Commercial background as the foundation for conversion‑focused websites
Most web designers think in layouts and pixels. I spent years in international sales before I ever wrote a line of code. Here's why that changes everything about how I build websites on the Costa Blanca.
Why my sales background makes me a different kind of web designer
Most web designers come from design school, a coding bootcamp, or years of building things in a bedroom. I came from international sales.
Before I started Costa Wave Web, I spent years in commercial roles across different countries and markets. Sales engineering. International B2B. Understanding what makes a client say yes and what makes them walk away. Learning that the way you present something matters as much as what you're presenting.
That background is the reason I build websites the way I do.
Designers think about how it looks. I think about how it sells.
A beautiful website that doesn't generate enquiries is a beautiful failure.
Most designers start with the visual: layout, colours, typography, spacing. All of that matters. But it's not the starting point. The starting point is: what does this business need visitors to do, and what's stopping them?
That's a sales question. And it leads to different decisions.
Where a designer puts a section because it looks balanced, I put a call to action because that's where the visitor is ready to act. Where a designer writes copy that describes a service, I write copy that addresses the problem the client came to solve. Where a designer builds something that looks finished, I build something that's designed to convert.
Understanding what's really behind the question
Years of client conversations taught me one thing above all: the question someone asks is rarely the question they actually need answered.
A business owner who says "I need a new website" usually means one of a few things. My current site is embarrassing me. I'm not getting found on Google. I'm getting visitors but no enquiries. Clients tell me my site doesn't match the quality of my work.
Each of those is a different problem. Each needs a different solution. A web designer who just builds what they're asked to build misses all of that.
I ask questions before I start. What's your best type of client? Where do they come from? What do they check before they call you? What do they hesitate about? What would make them choose you over the person down the road?
The answers shape everything: the structure, the content, the calls to action, the language, the trust signals.
What this looks like on the Costa Blanca
The Costa Blanca market has specific characteristics. A large expat community. International buyers who can't always visit. Clients who make significant decisions remotely, in a language that isn't their first, about a country where they don't know the rules.
That requires more than a good-looking site. It requires content that genuinely builds trust. Clear explanations of how things work here. A voice that feels local without feeling foreign. A design that loads fast on a mobile in Amsterdam at 11pm when someone is deciding whether to enquire.
Every site I build is shaped by those specifics. Not a template with a logo on top, but a site that understands who it's talking to and what they need to hear.
The practical result
Websites that are built this way tend to perform differently. More enquiries relative to the traffic they get. Lower bounce rates. Clients who arrive already trusting you because the site did its job.
That's what a commercial background buys you. The ability to look at a website and see it the way a potential client sees it, not the way a designer sees it.
If you want an honest look at whether your current site is working as hard as it could, send me the URL on WhatsApp and I'll tell you what I see.
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