Current Website Landscape

Name: How To Build a Website SO Premium They Beg You To Buy
Uploaded: 2026-03-02T01:17:11.754264+00:00
Channel: Sam Crawford | Squarespace Expert
Description: Summary and key takeaways on Current Website Landscape, covering When a visitor lands on a website, the first two seconds are decisive. If the site “feels

Sam Crawford | Squarespace Expert

Mar 02, 2026

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3 min read

YouTube video ID: 7p-ZPK3GfI8

Source: YouTube video by Sam Crawford | Squarespace Expert — Watch original video

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When a visitor lands on a website, the first two seconds are decisive. If the site “feels cheap,” the visitor instantly forms a negative judgment about the business. I have spent years working with Fortune 500 companies and have helped generate more than $10 million in incremental revenue. In this article I break down the exact elements that make a website feel premium and show how you can spot or build one yourself.

Current Website Landscape

Most businesses fall into one of two common situations. First, many clients are locked into outdated developers. Simple changes become costly and take weeks, creating frustration and a sense of being trapped. Second, a large number of DIY or low‑cost developer sites lack any strategic foundation—there is no SEO plan, no clear calls to action, and the design is generic. Because of these shortcomings, the majority of sites score around a “2” out of 10 on a professional perception scale.

Elements of a Premium Website

Bespoke Assets

Custom graphics, illustrations, and icons replace stock photos and generic symbols. These assets add depth, visual interest, and intentionality. They break up content, guide the eye, and help users digest information. Crucially, they must align with the brand’s tone and aesthetic; otherwise they feel out of place and cheap.

Brand Guidelines

A premium site rests on solid brand fundamentals:
Logo – professionally designed, purposeful, and instantly recognizable.
Color Palette – cohesive, complementary colors that set mood and reinforce identity.
Fonts* – sophisticated, readable typefaces that elevate the brand. Poor font choices or mismatched colors instantly downgrade the perception of a site.

Subtle Animation

Animation should never be distracting. Simple fade‑ins, hover‑responsive buttons, and natural section movements give the impression of a “live” site rather than a static page. These micro‑interactions reduce “rage clicks” by guiding users smoothly. Users may not consciously notice the animation, but they feel the site’s responsiveness.

Website Structure

A clear architecture, logical sitemap, and purposeful page flow are essential. Premium sites map out user journeys that lead to obvious, compelling calls to action. Every page has a reason to exist and points the visitor toward the next step. This structure not only improves user experience but also helps search engines understand the site, boosting SEO performance.

Client Ownership and Maintenance

True premium service gives the client ownership of the website. The client can update content without paying extra fees or waiting for a developer. This empowerment keeps the site fresh and relevant, and the “aliveness” of up‑to‑date content is palpable to visitors. In contrast, “black‑box” developer sites trap clients, making the site feel abandoned and cheap.

Handover and Post‑Launch Care

A premium experience does not end at launch. It includes a thorough handover: recorded or live training sessions, clear expectations about client capabilities, and a 30‑day free email support window. Optional hosting and maintenance plans provide two hours of dedicated team time each month, ensuring the site remains functional, secure, and up‑to‑date long after the initial build.

Conclusion

Premium is not just a visual finish; it is the sum of every detail—from custom assets and brand consistency to subtle animation, structured navigation, and ongoing support. When you pay attention to these elements, visitors sense that you care about the details, and that perception translates into trust and higher conversion. Explore the portfolio, book a call, or watch the next video to see premium web design in action.

Takeaways

A website that feels cheap creates a negative business judgment within the first two seconds of a visitor’s experience.
Custom graphics, cohesive brand guidelines, and subtle animations are key visual elements that differentiate premium sites from low‑quality ones.
Clear site architecture and purposeful calls to action improve both user experience and SEO, guiding visitors toward conversion.
Giving clients ownership of their site and the ability to update content freely keeps the site fresh and avoids the trap of a black‑box developer.
Premium service includes thorough handover, 30 days of free email support, and optional maintenance plans to ensure long‑term site health.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Sam Crawford | Squarespace Expert on YouTube?

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Custom Website Design Recommended

Diseñar un sitio con gráficos a medida eleva la percepción de calidad y ayuda a diferenciar la marca.

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Website Maintenance Plan

Un plan de mantenimiento garantiza actualizaciones regulares, seguridad y soporte continuo, manteniendo el sitio vivo.

