It’s unfortunate, but it has to be said.

We’ve seen a lot of StoryBrand website design projects go off the rails and into a ditch.

They usually start with great StoryBranded copy and good intentions. Then, somewhere in the process, something goes wrong.

Here are the top 3 ways StoryBrand sites are ruined:

1. Hiring your nephew
(no offense, Billy)

Billy’s a great kid, and he knows Photoshop.

He builds you a site that looks ok. And it was definitely cheap (you paid him in pizza).

A few months later Billy goes to college and gets busy.

Meanwhile, you have a sneaking suspicion that your amateur website could be costing you some big opportunities.

You add a new service to your business and ask Billy to make some updates for you.

Billy can’t work on the site because he’s “busy studying”.

You realize you’re stuck with a website you can’t update and your only option is to start from scratch.

Avoid this mistake

Hire someone who will train you to maintain your own website and will be available in the future to assist you in case things get complicated.

When you buy a StoryBrand-ready website template from us, you'll get access to our video tutorials that walk you through each step to build your website, so you'll know exactly how to make changes in the future! Plus, if you ever get stuck, you can always book a Live Help Session with one of our experts for $99.

2. Hiring yourself (aka DIY)

Let’s be honest.

No one else would hire you to build their website.

But for some reason, you convince yourself it’s a good idea for you to build your own website.

The most important website of all.

After all, it’s only your kid’s college fund on the line.

What could go wrong?

After two weeks of late evenings, you’re banging your head on your desk, trying to figure out how to get that one button into the top right corner of your website. You know, where Don said it should go.

Not only that, you’re not loving how it looks.

It kind of looks like an amateur built it.

*Sigh* Maybe it’s time to hire an expert after all.

Avoid this mistake

Think about the opportunity cost. What else could you do with your time? If you charge $100/hr for consulting, but you spend 40 hours building a site from scratch, how much did that really cost? And in the end, your site still looks like Billy built it.

Instead of building your site from scratch, use one of our beautifully designed, ready-to-fill StoryBranded templates to launch your site in a fraction of the time. Every template follows the StoryBrand framework so you can just add your logo, colors, text, and photos. You'll also get access to step-by-step video tutorials that walk you through how to tweak your design.

And if you get stuck, no worries! You'll have access to our 60 days of free support! Plus, you'll still get credit for building it yourself. We won't tell!

3. Hiring an expensive agency

You’re launching a brand new consulting business and you’re determined to do things right the first time.

You create a detailed business plan and hire an agency to build you an impressive, beautiful, custom, $10,000 website.

You’re confident that you’ll have the best consultant website ever.

Then your business plan collides with reality.

After only a few months, you realize that your ideal customers care about only one of the three services on your website, and they want it in a totally different way than how you provide it.

You need to pivot, and fast.

But when you pivot, you realize you have to update several pages of your website, and redesign the entire homepage.

You call your agency and they quote you another $3k to make the updates for your quickly changing business.

Ouch.

Avoid this mistake

Start with an affordable option until your business is more established.

You can buy one of our StoryBrand-ready templates and fill it out yourself for just $299. Or, if you want us to do the work, upgrade to our Done-for-You Experience, for an additional $1,499 and we'll build your site for you!

If your business is ready to invest in a custom website that's designed for your brand, check out our agency Knapsack where sites start at $5,600.

What next?

We hope this helps you choose how to get your StoryBrand wireframe turned into a live website!

If you have any questions, we’d love to help. Join one of our weekly calls and we’ll talk soon.