Websites Made Simple: How to have a successful website design business

AI is everywhere — and so is everyone telling you to use it for everything. But when it comes to your website, your plugins, and the work you ship for clients, the wrong AI shortcut can quietly become a serious liability.
Check out my Sparks Group Training for anyone and everyone involved in the publishing of websites, from copywriters to SEOs: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It’s a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and “is it just me?” moments.
Welcome to a special bonus episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie. (Quick note — my podcast mic was misbehaving for this one, so the audio is not quite up to our usual standard. My producer Neal at Podknows has worked his magic to clean it up, so please do stick with it. The conversation is genuinely worth your time.)
I am joined by senior developer Rob Fisher to talk about where AI actually helps in web design, where it absolutely does not, and the security and stability risks nobody is being loud enough about.

We get into:
Why vibe coding is not a shortcut, it is a stack of technical debt waiting to break
How LLMs really work, and why they hallucinate when you let them
Why your prompt boundaries matter as much as your prompt
The chatbot that gave a customer 85 percent off a 10,000 dollar order
What the October 2025 AWS outage tells us about AI first dev cultures
Why AI tools are junior developers, not senior ones, and what that means for your business
Why vibe coded WordPress plugins are a house of cards
How a “safe” plugin can become a Trojan horse with one auto update
What is actually changing in WordPress 7

If you are a designer or developer trying to work out where AI fits into your business without putting your clients at risk, this one is for you.

Come and find out more at https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk or email me at [email protected]

Skip to the good bits:
00:00 Bonus episode intro and audio note
01:18 Where AI fits in running a web business
02:34 Vibe coding and why it is a shortcut too far
05:12 The flip side, vibe coding as a learning tool
06:48 Tech debt: your vibe coded site is a liability waiting to break
07:45 What AI cannot do for user journeys and design psychology
09:20 How LLMs actually work, probability engines not brains
11:30 Hallucinations and the suspiciously short prompt
13:05 Prompt boundaries and staying on topic
15:10 What system prompts at OpenAI and Anthropic actually look like
17:00 The chatbot that gave away an 85 percent discount on a 10,000 dollar order
19:40 AI first dev houses and the October 2025 AWS outage
22:15 Microsoft layoffs and the AI replacement myth
24:30 Why generative AI is a junior developer, not a senior one
26:20 Vibe coded plugins, the house of cards problem
28:50 The WordPress plugin ecosystem and what it lets in
31:00 How a safe plugin becomes a Trojan horse overnight
33:15 WP Rocket, All in One Migration and the malicious update problem
34:50 WordPress 7 and the new AI APIs, and why it will not feel revolutionary
37:00 Block editor improvements and the abstraction layer problem
38:40 Final thoughts and how to get in touch

Imposter syndrome doesn’t care how good you are. It shows up anyway — making you hesitate before you send a contract, stumble over your words on a call, or scroll past someone else’s work and quietly wonder if you’re good enough.
In this episode of Websites Made Simple, Holly Christie gets honest about imposter syndrome in web design. Why it hits so hard in a self-taught industry. Why tech shaming on LinkedIn makes it worse. And what you can actually do to push through it, level up, and stop letting self-doubt quietly run your business.
We talk about:
Why imposter syndrome affects experienced and award-winning designers too
The problem with tech shaming (and why the tool you use doesn’t define your worth)
Why there’s a seat at the table for every web designer
How to stay in your lane and focus on your own growth
What to do when your processes feel messy or your designs feel stale
How to push outside your comfort zone and keep developing
Why you’re probably doing much better than you think

Chapters:
00:00 Imposter syndrome — it comes for all of us
04:28 When LinkedIn chips away at your confidence
07:35 Stay in your lane and look forward
08:20 Tighten up your processes and onboarding
09:30 What to do when your designs feel stale
10:45 Pushing outside your comfort zone
12:05 You’re doing better than you think

💡 Want Holly’s Sparks Group Mentoring? Find out more here: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/
🌐 Website: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk
📧 Email: [email protected]
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollycchristie/

If you keep finding yourself building features your clients ask for that quietly make their websites worse, this one's for you.

Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.

In this episode, I'm talking about popups — why they're usually doing the opposite of what your clients think they're doing, what to say when a client is dead set on having one, and what to do instead to keep conversions high without frustrating visitors straight off the page.

