Hi, I’m Maya. I’m 23, and a few months ago I decided it was time to finally create a website for my little Pilates studio here in the city. It started as a fun idea — I thought I’d have it done in an afternoon, you know? A cute logo, some pink colors, a few photos — boom, done.
But… no.
It became one of the most stressful weeks of my life — and also one of the most educational. Here’s exactly what happened.
✅ The Parts That Were Surprisingly Easy
When I first sat down at my laptop, I googled “best free website builder” and ended up on Wix. I liked how friendly it looked — the little animations and colorful buttons made me feel like, okay, I can totally do this.
I picked a template called “Wellness Studio” that already had a calming vibe — white background, soft green accents. Adding my studio’s name and swapping the photos for mine actually went pretty fast. I uploaded a few shots of me teaching a class and it already looked better than I expected.
I also liked that I could drag sections up and down. At one point I moved the testimonials to the top, and it actually made the page feel more inviting.
At this point I was thinking: why do people even pay for this? it’s so easy!
Ha. 🤦🏻♀️
😬 The Parts No One Warns You About
Getting It On My Phone
The first time I checked it on my phone I almost cried. It looked awful. The menu was overlapping the photos, the text was way too small, and the logo just disappeared somehow. I spent two whole evenings trying to fix the mobile view — every time I thought I fixed it, another thing would break.
What Pages Do I Even Need?
This one surprised me. I thought: okay — home, about, contact. But then I saw competitors had pricing pages, schedule pages, booking buttons, FAQs, even separate class descriptions. I got stuck here for hours thinking: what do clients actually want to see first?
Fonts Are Evil
Seriously. I spent 45 minutes comparing “Lato” vs. “Montserrat” vs. “Raleway” because I read somewhere that the wrong font can “turn visitors away.” Even after all that, I wasn’t sure. Then my friend texted me saying: “why is all your text gray and hard to read?”
Images Are Harder Than You Think
The photos from my phone looked grainy. Stock photos looked fake — like, perfect smiling models that don’t even sweat. It made me realize how important authentic images are, but also how hard they are to take if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Booking System = Nightmare
I thought “oh, I’ll just add a Book Now button.” Turns out you need to set up a booking app, connect it to a calendar, sync it with email… I spent 3 hours on that and it still didn’t work right.
💡 What I Learned
📌 First — the hardest part isn’t technical. It’s figuring out what you want your site to do before you even open the editor. Do you want people to call you? Book online? Just see your schedule?
📌 Second — “done” is better than “perfect.” I wasted so much time obsessing over little things that probably no one notices — like button colors or footer text — and no time thinking about how to actually get people to the site.
📌 Third — good photos and clear text matter more than anything else. People don’t care if your buttons are square or rounded — they care if they understand how to sign up and if your studio looks like a place they want to be.
📷 Small Details That Made a Big Difference
- Adding real testimonials from clients. I asked 3 of my regulars to write 2 sentences each and it instantly felt more trustworthy.
- Putting my phone number in big letters at the top. People stopped hunting for it.
- Linking my Instagram feed to the bottom of the page. It gave the site some life and showed we’re real.
🪞 How I Felt
By the end of the week, I was exhausted. The site was okay — definitely better than nothing — but I couldn’t help feeling it still looked a little “DIY” compared to others. One of my clients actually said: “Oh, it’s cute! … Did you make it yourself?” 😳 Not exactly the confidence boost I wanted.
🎯 What I’d Do Differently Next Time
- Spend more time looking at other studio websites before starting.
- Sketch what I wanted on paper first — instead of jumping into the builder.
- Hire someone to take 10 great photos of me and the studio.
- Probably ask a professional to just handle the setup so I can focus on teaching.
📝 Final Thoughts
If you’re reading this because you’re about to build your first site — just know: it’s doable. But it’s also more than just picking a template. It’s about knowing what your clients care about and making it easy for them to say “yes.”
The process taught me that the site isn’t really for me — it’s for them. And the faster they find what they’re looking for, the sooner they’ll book.
🌸 Hope this helps someone out there. If you’re building yours now — good luck! Take it one step at a time and remember: Perfect is the enemy of done.