When a website brings in fewer enquiries than it should, owners often assume they need a full redesign. Usually the cause is smaller and more fixable: a handful of frictions that make it slightly harder to get in touch. Each one only loses a few people. Together they add up.
Here are seven we see again and again on small business websites.
1. Pop-ups before people have read anything
A newsletter pop-up the moment someone arrives, a chat window sliding in, a cookie banner covering half the screen. Visitors came to find something out, and the first thing they meet is a list of things to close.
Fix: keep the cookie notice small and in a corner (here is how), drop any pop-up that appears straight away, and if you really want one, show it after someone has read a page or two.
2. Contact details you have to hunt for
A phone number only in the footer, an email address hidden as an image, a contact page three clicks away. People who are ready to call should not have to search.
Fix: put the main way to contact you in the header on every page, make phone numbers tappable on mobile, and keep the contact page one click away.
3. Buttons and text that do not work on a phone
Tiny links that are hard to tap, text you have to zoom to read, menus that slide off the screen. Most visitors to a local business website are on a phone, often outdoors and in a hurry.
Fix: test your own site on your phone, with one hand. Buttons should be easy to hit with a thumb and text readable without zooming.
4. A contact form that asks too much
Fifteen fields, a required phone number, a dropdown asking how you heard about them. Every extra question is another reason to give up. Some forms also fail silently and never send anything at all.
Fix: ask only for what you need to reply. We wrote a full guide on fixing contact forms, including how to test that yours actually arrives.
5. Vague headlines
"Welcome to our website" or "Excellence in everything we do" tell a visitor nothing. People decide in seconds whether they are in the right place.
Fix: say what you do, for whom and where, in plain words at the top of the page: "Flat roof repairs across Norfolk" beats any slogan.
6. Slow pages
A page that takes several seconds to appear on mobile data loses people before they see anything. Heavy photos are the usual cause.
Fix: see how we made a roofing website six times lighter, or run our free website check to see how yours does on a phone.
7. No clear next step
A visitor reads your service page, likes what they see, and then the page just ends. No button, no phone number, no suggestion of what to do.
Fix: end every important page with one obvious action, such as "Get a quote", "Book a call" or "Call us", and make it the same across the site.
Where to start
Pick the page that brings you the most visitors, open it on your phone and try to contact yourself. Every moment you hesitate is a moment a customer would too. Fix those first.
If you would like a structured way to check, our free website health check walks you through 15 points in about half an hour.