Ep # 190 - How To Build An On Brand Website That Works

Your website might look great, but can a customer understand what you do in five seconds and take the next step without friction? We sit down with Taryn McManus, a web and brand designer, to talk about the difference between a site that’s merely pretty and one that actually works as a sales tool. We get specific about website usability, smart structure, and why many service businesses don’t need a massive site to win, they need clarity, strong calls to action, and an online experience that feels unmistakably on brand.

From there, we zoom out into branding for small businesses and local businesses that feel squeezed by low-cost competitors and nonstop advertising. We talk about branding beyond logos and color palettes: brand voice, the feeling you leave people with, and the consistency that builds recognition over time. Taryn shares her practical starting point for brand strategy, including the simple “three adjectives” exercise that helps shape design choices and messaging across websites, email marketing, blogs, and social media.

We also challenge the “build it and they will come” mindset and dig into how to drive traffic with content that connects. With SEO evolving fast and AI changing how people search, the real constant is trust: people buy from businesses that feel familiar, credible, and human. If you want a more effective website, a clearer brand, and marketing that doesn’t feel like an endless ad hamster wheel, this conversation will give you a strong next step. Subscribe, share this with a business owner who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest website or branding question.

Taryn McManus Design
hello@tarynmcmanus.design
tarynmcmanus.design

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Overview

Intro/Close 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.

Doug Drohan 0:11

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. Today we are joined by Taryn McManus Design. Uh Taryn is a designer, but not, you know, the typical designers I have on the show, which are interior designs for homes. Taryn is more about elevating your business design or your brand. So we uh I can't wait to talk to Taryn. How are you?

Taryn McManus 0:36

I'm great, Doug. Very excited to be here.

Doug Drohan 0:38

Yeah, yeah. It's um, you know, I like I said before we we came on on air that uh, you know, we're in similar businesses, which is about trying to elevate uh a company. And uh, you know, I always preach about the importance of having a brand versus having an ad. Um, so you know, what what is it that Tara McManus design provides?

Taryn McManus 1:02

I build impactful websites that give visitors an immersive on-brand digital experience. So I help businesses pair strategic design with compelling content from branding and websites to email marketing, blogs, and social media. So every touch point works together. My goal is to create an online presence that not only looks beautiful but connects with your audience and ultimately helps your business grow.

What Makes A Website Functional

Doug Drohan 1:27

Right, right. And I'd say that the you know, the challenge that a lot of business owners that I talk to have is that they um I it falls under a number of buckets. One, they created the website themselves, which I did uh through GoDaddy or something like that, and it's okay, but nobody's managing it. You have no idea of how it performs on in SEO or nowadays AI if somebody's searching for your types of services, um, and you kind of created something to have a website, but it was kind of like you built it and that's it. And then you have the others that hire somebody uh and they want to charge them like $5,000 or whatever, and it takes forever to build their website, and um, and then they're gonna charge them a monthly fee to run SEO and other things, or they're just gonna hire somebody to build a website. Uh, or you know, or they're gonna hire someone to build a website, but then they're also gonna run ads for them and and it's pretty expensive. Um, but I don't I never really hear many people talking about the functionality of it. Yeah, it might be beautiful looking, but you know, it's it's not really functional in in terms of like when you go on their website, where's their phone number? Where are the reviews? Um, you know, does it take me forever to get through the website to understand what it is that they do? Um, so where like where do you fall in those buckets? Like, what's your philosophy when it comes to you know, like just the design and and and I guess the functionality of websites?

Taryn McManus 2:58

Well, if nobody can use it, there's I didn't do my job. If people are struggling to use your website or find information, then I wouldn't have done my job, you know. Like you don't need a website that is 400 pages deep. Like you want your homepage to kind of function as a preview for the rest of the site. Um, and then just having a menu that is very clear, you get an idea. Like, I don't think most websites, excluding a blog, need to be more than five pages.

Speaker 1 3:29

Right.

