In this interview series by Website Planet, I talk to executives from the best digital companies, who share their stories, tips and perspectives on what it really takes to create a successful website and online business. A deep dive into decades of hands-on experience and technical expertise to learn untold truths and practical advice that will immediately help you build and grow your website.
Lesia Payne is the Owner and UX Director of Lesia Design & Digital, a web development and design agency with over 500+ websites developed and a proven track record of success, last but not least their recognition as Squarespace Marketplace Experts. Before launching Lesia Design and Digital in 2006, she worked as a designer and developer for companies like Telus, Hotwire, Electronic Arts (EA), and the University of Saskatchewan. However, her design career started much earlier, with a custom PHP journal created in 1997.
To start, tell us briefly about you. What is your current role at your company, and what are the measurable achievements you are most proud of?
Hello, I’m Lesia, the founder of Lesia Design & Digital, with over two decades of web experience and a proven track record of building hundreds of successful Squarespace websites for clients across Canada. In my role, I oversee and am involved in all of our web design and development projects, ensuring each website looks exceptional and meets our clients’ long-term business goals.
One of our proudest achievements is being recognized by Squarespace as Marketplace Experts, highlighting our dedication to quality and our clients’ success. We’ve also just launched an online course on Udemy that teaches individuals and organizations how to plan, build, and launch impressive Squarespace websites without spending thousands.
What pain point(s) do you solve for your customers? What was the “aha Moment” that led to the idea? Can you share that story with us?
Websites need to be not only visually appealing but also strategically designed to meet long-term business goals. We’ve found that many design companies and freelancers focus on quick website turnarounds—sometimes as fast as one day or two weeks. Opting for a website built in days is like grabbing fast food—it’s fast and fills a need, but it doesn’t have the same quality as something homemade. While these sites might look good initially, they often fail to achieve lasting results, lack proper SEO, and aren’t built with the client’s needs and future goals in mind.
Our approach is very contrary to that, and we prioritize quality and user-centred design over intense speed. We believe that a website should be a lasting asset, built to adapt and thrive for years without requiring major overhauls. This approach ensures that our clients not only have beautiful websites but also ones that represent them honestly and drive their goals forward.
What do you think makes your company stand out? What are you most proud of?
The web design industry is flooded with designers who prioritize pushing projects out quickly, and that’s an excellent solution for some people, but that’s not how Lesia Design & Digital operates. We might be experts in our industry, but our clients know their needs best, so we prioritize thorough requirement gathering and relationship building before presenting design ideas and site structures.
Our typical website projects take two or three months to complete, but our clients’ patience is rewarded with quality websites they can be proud of that drive their business forward in the right direction. To that end, we are most proud of the length of some client relationships we have built over the years. We have long-term clients who come to us whenever they have any digital needs – whether that’s a website update, a new graphic for a fundraising campaign, brochure designs, etc.
“Since our website redesign, our number of website visitors has skyrocketed. It used to welcome about 23,000 unique visitors per year, but now it’s welcoming 68,000 unique visitors per year and it’s on track to welcome over 230,000 unique visitors next year! ” Nicole M. Hancock, Executive Director, SDWF
From your experience, what are the most important things to build a highly successful website and online business? Please explain each in detail.
Building a successful website and online business starts with understanding your goals and measures of success. This needs to be the foundation. It’s important to know what you aim to achieve, whether it’s increasing sales, generating leads, or improving brand visibility, and how to measure those outcomes.
Another key factor is user-centered design. A successful website has to appeal to your target audience and address their needs and behaviours; a great website needs to provide users with the information and services they need quickly. There’s no point in creating a visually stunning website if no one can use it. An e-commerce site is only so useful if visitors can’t figure out how to purchase items.
Strategic SEO is also important for increasing your website’s visibility on search engines. Proper keyword research, on-page optimization, and quality content help attract organic traffic and improve your site’s ranking. Responsive design is also an important part of this, as it ensures that your website performs well on all devices, providing a consistent experience whether users are on smartphones, tablets, or desktops. This not only enhances user satisfaction but also positively impacts your SEO.
If there were one part of the website development process you would have spent 50% more time on, what would it be and why? What made you realize the importance of this step?
That’s an interesting question with a fairly specific percentage!