We get into:
Why popups interrupt the user experience in the worst possible way
How popup design often looks spammy and quietly damages trust
The SEO problem that popup plugins don't tell you about (hint: it's your H1)
Why exit intent popups feel like surveillance — and why that's a problem
How caching plugins can break popups entirely anyway
What slide-ins are and how to use them without being annoying
Floating buttons — how to use them properly (and what not to do on mobile)
Dedicated signup sections that convert without the disruption
How to push back when a client is dead set on having a popup

Check out my new offer: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/
It's a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and "is it just me?" moments.

Come and find out more at https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk or email me at [email protected]

Skip to the good bits:
00:00 Why popups might be hurting your clients' websites
01:11 Welcome and intro
01:39 Why popups interrupt the user experience
03:26 Popups block content and the SEO problem
06:01 Exit intent, popup frequency and the surveillance feeling
08:11 Slide-ins as a smarter alternative
10:30 Floating buttons done right
12:00 Dedicated signup sections that convert without disruption
14:23 How to push back when clients ask for popups
15:28 Wrap-up and how to get in touch
Mentioned in this episode:
Join my Sparks Group Mentoring Programme

If you're not including links pages and custom 404 pages in your website builds, you're leaving money on the table — and doing your clients a disservice.
Check out my new offer: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It's a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and "is it just me?" moments.
Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.
In this episode, I'm talking about two of the most underrated pages in website design: the links page (your on-brand, SEO-friendly alternative to Linktree) and the custom 404 page.
Both are quick to build, easy to position as a value add, and a genuinely great way to stand out from designers who aren't sweating the details.
We get into:
Why Linktree and similar tools can actually hurt your reach on social media platforms
How a links page on your own website works with your SEO and drives traffic where you want it
What to put on a links page to make it genuinely useful — and how to make it your own
Why most 404 pages are a completely wasted opportunity
How to design a 404 page that gets visitors back on track (and even puts a smile on their face)
Why these pages should be built into your project cost, not offered as an upsell
The one quick check you can do on your own website right now
How showcasing these pages on your own site helps attract the right clients

If you want to impress clients, add real value to your builds, and start standing out from designers who aren't going the extra mile — this one is for you.
Come and find out more at https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk or email me at [email protected]
Skip to the good bits:
00:00 Stop leaving these pages out of your website builds
00:30 Why Linktree and Linke hurt your social media reach
01:02 Build a links page on your own website instead
02:00 What to put on your links page
03:10 Keeping links pages simple but effective on mobile
04:30 Links pages, SEO, and sending traffic to your own site
05:00 How to charge for links pages (don't make it optional)
05:44 The problem with generic 404 pages
06:20 How to check if your 404 page is customised right now
07:20 Adding personality and fun to your 404 page
08:14 Using 404 pages to redirect and re-engage visitors
10:02 Start with your own website first
Mentioned in this episode:
Join my Sparks Group Mentoring Programme

If you're wondering why clients aren't buying from you or why the ones who do seem to undervalue your work, the answer isn't always more leads — it's the experience you're creating from the very first touchpoint.
Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.
In this episode, I'm talking about what we are really selling when we are selling websites — and it's not the number of pages or the platform. It's the experience. From the first discovery call to the handover manual, every touchpoint either builds confidence or erodes it.
We get into:
Why discovery calls convert better than email enquiries — and how to structure them
How to follow up after a call so you stop losing warm leads
What your contracts should protect you from (and why so many designers get this wrong)
How to keep clients informed and feeling involved throughout the build
When to refer out — and why knowing your boundaries makes you more professional, not less
What good aftercare looks like (hint: it's not a two-hour Zoom dump)
Why you should be checking on the results your websites produce for clients

If you want better clients, better money, and a process that makes people tell their friends about you, this one is for you.
Check out: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It's a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and "is it just me?" moments.
Come and find out more at https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk or email me at [email protected]
Skip to the good bits:
00:00 What you're really selling (it's not a website)
01:30 Why discovery calls convert better than email
03:00 Screen sharing and building confidence on the call
03:41 Following up after the call — and why timing matters
05:00 The follow-up email template Holly uses
06:00 How many times to follow up before letting go