You don't have a web design problem.
You have a translation problem.
This post is adapted from Episode 1 of Flavor Notes: my podcast on brand, web design, and translating your expertise online. Listen to the full episode below.
Here’s something I hear all the time: “My website feels outdated.”
“It doesn’t reflect who I am anymore.”
“I want to be the go-to in my field.”
I used to think the fix was the web design or the brand or the copywriting. But here’s what I found after almost a decade in this work: the problem isn’t even the web design or the brand, even if it’s an eyesore. It might not even be a messaging problem.
Most experts have a translation problem.
And you didn’t earn your expertise to have it get lost in translation.
What translation actually is
Translation isn’t dumbing it down for people. It’s not simplifying it.
Translation is finding the version of what you do best and tailoring it so that the people in the room—the people you’re explaining it to—actually get it.
Here’s a personal example. The way I explain to my parents what I do is wildly different than how I explain it to marketers, to clients, to other people that might refer me. That doesn’t have anything to do with their intelligence. It has everything to do with meeting them where they’re at today.
That’s translation. Your website, your LinkedIn, your brand—they only make sense when you’ve done the work of translating your expertise for different kinds of people. Because if not, then no amount of polish or poise or professionalism is going to communicate why what you do actually matters to them.
Why the translation gap happens
Simplest answer: it’s because you’re so close to what you know. What’s obvious to you is not obvious to everyone else.
The people who need what you do don’t need a crash course on your industry or the terms. They need to know why they should care. How does it affect their daily life? What does it mean when your expertise actually helps them live out their day, even just a micro bit better?
People want their problem described back to them. That’s the translation gap. It’s not a gap in intelligence. It’s the gap between what you know through experience and knowledge, and how that actually impacts the people you serve.
Three ways the translation gap shows up online
Your website reads like a resume. There’s an idea that people come to your website to learn about you, and it’s still somewhat true. But they come there through word of mouth, or they’ve seen you somewhere online or offline, or through a cold Google search. And through any of those paths, someone or something told them your website might be valuable for what they’re looking for.
Really, when people come to your website, they’re deciding whether to inquire about how you can help them—or deciding it’s not a good fit, which is also a good thing for you. It saves you the time and energy trying to convince someone who wouldn’t appreciate your services anyway. Your website is where people make decisions. Each page, each interaction should make deciding one bit easier.
Your credentials don’t build trust. I see this more than I’d like, especially in expertise-based practices and businesses where the designation—CPA, PhD, RD—carries weight. To you, especially as someone who worked hard for those credentials, you didn’t earn them willy-nilly. You put in blood, sweat, and tears perfecting your craft and actually earning that title.
At the same time, for the people you’re serving—your customers, your clients, your patients—this is the baseline. On its own, it’s not enough to build trust. They’re looking for whether you can actually describe their problem in a way that makes them feel seen. It should literally feel like a breath of fresh air. Finally, someone understands and can put language around what I’m feeling. It’s language around what they’re experiencing AND what the way forward looks like. That way forward is your expertise in action, whether that’s services, coaching, or something else entirely.
Your copy sounds professional. Cold. This one is constant, especially for dietitians, engineers, accountants—a lot of designated bodies. You’ve probably been taught to communicate in a professional manner, but professional doesn’t mean cold. Stiff. Or distant. You can still sound professional and describe the language your patients and clients are actually experiencing. That language is what builds trust and connection. People want to know that working with you will actually help them forward, and cold copy doesn’t do that.
A real example (that has nothing to do with web design)
When I was planning my wedding, I looked at a ton of photographers. It made my eyes so tired. After hours—days—of looking at the same tabs, they all started to mold into one blob. I had trouble differentiating who’s who, or what the difference was between working with one photographer versus another, because they were all using the same verbal language. They relied on their work (the photography) and how I connected with that work to explain why I should hire them.
Then one photographer stopped me in my tracks. Her website wasn’t about her. It was about me. She described the day I wanted to have back to me—what I’d feel, what I’d remember, and a little bit of my concerns. And she guided me through that.
That’s how she built credibility. Not by listing her packages outright. Not by her years of experience.
But by showing me she understood what I was actually going for.
That’s translation in action.
You build trust by showing people you understand what they’re going through.
You understand their world way before you introduce yours.
What I want you to take away from this
When your expertise actually lands for the people you want to serve, the clients you want to call in—you stop feeling embarrassed by a website. Your website becomes the thing that people hope to believe about you.
Because here’s the truth you already know. People don’t need to be convinced. People need to be understood. And when your brand does that, that’s when the right clients reach out. That’s when opportunities come. That’s when you stop attracting people who compare based on prices and start attracting people who say, “I’m in.”
Your 5-min win
Go read your own About page. Ask yourself: does this sound like me, or does it sound like a version of a bio I’d submit to a conference?
The uncomfortable part? Sounding like yourself might feel unprofessional for the first bit.
But sounding human is the fastest way to build trust online.
And people are actually hungry for it.
If this hit home for you, share it with one person. Just one. And if you haven’t already, follow Flavor Notes wherever you listen.