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Full Transcript YouTube

Most websites look cheap. And I don't
mean they're poorly built or anything
like that. [music] What I mean is they
feel cheap. And when someone lands on a
cheap site, [music] within 2 seconds,
they've already made a judgment about
that business. That judgment is usually
not a good one. Which is why today I'm
going to break down exactly what makes a
website [music] feel premium versus what
makes it look like you just built it
yourself on a Friday night. After
working with multiple Fortune [music]
500 companies and generate a north of
$10 million in incremental revenue, I've
noticed there are specific [music]
things that separate the websites people
want to buy from and the ones they want
to leave immediately. By the end of this
video, you'll understand what actually
makes a site feel expensive. You'll be
able to spot it when you see [music] it,
and you'll also know exactly what to
look for when building your own site.
Okay, so let's start with the reality of
where most websites are right now. I see
two main situations. First, you've got
people who hired a developer years ago
and now they're completely locked in.
Let's say they want to change a single
line of text on their homepage because
they changed what, you know, whatever
their service offerings are. More often
than not, that'll take a support ticket,
maybe two weeks of waiting, and in some
cases extra money on top of an existing
retainer. They have zero autonomy, and
that lack of control becomes this
[music] constant frustration within the
business. Then you've got the other
group, people who did it themselves or
hired someone cheap. And look, I do get
it. Budget constraints are real. But
here's the issue. In [music] that case,
there's no actual strategy behind the
site. The site map itself doesn't even
make sense. The site itself isn't
structured for SEO or AIO. It's not
guiding people towards any real call to
action. And honestly, it's not doing
even a fraction of what a website could
do for the business. If I had to rate it
on a scale of 0 to 10, most sites I see
are probably sitting around a two. And
the reason why is because when someone
lands on it, their immediate thought is
these people don't look professional.
And that perception, it sticks. So that
is the exact problem that we're going to
solve today in this video. So here's the
number one thing that makes a website
feel premium. It's bespoke assets. And I
know that sounds kind of vague. So let
me explain what I mean. Most cheap
websites are just text. You've got text
that sits on a plain background and then
maybe you've got some stock photos
thrown in. But when you add custom
graphics, and I mean actually custom,
like not generic icons from some free
library, something shifts. Suddenly,
you've got depth, you've got visual
interest, and [music] the site starts to
feel intentional. What we'll do for
clients is we'll create these custom
graphics specifically for the client.
They're not just decorative. What they
do is they serve a purpose. [music] They
break up content and they guide the eye.
And what it does is it makes information
[music] easier to digest for the
visitor. But here's the thing that
separates something that's premium from
something that looks quite amateur. The
graphics themselves have to feel like
they belong. So what they have to do is
match the brand, the tone of the
business, and then the overall aesthetic
of the site. Because if you've got a
graphic that [music] looks out of place,
it's much worse than having no graphic
at all. When it's done right, though, it
completely changes how a site feels.
It's the difference between someone just
clicking around your site and leaving
and someone actually stopping to read
what you have to say. Okay, so this next
one's huge and [music] I think a lot of
people underestimate how much it matters
and that's brand guidelines.
Specifically, your logo, your color
palette, and your fonts. So, let's start
with the logo. A professional logo
doesn't have to be complicated, but it
does have to be intentional. It has to
look like someone who knows what they're
doing created it. If your logo looks
like it was made in Canva in 15 minutes,
then people are going to viscerally feel
it. Next is your color palette. And this
is where I see so many people mess up.
What they'll do is they'll pick like
five colors that they think work
individually, but they don't work
together. There's no cohesion
whatsoever. [music] And a premium color
palette is cohesive. The colors
complement each other and they work
together to create a mood and a feeling
and a brand identity throughout the
site. So when someone's scrolling
through your site, the colors should
feel intentional and not random. But the
biggest one is fonts. Fonts can
completely change how a site looks. If
you think about like a a childish font,
an outdated font, or a font that's hard
to read, even any of those will
instantly make your site feel cheap. But
the right fonts [music]
will make your site feel sophisticated
and often times more sophisticated than
your brand even is. So when you pay
attention to all these things, what it
does is it makes people feel like you
care about the details. [music]
And that's what premium is. It's all in
the details. You combine a professional
logo, a cohesive color palette, and then
thoughtfully chosen fonts. You'll have
the foundation for a premium site.
Everything else builds on top of that
foundation. So, here's something that
separates good sites from great sites.
I'm talking about subtle animation, not
the kind where you've got everything
kind of bouncing around and spinning and
distracting a visitor from what they're
actually reading. That's the opposite of
premium. It's cool for a moment, but in
reality, people see all these wacky
animations and they're just overwhelmed.
So, what I mean by subtle animation is
when someone scrolls down your page,
you've got nice elements that fade in.
When a visitor hovers over a button, it
responds in kind. When they land on a
new section, things move in a way that
feels natural and it guides their
attention to where you want them to go.
It's like the difference between a
website that feels sort of dead and
static versus one that feels alive. The
animations that we use are designed to
reduce what we call rage clicks. You
know, when someone's so confused or
overwhelmed on your site that they just
start sort of clicking everywhere trying
to see what is responsive. We want to
prevent that. We want to guide people
through the site smoothly. Obviously,
keep them engaged and make sure they're
not overwhelmed because when you do it
right, animation is a great way to do
that. It's subtle enough that people
don't consciously notice it, but they do
feel it. And that feeling is what
separates a site that people want to
spend time on versus one that they want
to leave. All right, so we've covered
the visual stuff, the graphics, the
