Why does my website look like my competitor’s?
Your website looks like your competitor’s because you built it the same way they did. You looked at what passes as ‘professional’ in your industry, followed the formula, and ended up looking exactly the same – and now that you’ve realised it, it’s depressing the crap out of you. It’s not that you have bad taste or a terrible web designer. It’s what happens when an entire industry uses each other as the reference point instead of starting from what actually makes each business different.
The moment this becomes obvious
I was sitting across from an accountant recently, a super smart guy that’s been in business for years, who is genuinely excellent at what he does. I pulled up his website next to five of his competitors, side by side.
He went quiet for a second. Then he said something I still think about: ‘they all look like beige wallpaper.’
He was right. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was when he realised that his looked exactly the same as the rest.
Why this happens in every professional services industry
If you’re in accounting, law, finance, consulting, or any other professional services field, there’s a very good chance your website has this exact problem. Not because you have bad taste. Not because your web designer cut corners. Because of how the decision actually gets made.
You look at a competitor’s site, think ‘that looks professional,’ and use it as your reference point. They did the same thing, copying the firm before them. And the firm before them did the same. The result is an entire industry that has copied its way into looking identical.
Stock photos. “Trusted advisors”. Navy blue (why is it always navy blue lol).
The problem is while everyone thinks a website should look ‘professional’, it’s actually a myth.
What breaking the pattern actually looks like
Naked Accounting is a fantastic example of what happens when a company stops asking ‘what does a trustworthy accounting firm look like’ and asks a much better question instead: what does this specific company actually stand for, and who are they really for?
They looked at the rest of the accounting industry, and when everyone else was zigging, they decided to zag. Bold colours, check. Fun textures, check. Cheeky images, check. Risque language, check.
The result is a brand that stands completely apart in an industry that is very hard to stand out in. And that’s the key – the reason this works isn’t that they went for a risque name or a bolder colour palette just for the sake of it.
It’s because the brand was built from the ground up in an honest answer to the question ‘who are we, actually,’ rather than ‘what does everyone else in our industry look like.’
How to tell if this is happening to your website
There are a few honest questions you can ask yourself about your own site to figure out if you’re stuck in this trap:
- If you covered up your logo, could a visitor tell your website apart from your two closest competitors?
- Does your homepage headline say something any firm in your industry could also claim?
- Would your best clients describe your brand the way your website describes it, or in completely different words?
If the answers make you uncomfortable, that’s a good sign it’s time for a change, and I can promise you, you’re not alone. Almost every professional services firm we work with starts here.
The fix isn’t a redesign, it’s finding the brand underneath what’s already there
The instinct is usually to hire someone to design something different. But a different-looking website built on the same generic positioning just becomes a cream or eggshell-coloured version of the beige wallpaper you started with.
The actual fix starts earlier: figuring out what’s true and specific about your business, the language your best clients already use to describe you, the thing you do differently that you’ve stopped noticing because it’s just normal to you, and building the brand and website around that, instead of around what ‘looks professional’ in your industry.
Is your website blending in with everyone else in your industry? Get a free Brand Breakdown and find out exactly where your brand is disappearing into the beige: book yours here.
Or grab the Brand Blueprint ebook for a first look at how to find the brand that’s already sitting inside your business.