Taryn McManus 3:29

Unless you have like a really complex business model or an e-commerce store, like those are really the only exceptions. Otherwise, everything that people need to find should be right there.

Clear Messaging Customers Get Fast

Doug Drohan 3:41

Yeah. And I I subscribe to a um, not physically subscribe to, but there's a guy named Donald Miller who wrote a book called The Story Brand Framework. And uh I follow him on Instagram and I get his, you know, his Instagram posts all the time. But his uh, you know, his big message is always about sound bites, and that if people don't know what you do within a few seconds, then you know you're you're you're losing it, you know, you're not doing it uh the right way. And he also talks about the story brand is about the story arc of the struggles that not you as the business owner goes through, but that your customer goes through, and how you can guide them and offer a solution. And that should be in every piece of marketing. So it's not so much about you, it's about your customer, and that they should see their themselves or their pain point in your marketing. So um, I don't know, how do you like how do you approach that in terms of um you know your your brand approach?

Three Adjectives That Shape Brands

Taryn McManus 4:43

I always start with clients, I need to get an idea of what where they are now and where they want to be. Because there's a certain amount of future proofing that you can do with a website, but then there's also like the parameters of just reality where I can only know so much ahead of time. But I like to start with hearing like where they are now, where they want to be, who they're trying to connect with. And then I ask them for three adjectives that they want their brand to resonate with or to come to mind when somebody's thinking of their company once it's all said and done. And then from there, I'll build a mood board or they'll build a mood board. And then the the website itself, it kind of becomes like a puzzle, which is what I really like about it. Um, it's a puzzle that we don't know the answer to, which is what makes it all the more fun. At that point, it's there is no real process to it other than having an idea of what information needs to be there. Like I need a description of your service, I need a way that people are gonna get in touch with you. Otherwise, coming up with different sections and sliders or whatever the case may be, that just kind of happens organically. And I always make sure that my clients have a say in what I'm doing. I will give my expertise, I will tell them what I've learned in school, studying design, what I've studied, looking at other websites and just building websites along the way. But if it's something that they're really want and it isn't gonna affect functionality and and usability and just being able to find stuff, then I'll do my best to make it happen for them.

Doug Drohan 6:23

Yeah. Do you find people struggle with giving you like a couple of words that describe what they do? Um like if you like if you said to somebody, so give me like in a few words, like like you know, I see these all the time when when I watch some of these videos from other like on um Instagram, Jeremy Minor and others, and they ask, you know, it's kind of like the Jordan Belfort, sell me this pen. Oh, well, you know, I you know, like when somebody stands up at a networking event and has 30 seconds to describe what they do, um, I see a lot of people struggle with it. And not that they struggle getting the words out, it's just that they sound like everybody else. Um, you know, they're just selling the services instead of something else. Like, do people struggle with that, or just is it, you know, like if you were to say, like one of your clients, um I don't know, like a voiceover artist, I guess, you know, how does she describe herself in three words or three different um adjectives?

Taryn McManus 7:24

Well, I give them time to think about it and I'll follow up after. I'm also very direct. Like if there is an answer that I need a question, or if there's a question that I need an answer to, I'll ask. So after they tell me about their business, I'll ask what sets you apart from everybody else. And they'll either come with it, come up with it on the spot, or I'll give them a couple of days and I'll send a follow-up email. Um it's often in the branding and in the vision of what they want to see their business grow into, is where I find those answers.

Doug Drohan 8:00

Yeah. Yeah. Nice. So

Taryn’s Path Into Design

Doug Drohan 8:03

what uh how did you get, you know, how did you get into this business? Like, what's your background?

Taryn McManus 8:08

Well, I have always kind of been entrepreneurial at heart. Like as a kid, I was like, oh, I should make a magazine, or like I should do a lemonade stand that also sells cookies.

Speaker 1 8:18

Uh-huh.

Taryn McManus 8:18

So I've always just kind of carried that with me. And I was actually accepted into Bergen Tech Teeterborough for high school.