branding, the animations, but here's
what I'm realizing. A lot of people know
what makes a site look premium, but they
don't know how to actually build it or
they know what they want, but they don't
know how to communicate it to a
designer. So, what I've done is I've put
together a free guide called the premium
website checklist. It's literally a
checklist of every element we've talked
about today, plus about 15 or so other
things that separate premium from cheap.
So, what you can do is you can use it to
audit your own site or if you're hiring
someone, you can use it to make sure
they're actually building something
premium for your business. What I'll do
is I'll drop the link in the
description. It's completely free. Just
grab it and start using it. Anyway,
let's keep going. So, we've talked about
the visual stuff, but here's where a lot
of otherwise very premium sites actually
fall apart, and that's the structure.
And I'm talking about the actual
architecture of the site, the site map
itself, the way pages flow into each
other, how information is organized. A
cheap site has pages that might make
sense individually, but together they
don't make any sense. So someone lands
on your homepage and the next logical
step isn't clear. Do they go to your
services page? If you've got multiple
services, which page do they go to? Do
they go to your about page, your contact
page? They're confused. And [music] this
confusion will always lead to an action.
A premium site on the other hand guides
people. Every page has a purpose. Every
page leads [music] somewhere. And
there's a clear journey from landing on
the site to taking action. And that
action, which is your call to action,
has to be crystal clear. You don't want
it just buried in the footer. It's got
to be obvious. It's got to be easy to
find. And most importantly, it's got to
be easy to take. But not only is this
important from a purely conversion
perspective, this is where SEO comes
into. A premium site isn't just visually
impressive or congruent or properly
copywritten. It's structured in a way
that search engines understand. And it's
also organized in a way that makes sense
for both people and algorithms. So your
site map, your page hierarchy, your
internal linking, all of that matters.
These are the parts I know that they're
just not flashy. They're not sexy and
they're typically not something that
people will consciously notice. But
things like the site map, UX, and your
CTAs are the difference between a site
that actually sees insane return on
investment and brings in so much
business versus one that just sits there
and looks nice. Now, I want to take a
moment to speak directly about what we
do to make premium websites, which I
want you to know whether you end up
working with us or not. Because here's
what really separates what we do from
what a lot of other designers and
developers may do. After we build a
site, the client actually owns it. And
more than that, they can actually update
it. They can make changes. They can add
new content without waiting for us,
without paying extra, without feeling
like they're locked into a one-way
contract. And listen, I know that sounds
like it should be standard, but it's
it's not. A lot of developers will build
sites that are basically, you know,
black box. You can't touch them. You
need a developer to do everything and
anything on the site. That's not
premium. That's a trap. And quite
frankly, it's a business model that
gives the web design industry quite a
bad name. Then on the other hand, a
premium site would actually empower the
client. This is what we do. It's built
in a way that's intuitive. It's easy to
update. The client feels like they own
it because they do. And here's why this
matters for the overall feel of the
site. Because when a client can easily
update their site, they do. They keep
content fresh. They add new case
studies. They update their services. And
the site stays alive. It stays relevant.
And that freshness, that aliveness,
that's something people feel when they
land on a site. It's the difference
between a [music] site that feels
current and professional versus one that
just feels abandoned. So, when we're
building a premium site, we're not just
trying to make it look good. We're
making it something that the client can
actually use and maintain. And that's
the transformation that we offer. And on
that note, I want to mention what proper
handover and post-launch care looks
like. So, as an example, we've built
this premium site. It looks amazing, and
it's structured perfectly. The client
sat there ready to launch. But here's
where a lot of people mess up. They just
kind of hand it over and disappear.
Again, that's not a premium service.
What that is is it's cutting and
running. Not only is it bad for the
client results, obviously, but it's just
bad business on behalf of the agency or
the freelancer building the site. So,
here's what we do instead. We'll sit
there and we will record a full handover
training session for the client. If they
want a live training session, we will do
that, too. We'll walk the client through
the site, show them exactly how to
update it, how [music] to add new
content, how to use all the features
that we've built for them. Then what
we'll do is we set clear expectations
about [music] what they can do dayto-day
and what they might need a little bit of
help with in the future. And then for
the first 30 days post launch, we're
available for free email support. So any
questions, any issues, anything they're
not sure about, the team are there. Or
our goal is with this is [music] to make
sure nothing goes wrong. And if they do
want ongoing support after that, we have
like a a hosting and maintenance plan
that we offer. So, we're on hand with 2
hours of team time per month to make
changes, plus 24/7 access to our
concierge team for any questions.
[music] It's not really that expensive,
but what it means is clients who don't
always want to be on the site all the
time have that flexibility of having a
team on hand whenever they need it. And
that is what premium service looks like.
It's not just about the product. It's
about the entire experience [music] from
that first call to months after launch.
We're showing that we care and [music]
clients can feel that. Now, if you want
to see what Premium looks like in
action, I've got a whole portfolio of
sites [music] that we've built and I'll
link to that in the description. If
while you're checking out our work,
something catches your eye and you
decide you want your own custom website
to look just like that, you can book in
a call and speak to the team. That said,
if you only want to just keep watching,
that's okay, too. If you click here, you
can check out the next video where I'll
walk you through an entire before and
after of a website that we designed for
an energy company. So you can see
exactly what our work looks like in real
time and get an idea for how we could
transform your site.