How to Create a Website That Truly Resonates—with You and Your Ideal Clients
Lately, I’ve realized that one of my favorite parts of being a web designer is creating websites that truly resonate with my clients.
Not in an “Oh, that’s really nice” kind of way, but in a “Damn, I freaking love this!” kind of way.
And here’s something you may or may not have known—when your website resonates with you as a business owner, it naturally resonates with the people who will want to do business with you (your ideal clients).
Does that mean I ignore the needs and pain points of your audience? No way. Understanding and addressing those is a crucial part of intentional web design.
My process for creating a high-resonance website—one that feels aligned with you and magnetic to your ideal clients—is both intuitive and thorough.
If you’re looking for this kind of online presence, I’ll share my three-step process in this post. And like anything else, the quality of the result is directly proportional to what you’re willing to put into the process.
Intention and attention are everything.
STEP ONE: Clarify Your Message with the Web Design Content Workbook
One of the first things I have my clients do is fill out a content workbook.
I provide customized workbooks for each client, but I also have a generic version I’m happy to share.
Download the Content Workbook here
(This is a Google Doc—after you click the link, click “Make a copy,” and it will save to your own Google Drive.)
Fill it out to the best of your ability.
Then, answer the questions found in this blog post: The Website Clarity Check-In.
The more in-depth your answers, the better. Especially the twelve questions from the Clarity Check-In. Don’t settle for your first-pass answers—peel back the layers and go deeper. That’s where the real resonance begins.
STEP TWO: Brand Excavation — Digging Deeper to Find Your Story
When I was in college studying anthropology at Kansas State University, I was required to take an upper-level archaeology class. I thought I wanted to be an archaeologist, actually—I wanted to be the female version of Indiana Jones, the hero of my favorite movie of all time (still my favorite movie).
What I discovered in that class—where twice per week we went to a field surrounded by Kansas farmland, searching for physical evidence of the land’s original people—was that I wasn’t actually into archaeology.
I loved learning about it, watching documentaries, studying the stories. But the “hands in the dirt with a toothbrush” kind of work—painstakingly cleaning, numbering, and analyzing tiny shards—was not my cup of tea.
After that semester, I switched my emphasis from archaeology to cultural anthropology.
But the desire to excavate and uncover hidden treasures has never left me.
And that’s what Step Two is all about—brand excavation.
I’ve been revisiting a favorite branding book this week, The Fortune Cookie Principle. Here’s a quote that’s stayed with me:
“Good businesses become great brands when their truth intersects with the truth of what it is their customers really want.”
This is the part of the process where we dig for those truths.
Once you’ve filled out your content workbook and completed your brand clarity questionnaire, feed your answers into an AI platform using the following simple prompt:
You’re a brand strategist. I’ll paste my answers—flag anything vague and ask 1–2 brief follow-ups (story, example, contrast, sensory detail). Max 7 questions; no rewrites.
This prompt turns AI into your creative guide—not your author. It helps you clarify your story while keeping your authentic voice.
Run your second set of answers through again using the same prompt. Work on anything that’s flagged. Repeat until your answers truly reflect the story behind your business.
That’s how you strike gold.
STEP THREE: Turn Your Brand Story into Resonant Website Copy (with AI)
Now it’s time to turn your refined story into tangible website copy that connects.
(Note: For ChatGPT users, if you’re on a paid plan, you can upload your workbook and clarity answers as a PDF. If you’re using the free plan, copy/paste your responses directly into the chat box—the process works just as well.)
Using the answers to your workbook and clarity questions, feed the whole enchilada into your AI platform with this prompt:
Act as a helpful copy editor. Using my answers to the Website Clarity Check-In (pasted below), do three things: (1) Sum me up in one sentence. (2) Draft a first pass of my homepage words: a short headline (≤10 words), one sentence under it, one button label, a 2-sentence “why choose me,” three short proof lines, three bullets on what clients get, three simple steps, and five short FAQs. Keep my tone, use concrete words and active verbs, keep it scannable, and don’t add claims I didn’t give.
Remember: the output should always feel right to you.
Never accept an AI-generated result without checking in with yourself first.
Resonance is the key to creating a website you love—one that also draws in the people you most want to work with.
BONUS: Some of My Favorite AI Prompts for Business and Branding
For General Business
What are the top 5 trends impacting [your industry] right now?
Based on what you know about my target audience, make me a list of 50 keywords and phrases my ideal customer is searching for online.
Give me a 10-point list of frustrations my ideal customer faces.
Act like a content marketing strategist. Based on my business—a [what you do] serving [ideal customer base] struggling with [pain points]—build me a list of topics & keywords for content creation.
For General Copywriting
What tips would you give me to make my writing more engaging, persuasive, and psychologically compelling to buyers?
Based on my target market, rewrite this copy to hit deeper on the pain points & desires of a potential customer. Use examples they’d recognize from daily life. [copy/paste text]
For Social Media Content
Give me 10 ideas for posting on [platform] for [type of business].
Tell me 5 characteristics of [platform] posts that go viral about [topic].
Generate 50 viral quotes about [topic].
For Brand Voice
How does my writing style compare to other writers in my niche or industry? Here’s a sample: [copy/paste].
What do these writing choices (sentence structure, vocabulary, tone) reveal about my brand’s personality and values?
How can I make my writing more engaging, distinctive, and memorable? Here’s a sample: [copy/paste].
For SEO and Website Copy
Ask for meta titles and descriptions for each page of your website as a batch request. Do the same for each blog post.
Provide a title for this blog post [insert copy] that contains keywords with high search volume and low to medium competition.
Help me optimize this [blog post / YouTube / podcast] script for SEO by suggesting relevant keywords and phrases.
Using the following website as a guide [insert link], use what you know about my business and ideal client to create homepage copy with the same structure and emotional tone. Include H1 and H2 tags, proof points, steps, and FAQs.
This last one falls under the category of not reinventing the wheel.
If you see a website you absolutely love, do yourself a favor and learn from it. If you aren’t a copywriter or a designer, borrow the structure from those who are.
Even Steve Jobs would approve.
Closing Thought
Creating a website that resonates isn’t just about colors, fonts, or layouts.
It’s about alignment—between your truth, your purpose, and the people you’re meant to reach.
When your message feels true to you, it will feel true to them.
That’s resonance.
That’s magnetic web design.