Speaker 1 8:24

Yeah.

Taryn McManus 8:24

And I was there for a couple months. I was in the graphic design program, and then I had some stuff happen at home where it just ultimately became easier for me to go to the local high school.

Speaker 1 8:33

Okay.

Taryn McManus 8:34

It was easier for my parents. I got to be with my friends. Um, I graduated from Hackensack High School in like the top 15%. So I was able to go to Bergen to uh Bergen community for free.

Doug Drohan 8:46

Oh wow.

Taryn McManus 8:47

And I was able to kind of figure out what I wanted to do. And I remember taking this one art class, and one of the first activities were okay, you have to come up with a brand and you need to like build this brand out, and that's going to be the homework assignment. And I had to build a logo in Microsoft Word, okay, which is definitely not the program that's Word.

Doug Drohan 9:07

Wow, yeah.

Taryn McManus 9:07

Yeah, that's not the program people want to build logos in. But I came up with this really cool compass logo for a kombucha company called Good Directions. Totally, it's a spec project, right? And I realized, like, okay, this is a lot of fun and I enjoy this. And I also like hearing, like when I meet people and they tell me what they do, and it's like, uh, I manage a dry cleaner or I deliver packages. I find myself always asking, like, what would you want to be doing? And then we get to talk about business and stuff. So I finished Bergen, went to Montclair, applied for the visual communication program, got denied. Then I went in as a fine arts major, and there's a lot of overlap between those two programs, the fine arts and the visual communication. So I ended up with a professor in the fine arts program that was the head of the visual communication design program. And when he saw my work, he's like, You should really apply. And I was like, I did. And you told me no. He's like, so I got in. Um, I picked up a few freelance clients here and there, and I was always hesitant because I didn't have the degree behind me and who would want to work with me. I'm not official yet. It's gonna be so much harder to find work. And then I graduated and had the degree behind me and find that it is still just as much work. But often I'm asked about websites, it's always something that comes up because you start with the logo where you start with your branding, and then you want this cornerstone of your brand. So after I had, I think it was like three or four different people come to me and say, like, hey, can you help me with my website? I was like, Okay, this is it for me. It feels like a puzzle. I get to use my creative and strategic brain, and that's just you know, I'm a kid in a candy store when it comes to stuff like that.

Doug Drohan 10:56

Yeah. Wow, that's great. So when did you start your when did you start um you know Tyron McMenus design?

Taryn McManus 11:04

I think it was at some point during the pandemic because when we had like the shutdown, I didn't graduate yet. I was still finishing my degree, and I needed something to do to spend the time. So I started building it out then, and it just it's just always been like a project that I'm always working on. It's never done. I'm never fully happy, I'm always looking for improvements or a way to grow.

Doug Drohan 11:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So

Branding Beyond Logos And Colors

Doug Drohan 11:31

now you offer website design, but you also offer brand design. So what's the difference? Obviously, there's website design, but what is the brand design part of it?

Taryn McManus 11:40

So you can you you can build a website without branding, but it's not gonna look like anything distinct. When you build a website with branding, you get this immersive, very clear, identifiable online experience. Often people think branding and they think logo and color scheme, which is things that I've mentioned here, but it goes beyond that. Your your brand is a voice, your brand is um an imprint that you leave in people's minds, a feeling that you give them after they've worked with you or while they're working with you. It's how you show up on social media, which is a huge part of what I do too.

unknown 12:16

Yeah.

