If you don’t want an opinion, don’t ask

I remember when I first started my VA business. I was on a limited budget and I didn’t have a lot to spend on my business. I knew I needed a website but I didn’t have the money to pay to get one professionally done so I took it upon myself to create my own and let me say what a challenge that was. Anyway, I set out to create my own website so I searched for free hosting, free templates, and how-to html coding sites and I found some so I started my journey.

I got my site done after spending many, many weeks on it and endless amount of hours working on it. I was so proud of it that I couldn’t wait for the world to see it. I decided to put my website up for review thinking for sure I would get nothing but rave reviews. Boy, was I wrong! In fact, I don’t think any of the critiquers said anything nice about the site. I’ll admit, I got mad and got really defensive. I felt as if they were all attacking me. Honestly though, I think what was the worse is I got my pride hurt. I was so proud of my site and here it wasn’t as good as I thought it was. I did eventually take their critiques to heart and started fixing it and let me tell you, it did wonders for my site and my image.

Anytime you ask for a critique of your website you need to realize that you will get the truth on what people see on your site. They are not trying to be condescending or ignorant when it comes to reviewing them. Believe it or not, they are actually trying to help. There ARE some people who are just ignorant who won’t give you any advice and just tell you give it up and hire a professional designer. To me that is not being helpful that is just plain ignorant and shameless self promotion. Just ignore them. They forgot what it was like when they were just starting out doing web design and now they don’t believe that anybody can do it but themselves and they are not truly out to help, they are out to get business.

When you are looking for a website critique ask yourself a few questions:

Am I ready to have my site critiqued?

Can I handle the constructive criticism that I may get, good or bad?

If I do get a critique, will I take the opinions and run with it or will I just ignore them and walk away?

Do I truly want my site to be a success or do I just want to have a web presence?

If you ask yourself those questions and you can honestly answer them in a positive way then you are ready for a website critique. Personally, I think one of the biggest reasons why people get so defensive is because they feel that people are attacking their hard work and that is not the way it is. They are honestly trying to help. Those who offer the reviews are taking time out of their day to help your website and your business become a success. There is nothing in it for them. True they may get a few clients from it but in all reality, that is a very small percentage.

If something isn’t working, you have to accept hard truths to be able to fix it and make things better. And if you refuse to accept help, or if you decide to hold a grudge against someone who tried to help you, you are shutting off your own ability to succeed. Remember before you ask for a website critique, ask yourself those simple questions and above all else, if you do not want a TRUE opinion, don’t ask.

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