When Your Website Doesn’t Feel Like You

Have you ever paused — just for a half second — before sending someone to your website?

Not because it’s broken. Not because it’s ugly. But because… it just doesn’t feel like you.

I’ve been working with authors lately, and I’ve started to notice a pattern. These are people who know how to express themselves. They write with nuance and depth. They’ve labored over every word in their books. But when it comes to their website?

It can sometimes feel like a weird costume they were told they had to wear. Or worse — like when you and someone else show up to a party in the same outfit: awkward and a little too easy to compare.

It’s not that the people who helped you get started didn’t know what they were doing or worse, didn’t care. Maybe it was a friend or a relative who helped you set up your first site, 3, 5, or even 10 years ago. Or maybe you used something like Shopify or Wix, and at the time, it was exactly what you needed. Maybe you even did your own research, found a few sites you liked, and did your best to model yours after them.

But now, you look at your site and realize: somewhere along the way, someone convinced you that it had to be a certain kind of “professional.” That it needed all the standard things — social links, newsletter opt-ins, a perfectly posed headshot.

And it’s not that those things are bad. But when they’re the only focus?

The soul of the person — the real writer behind the words — gets lost.
Your people can’t see you in your website.

And here’s the thing: it’s not just writers.

I’ve seen this with small business owners who pour everything into their work but haven’t touched their site in years. With nonprofits doing deeply human work whose websites feel… sterile. Or dated. With artists, coaches, and community builders doing incredible things — but feeling a distance from the digital home that’s supposed to represent them.

There’s a disconnect.
And it’s a problem.

If your website doesn’t feel like you, it’s hard to share it.
Hard to be proud of it.
Hard to let it do the work it’s supposed to do — because deep down, you know it’s not quite right. Or not quite true.

But here’s the good news: we can fix that.

I’m not pitching anything here. (Well — not yet anyway.)
Just naming a pattern I’ve seen. And maybe one you’ve felt, too.

If you’ve ever looked at your site and thought,

“This just isn’t me anymore…”

You’re not alone.

There’s a way forward. And maybe it starts with a better question —
Not “how do I make this more professional?”
But “how do I make this more me?”

To thine own self be true… especially on your website.”