Doug Drohan 12:17

Yeah, okay. Yeah. I mean, again, uh it's what I preach to people. I I preach about you know building or creating a brand rather than just having an ad. Um, because you know, the transactional part of you know, the marketing of businesses, it's it's a um kind of a rat race and a hamster wheel. You don't want to get on, but everybody finds themselves on it where you're just all right, I got to do Google ads, I gotta do Facebook ads, I gotta do, you know, this, that, and the other thing. And it's always like, you know, if somebody's searching for um uh you know home renovation and they go online, you know, now you're competing with all these other companies that might be outspending you for those sponsored ads. But also you're probably competing on price because if people are just shopping that way, they're not shopping based on a on a reputation or your brand feeling, they're shopping on price, and that can get really expensive for companies because it's just a transactional thing and there's no loyalty. And so I I try to preach this, um, but I don't know what your experience has been with, you know, small and medium-sized local businesses, but I feel like most people um don't get it, you know. They don't they think, oh, that's for I had a guy tell me actually, he says, uh that you know, branding's for like Coca-Cola and Nike. It's not for somebody like me. And he owns a gym and does a lot of social media marketing, if they want to call it that, but somehow didn't think what he was doing had anything to do with branding. Um, so I find that the branding part is an educational process where you have to educate people on the value, long-term value, because everybody's going after that short-term sale rather than building a long-term brand.

Selling Branding As Real Relief

Doug Drohan 14:03

What like what has your experience been in dealing, like the types of companies that you've worked for and that you go that you seek that that would hire you? Um, what's your experience been along those lines with you know the the value of having a brand?

Taryn McManus 14:19

I I always I try to pitch a brand as a way to make their life easier because it takes out a lot of guesswork. I a brand to me is you're never gonna get it right. It's like a teenager, it's gonna go through phases. But if you start with something and you learn what works and you learn what doesn't, it's only gonna push the brand forward. And then you have an idea of like what kind of words to use, how to show what your CTA is gonna be phrased, like what colors you're gonna choose, like what kind of videos you should post, what kind of things you shouldn't post. At first, it's a big thing to work through, but then once we start to sculpt it and shape it, it it becomes a guide, it becomes a ramp that will help your business grow and help you actually connect with the people you're trying to reach.

Doug Drohan 15:13

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but again, uh, you know, my experience is that um, you know, when you're dealing with the the businesses that I deal with, which are a lot of you know, service industry contractors, um, where they're getting chewed up by all these low-cost competitors, um, there are very few people I've come across that say to me, yeah, Doug, I want to build a brand. They say, How much does it cost? And what's the ROI? And um it's tough to, you know, I always there's a commercial back in the day uh where the tagline was, uh educated consumer is our best customer. And I feel that rings true with me, but finding that educated uh business owner that values and understands what the value of a strong brand can do for their business long term is a few and far between.

Taryn McManus 16:09

I think I've may have just been lucky where the business owners that I have worked with already kind of have that in mind. But when we come to moments where that slips, where you know, like they realize that their email marketing isn't working as they want it to, I always kind of to bring it back to well, if we follow the brand or we find a voice or we like fix the layout so that the information that the people were trying to reach sees the most important information first, we start to eliminate those problems. And I like the relationships I build with my clients because they don't feel like they're I hope at least that they don't feel like they're bothering me when they send me a text or send me an email that says, like, hey, I'm finding this problem and I'm not sure how to fix it. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 1 16:59

Yeah.

Taryn McManus 17:00

I like being able to, like I said, like really bite down on the creative and strategic aspects of it and and come up with a solution that will make their life easier.

unknown 17:10

Yeah.

Taryn McManus 17:10

Whether it's right now or down the road. But I I I think like, you know, people say like when you're you're selling to the wealthy, you want to sell them time. When you're selling to somebody who doesn't have a lot of money, you you sell them a way out. With business owners, you're selling them ease. You're selling them like one less thing that they have to do.

Doug Drohan 17:31

Right, right. Yeah. And I think with you, like I it's clear, you know, your web design, brand design, branding, whereas the trap I've fallen through is traditionally being viewed as advertising. And uh, and then it falls under that bucket where, yeah, you know, it's because a lot of people in in the industry will just, you know, offer you cheap ads and promise you uh quick return. And uh I think that's the way people have been uh conditioned to think um, you know, that if I put an ad out tomorrow, it's gonna bring me this much, you know, the day after tomorrow. And um, you know, that's that's different from what you're offering, which is I think people obviously understand they need a good website, and but it's what you tie that into. So going back to like, you know, when I look at what you do, you know, you talk about um elevating your business. It's not just you know the website itself. You know, you're talking about, like you said, having um, you know, your online presence and social media and uh having it all tied together. So how do how do you like how does that work in terms of what you offer?