If I could go back, I would have focused more on developing a standardized process earlier in my career. While we now have a highly efficient process from onboarding to launch, this came through years of experience, trial and error. Looking back, investing more time in refining that process from the start would have saved time and increased efficiency much sooner.
What’s the one key lesson you’ve learned about building a website and business that you wish you knew when you started? What’s the story behind this realization?
You can’t do everything yourself. I was fortunate to learn the basics of this lesson early, though I still find it challenging at times. In this industry, it’s impossible to be a jack of all trades and stay ahead. It’s essential to hire experts in their fields, whether that’s graphic designers, web developers, SEO specialists, or copywriters. While it might seem like these expenses cut into your bottom line, some of our most profitable years have actually been when we had the highest contractor and employee costs.
The story behind this realization comes from a period of burnout and overwhelm. After years of relying solely on myself or contractors, I took a risk and hired two incredible employees. I wish I had done it sooner. This decision allowed me to prioritize my mental health, achieve a better work-life balance during my children’s early school years, and maintain a reasonable salary while working less.
In your opinion, which aspect of running a website tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Around 80% of our clients struggle with content creation and MOST underestimate the power and importance of good quality web-based content writing. Quick website builds often result in subpar, non-SEO-optimized content that fails to engage visitors and drive organic traffic. Investing time in professional content writing and SEO best practices is essential for creating a website that looks great, performs well in search rankings, and converts visitors into customers.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people making when building their website and online business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
The most common mistakes when building a website and online business include rushing the development process, neglecting user-centred design, and producing poor-quality content.
User-centered design, a fundamental principle for decades, is the key to creating a successful website. Understanding your users’ needs and behaviours is not just a bonus-it’s a necessity. It’s not enough to bring traffic to your site – it has to be the right traffic to convert your page views into sales.
Is there any advice you’ve received in your career that you now wish you never followed? What happened?
No, I must be lucky! Or perhaps I don’t take advice very well? 😉
What strategy has been particularly effective in growing your website audience this year?
A key strategy for growing my audience this year has been the recent launch of my DIY Squarespace web development course on Udemy entitled: Squarespace Success Blueprint: Attract, Engage and Convert. I’m optimistic that this will open my business to a global audience. By leveraging Udemy’s platform, I hope to not only increase website traffic but also position my business as an authority in this space.
If I asked you to share the key ingredient in your “secret sauce” for inbound marketing, what would it be?
I’ll be honest – we sometimes forget to prioritize inbound marketing. For instance, we don’t have a defined social media strategy or prioritize posting every few days. Instead of quantity, our key ingredient for successful inbound marketing is creating quality content across all platforms. Whether creating engaging social media posts or updating content on our website, we ensure everything we produce is valuable and well-crafted.
Being listed in the Squarespace Expert Marketplace has been great for inbound marketing. This recognition boosts our credibility and attracts businesses actively seeking professional Squarespace design and development services, generating high-quality leads for us.
Our other marketing effort this year was creating and launching a Squarespace Website Design Course on Udemy. This course is perfect for anyone interested in building a website and also enhances our visibility among our target audience: individuals and organizations looking to create Squarespace websites.
By developing quality content over constant content and leveraging our expert status, we’ve connected with our target audience in the right place and at the right time.
Based on your experiences, what trends and technologies are currently underestimated or overlooked, but can significantly impact your industry? How are you going to adapt?
AI is rapidly shaping how we build Squarespace websites, especially with the 2024 refresh, which introduces smart tools that can generate website content tailored to specific topics in just minutes. This technology is a game-changer, making it easier and faster to get started on projects, and it’s especially beneficial for those who may not have strong content creation skills. AI tools like ChatGPT have also revolutionized content writing, streamlining workflows and significantly reducing the time it takes to produce high-quality copy.
However, as AI-driven content creation becomes more widespread, search engines like Google are already adapting. Google has begun to prioritize content that shows clear human involvement, expertise, and authenticity, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach.
To stay competitive, we need to focus on human oversight and ensuring that the AI-generated content is original, authoritative, and tailored to the target audience. This mix of AI efficiency and human expertise is crucial for long-term success in website development and SEO.
With over 13 years of experience in SEO and managing content websites, he has coordinated over 5000 product reviews and interviews with the biggest names in eCommerce, web hosting, cybersecurity, SaaS, AI, and online marketing, to provide newbies and experts with untapped, actionable insights from the top experts in the industry on how to build and grow websites.
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