Issue 5: Website as Decisions

Creator Percolator

Issue #5 — Your Website is not a Homepage. It’s a Series of Decisions

Issue #5 | Reading time: 8 mins

Your Website is not a Homepage. It’s a Series of Decisions

Most creators think of their website as a place. As a bunch of pages, like:

A homepage.
An about page.
A blog archive.

But let’s try thinking it about it from a different perspective. A website is a user interface where visitors make a series of decisions.

The rest of this article continues below the tools watch…

Creator Tool Watch

A quick scan of notable movements and updates in the creator-tool ecosystem.

Ghost 6.x adoption continues to expand
Ghost’s 6.0 release introduced native analytics and ActivityPub support, strengthening its position as an open, first-party publishing platform. More independent publishers are now upgrading to the 6.x line as a long-term CMS and membership base.
Why it matters: Ghost continues to emphasize ownership, portability, and open distribution rather than algorithmic reach.

Link-in-bio tools keep drifting toward storefronts

Linktree and similar profile-hub tools have continued adding monetization features, including digital product sales and commerce links, pushing beyond simple traffic routing.
Why it matters: What started as a convenience layer is slowly becoming a lightweight commerce surface — useful for creators who want minimal infrastructure, but also another example of tools expanding sideways into adjacent roles.

Email platforms emphasize onboarding and lifecycle flows

Major email platforms now foreground onboarding sequences, welcome flows, and lifecycle messaging in their product docs — not just one-off broadcasts.
Why it matters: ESPs are implicitly acknowledging that retention and early engagement matter more than raw subscriber growth. Creators who design onboarding intentionally gain leverage regardless of platform.

Creator-economy investment remains selective but active

Funding continues to flow toward tools focused on monetization, automation, and analytics, while generic “growth” platforms face more scrutiny.
Why it matters: Expect more tools aimed at helping creators turn audiences into durable businesses — and fewer tools promising growth without structure.

…a Series of Decisions

Websites answer questions:

Should I stay?
Should I trust this person?
Should I subscribe?
Should I come back?
Should I go deeper?

This issue is about reframing your website — regardless of topic — as a sequence of decisions, not a collection of pages.

Once you see this, almost everything about how you design and structure your site changes. To be honest, I’m still wrestling with this at PeakZebra.com, which is the home base from which CreatorPercolator has sprung.

And it’s regardless of what you write about

Whether your newsletter is about:

fitness
finance
cooking
writing
local news
travel
parenting
photography
politics
history
fiction

…your website is doing this “decision system” thing.

It’s not trying to explain everything. It’s trying to move a visitor from uncertainty → clarity → commitment.
Creators get stuck when they try to make their website “complete.” The best sites are intentional, not complete.

“Single Job” as a Starting Point

Here’s the simplest mental model you can adopt:
Every page on your site should help the visitor make exactly one decision.
Not three.
Not five.
One.

Examples:

Homepage → “Is this for me?”
About page → “Do I trust this person?”
Article → “Do I want more of this?”
Resource page → “Is this useful?”
Subscribe page → “Is this worth my inbox?”

When pages try to get through too many jobs, visitors do none of them.

Long ago, I worked for a magazine founded by a hard-nosed, frequently profane founder. I was glad not to report directly to him, but I had to concede that there was one thing he was always saying that made a lot of sense: “Every page should tell the reader why they’re bothering with this magazine.”

Now, “what’s in this for me” is different than “Do I trust this person,” so already I’m muddying the waters by suggesting that a page does two things. But the real point is to know what each pages is supposed to do and being ruthless about keeping the page focused on that task.

I want to be clear: you can overdo this concept. But it’s a great mental exercise and it gives each page a clear starting point.

A Simple Website Audit You Can Do in 20 Minutes

Pick any page on your site and ask:
What decision is this page helping someone make?
Is that decision obvious within 5 seconds?
Is there a single, clear next action?
Would a stranger understand why this page exists?
If you can’t answer those cleanly, the page isn’t broken — it’s just unfocused.
Most creator sites don’t need redesigns.
They need decision clarity.

The 3 Decisions Almost Every Creator Site Must Support

You don’t need fancy funnels to get started.
You need these three decisions to be easy.

1. “Is this relevant to me?”
This happens fast — usually above the fold.
Visitors want to know:
What is this about?
Who is it for?
Why should I care?
This is not about clever copy.
It’s about orientation.
2. “Is this person worth my attention?”
This happens once they scroll or click.
They’re looking for:
consistency
depth
signal over noise
evidence you know your topic
This is where archives, examples, tone, and restraint matter more than polish.
3. “What should I do next?”
This is the most neglected part.
Too many sites offer:
five CTAs
a menu full of options
or nothing at all

A strong site always suggests a next step — even if it’s small. Make sure you’ve really thought through what the next step really is. On the home page of a newsletter, you’re not trying to sell a paid subscription to somebody who’s just showed up for the first time. More than likely, the next step for this person is the more nebulous (but still valid) next step of “explore some content.”
So the key element of the page may be a small set of cards for your most popular blog entries or videos. For a new arrival, you probably want this at least partially visible above the fold.

(And if they aren’t arriving for the first time? This is where personalization comes into play.)

If not, that’s where to focus next.