Taryn McManus 18:45

Well,

Traffic, Social Hooks, And AI Search

Taryn McManus 18:46

you know, one of the myths in this industry that I think I come across a lot is people think they have a website and then people just show up.

Speaker 1 18:56

Right.

Taryn McManus 18:56

You build it and they will come, but unfortunately, you are not Kevin Costner, and this is not field of dreams. Yeah, you need to have some kind of funnel or engine that directs traffic to your website.

Doug Drohan 19:09

Yeah.

Taryn McManus 19:10

So I mean, in my free time, I spend a lot of time on social media. I, you know, I make a lot of videos, I have a following that I am pretty pretty dedicated to growing on my personal page. But the skills that I've learned there have helped me solve the problem for my clients, where like, okay, I have a website, but nobody's coming to it. Learning how to create a video that connects with people or has like a strong hook and a strong call to action or a post that is something that people want to share with their friends and family or save for later is what solves that problem of like, I have a website and and I'm not doing anything with it because nobody wants to visit to it. I don't know how to get people to visit to it. And like the point you said earlier, like sure, you can invest in SEO, but AI came along and completely transformed the way SEO is handled. And the information that you and I have now about SEO and how AI plays into that is now dated because every minute, hour, second of the day, AI is changing the landscape of that, and it will continue to change it. So I think you need to find a way to connect to people because you're always going to be selling to people. We're not, hopefully, I mean, who knows? I'm I'm hoping that we're not selling to AI bots strictly in the future. I hope that there is a chance to still sell to another human being, and you in order to sell, you need to big build trust and you need to connect and do it.

Doug Drohan 20:40

Yeah, that's uh if you ever listen to me talk to somebody, that's what I talk about all the time. You know, familiarity breeds trust, and people buy from people that they know like and trust. So this is great, Taryn. So

How To Reach Taryn And Close

Doug Drohan 20:53

how do how do people reach you? What's the best way for someone listening to to find you?

Taryn McManus 20:57

Well, if you have any questions about what I do, you can always check out my work at www.tarynmcmanus.design. And then you can follow up with an email at hello. Well, just hello @ tarynmcmanus.design.

Doug Drohan 21:11

And then on Instagram, you are taryn mcmanus design.

Taryn McManus 21:15

Taryn McManus.design.

Doug Drohan 21:17

There's always right.design. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Excellent. Well, this was great. Um, I'm gonna talk to you offline um about my website.

Speaker 1 21:26

Oh, cool.

Doug Drohan 21:27

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And um, yeah, so I'm just gonna re-repeat everything you just said in terms of people getting in touch with you. Taryn, which is t-a-r-y-n mcmanus.design on Instagram, and tarin mcmanus uh.design is the website as well. So um, you know, this is this was great. I really appreciate the talk. And it's uh, you know, there's so much to learn and and so many uh different things that people should really think about when they create their business. Because to your point about like building a website and you know, oh, I built it and they will come. I feel like people are the same way with Instagram. Like, what are you doing for marketing? Oh, I have an Instagram account. I'm like, okay, but how's anybody gonna know you exist? Like, what are you doing to drive people to your Instagram account? And uh I feel like that's a a trap that a lot of business owners fall into. Uh, and uh, you know, what you're offering is is can really help them in a in a big way. So thank you for joining us.

Taryn McManus 22:22

No problem. Thanks for having me.

Doug Drohan 22:23

All right, so Chuck is gonna take us out, and you and I will be right back.

Taryn McManus 22:26

All right.

Intro/Close 22:28

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 3 25.