Website Optimization How to Make Your Website Stand Out and Grow | Chris LaFay

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Website Growth Show, Rana Shahbaz is joined by Chris LaFay, founder of Classic City Consulting, to discuss how businesses can use their websites to stand out, connect with customers, and turn more visitors into opportunities.

Chris shares why being different can be a powerful advantage in an increasingly commoditized market. From creating a memorable website experience to simplifying website design, he explains how businesses can avoid looking like everyone else while still making their websites easy to understand and use.

The conversation also explores website messaging, lead generation, AI-generated content, marketing strategy, and the importance of giving businesses full access to their own websites.

Chris explains why businesses should test ideas before investing heavily, focus on the marketing activities they can consistently execute, and use real customer language to make their messaging more relevant.

Whether you’re considering a website redesign, improving your messaging, testing a new business idea, or looking for better ways to generate leads, this episode offers practical advice for building a website that supports real business growth.

Show Notes

  1. Why websites are a central part of marketing: Chris explains how advertising, SEO, messaging, content, and design ultimately come together on the website.
  2. Make a strong first impression: As direct website traffic changes with AI and evolving search behavior, the visitors who reach your website may have higher intent. The site needs to quickly demonstrate why your business is the right choice.
  3. Stand out instead of blending in: Chris discusses how his own website uses a video-game-inspired experience to differentiate Classic City Consulting in a crowded web design market.
  4. Don’t try to do everything at once: Chris compares marketing to painting a canvas and explains why businesses should find one marketing activity they enjoy and can consistently execute before expanding into other channels.
  5. Build a marketing engine before scaling: Once one reliable marketing channel is working and generating revenue, businesses can reinvest those profits into SEO, advertising, content, and other activities.
  6. Test ideas before building them: Chris recommends using landing pages, pre-registration, small ad tests, and A/B testing to validate an idea before investing significant time and money into building it.
  7. Simplify your website: Chris explains how “design drip” can cause websites to become inconsistent over time, with different pages using different styles, colors, layouts, and components.
  8. Think of your website like Lego: A controlled library of reusable website blocks can make it easier to build consistent pages without turning every page into a new design project.
  9. Audit your website quickly: Chris says he often evaluates a website in about 45 seconds, looking at fonts, colors, messaging, imagery, and whether the site clearly communicates what the business does.
  10. Get your messaging right: Businesses need to quickly show that they understand their customer’s problem and know how to solve it.
  11. Improve your homepage hero section: Chris recommends looking at the main headline, supporting copy, and CTA and asking whether they clearly explain what the business does and how it solves the customer’s problem.
  12. Use real people and real stories: Showing real team members, real images, transparent processes, and authentic messaging can make a website feel more trustworthy and relatable.
  13. Businesses should control their websites: Chris strongly advocates giving businesses appropriate access to their own websites so their teams can edit pages, publish content, and manage their websites.
  14. Don’t rely on mass AI-generated content: Chris warns against producing huge amounts of unedited AI content and recommends investing more in original content, video, audio, partnerships, and unique perspectives.
  15. Be unique and empathize with customers: Chris’s central advice is to find something that differentiates your business and make customers feel that your website truly understands their problems.
  16. Use customer conversations to improve messaging: Sales-call recordings can reveal the exact language customers use to describe their frustrations and problems, which can then inform website messaging.

Connect With the Guest

Chris focuses on helping businesses build effective websites, simplify their digital presence, improve messaging, and create experiences that stand out.

You can learn more about Chris and Classic City Consulting at classiccity.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.