s thought deeply about these foundations. And your website deserves someone who’s thought these things through.

“So… are looks irrelevant?”

Short answer: no.

Long answer: Looks matter, but not in the way most people think.

Visual design isn’t about flashiness. It’s about intentionality and consistency. It’s about reassurance, not decoration. A premium website doesn’t try to impress your client. It tries to reassure them that they’re in good hands.

You don’t need a designer who treats design as art. You need someone who sees design as problem-solving, and who understands how small visual and technical choices shape perceived authority. When that’s in place, the site feels right—and that feeling is what builds trust.

How I help clients do this differently

The 5 Solopreneur Website Foundations

My work is built around these foundations:

1. Strategic clarity: connecting design choices to your business goals and audience needs
2. Professional branding: a visual presence that reflects premium expertise and values
3. Intuitive UX design: making it easy for visitors to go from curious to ready
4. Tech ownership: independence without the coding headache
5. Ethics & Sustainability: eco-friendly and accessible design, privacy, and ethical marketing baked in

When these foundations are in place, your website isn’t just attractive but a business asset that works as hard as you do. Your website stops leaking authority. It starts positioning you as the obvious choice for your clients. You stop worrying about your site. You stop apologizing for it. You trust it to do its job.

If you take one thing from this post …

… let it be this:

A website that supports your business needs more than good looks. When you choose a designer based only on visuals, you risk spending a few thousand bucks on a site that looks great and does nothing. But when you evaluate designers through the Solopreneur Website Foundations, you end up with a site that actually works.

If you want to see how this works in practice, book a Clarity Call with me. Ask all the questions. See how I work. If it feels aligned with your goals, great. If not, you’ll still walk away with clarity.

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