Most business websites could be working much harder. Practical steps to turn yours from a digital brochure into a tool that actively generates enquiries.
Most small business websites are passive — they exist to confirm that the business is real and provide basic information to people who are already looking for it. That is useful, but it is the minimum a website can do.
A website that actively generates customers does something more — it attracts people who are not already looking for you specifically, convinces them you are the right choice, and makes it as easy as possible for them to get in touch. Getting from one to the other is largely a matter of addressing a few common weaknesses that appear on the majority of small business websites.
If your business serves a local area and you have not yet set up a Google Business Profile, this is the single highest-impact action you can take. It is free, and it places your business in the map results and local listings that appear when people search for services in your area. Complete every section — business name, address, phone number, website, opening hours, and category. Add photographs. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews. Keep it updated.
Google cannot read your mind. If your homepage says "welcome to our website" without clearly stating what the business does and where it operates, you are invisible to anyone searching for those services in your area. Every page should clearly state — in natural language — what you offer, where you offer it, and who it is for.
Page speed is a ranking factor, and it is also a direct driver of whether visitors stay or leave. Research consistently shows that a significant proportion of visitors abandon a site that takes more than three seconds to load on a mobile device. Large unoptimised images are the most common culprit. Ensure all images have been properly compressed before being added to your site.
Your phone number and contact method should be visible on every single page — not just the contact page. A visitor who has to hunt for a way to get in touch will often not bother. Place your main contact details in the header or at the top of every page, and make sure phone numbers are clickable on mobile devices.
Contact forms with too many required fields — asking for company name, address, budget, and a lengthy description of requirements before allowing a submission — put people off. The less information you require upfront, the more people will complete the form. You can always ask for more detail once initial contact has been made. A name, an email address, and a message is usually sufficient.
Before contacting a business, most people want to know roughly what something costs, how long it takes, whether the business covers their area, and whether others have been happy with the service. If your website answers these questions clearly, visitors arrive at the point of contact already informed and more confident. If it does not answer them, some visitors will leave to find a competitor who does.
Generic stock photography — particularly images of smiling people in offices that could belong to any business anywhere — does nothing to build trust. Real photographs of your premises, your team, your work, or your products are significantly more effective at convincing a visitor that they are dealing with a genuine, credible business.
Testimonials and reviews are among the most persuasive content a website can carry. Place them on your homepage and on relevant service pages — not just on a dedicated reviews page that most visitors will never find. The most effective testimonials are specific, mention the outcome or service, and include the customer's name and location.
Trade body memberships, accreditations, certifications, and any relevant qualifications should be displayed visibly. They act as independent endorsements of your professionalism and competence, and many customers specifically look for them before making a decision.
Outdated content — old prices, discontinued services, past events still listed as upcoming — signals to visitors that the site is not well maintained. If the website looks neglected, they may wonder whether the business is too. Regular reviews of your content to remove or update anything out of date are a simple but important maintenance task.
Improving a website's ability to generate customers rarely requires a complete rebuild. In most cases, a relatively small number of targeted changes — faster loading, clearer contact details, genuine photographs, and prominent testimonials — make a measurable difference.
Without data, improving a website is guesswork. Google Search Console is free and shows which pages are attracting visitors from search, which search terms are bringing people to your site, and whether there are any technical issues affecting visibility. Google Analytics provides more detail on visitor behaviour — how long people stay, which pages they visit, and where they leave. Both tools together give you a clear picture of what is working and where the gaps are.
You do not need to become an analytics expert. Even a basic monthly review of which pages are getting traffic and which contact methods are being used will give you enough information to make informed decisions about where to focus your efforts.
