You probably already know your website is not great. That is not the problem I want to talk about.
The problem I want to talk about is what happens after someone actually finds it.
Most websites just sit there
Someone searches for a plumber at nine at night. They find three results. They tap the first one. The site loads slowly. The phone number is in the footer, in eight-point font. They pinch to zoom, misread it, and try again. By the time they work it out, they have already tapped back and tried the next one.
That is not a Google problem. That is a website problem.
The search worked. Someone found you. The website let you down at the only moment that mattered.
The things that actually cost you jobs
In my experience, the problems are almost always the same.
The phone number is not tappable. On a phone, a number written as plain text is not a link. You can see it, but you cannot tap it to dial. Most website builders get this wrong unless someone has specifically fixed it. If your number is on your site but does not dial when you tap it, you are losing calls every week.
There is no form for after hours. Most trade enquiries happen in the evening. You are off the tools, they have a moment, and they want to lock it in before they forget. If the only option is to ring you and you do not answer, they move on. A short form (name, suburb, what is the job) costs them thirty seconds and gives you the lead in the morning.
They cannot see what you have done. Words are cheap. Photos of actual jobs are not. A painter who shows three before and afters in the first scroll is more convincing than one who says quality workmanship four times.
The site looks like it was built in 2012. I am not talking about fashion. A website that has not been touched in ten years tells people, accurately or not, that the business has not been touched either. Whether that is fair is beside the point. It is what they think.
What I build instead
Every site I build has a tappable number at the top of every page. It works on the first tap.
There is a short form that takes thirty seconds to fill in. The second someone submits it, it comes through to my client’s mobile as a text, not an email they find on Sunday. The person who sent it gets a message back saying their enquiry is in and they will hear back shortly.
That is not magic. It is just what a website should do and most do not.
The rest I handle in the build. The photos, the plain words, the speed. The mechanics above are just the floor.
If your site has none of this, $415 a month is less than one decent job pays for, and there is no contract holding you to it. That is the sum worth doing in your head before you decide.
