Did you create your own website by writing the HTML coding for it a long time ago, and do you feel like it is now outdated? Maybe your ability with HTML was not that great, but you just needed a basic site and you were not too concerned with the way that it looked. At the time, everyone was probably making their own sites, and you could keep up with these early efforts. However, sites have gotten to be a lot more popular and a lot more modern recently, so you have to do some updating if you want yours to fit in.
When you start using the website builder, the first thing to consider is whether or not your background is just too much. It used to be popular to make backgrounds that had a lot going on. They would have patterns and sometimes they would even have animations. While this may have been fun, it is vastly outdated. These days, people are far more interested in basic colors, often with muted tones, that look professional. They need to be less busy and less eye-catching so that the eye is drawn to the information on the screen, not to the background.
Another thing to consider is the type of navigation bar that you set up. People used to do this by creating different frames, and one frame along the side would have all of the links in it. When clicked, they would open in the main frame. This works, but it just looks old. People now like to have their main links along the top or the bottom, preferable in a small font. They want everything to look sleek. While this does not make it as easy for visitors to see where they are supposed to click, it does make the site more visually appealing.
Finally, you need to consider the colors that you used. Early sites often had too many colors just because people were not yet sure what would look good. The modern rule of thumb is to pick three main colors. One of them should be white or gray. You then have a main color and an accent color. Some sites just have these three, but most use other colors – like red – for when they really want to highlight something. However, even when using a fourth option, the three main colors should dominate the design.