Most business owners assume their website is neutral: if it's not actively bringing in work, at least it's not hurting anything. That assumption is usually wrong.
Here are the five most common ways a website actively filters out leads you've already earned.
Sign 1: Your phone number is buried.
If your phone number isn't in the first visible section of your homepage, you're losing the 40-60% of visitors who decide in the first ten seconds whether to call or leave. People doing local search on mobile are often standing outside a competitor's door. Make it easy or lose them.
Sign 2: It loads slowly on mobile.
Google's threshold for "slow" on mobile is anything over 2.5 seconds for the largest piece of content to appear. Most template-based website builders run 4-8 seconds. Every second of delay costs roughly 7% of visitors. A site that loads in 4 seconds has already lost about 20% of the people who tried to visit it before they ever saw your headline.
Sign 3: You can't find yourself on Google.
Go to Google on a phone you've never used before and search "[your service] near [your city]." If you're not in the top three results or the map pack, you don't exist for that query. Most local business searches end before page two. If you're not in the top results, the phone isn't going to ring from search no matter how good the site is.
Sign 4: The copy describes you instead of the customer.
"We are a family-owned business with 20 years of experience" is something every competitor also says. "We handle same-day emergency calls and give you a flat quote before we start" is something a customer in a crisis will remember. Copy that centers the customer's problem converts. Copy that centers your credentials doesn't.
Sign 5: There's no obvious next step.
Every page should make one thing obvious: here's what to do if you're ready. A phone number, a form, a button. One thing, not three competing options. If a visitor can't find a clear path to contacting you within 30 seconds, most of them won't bother looking.
If two or more of these are true, your website is actively filtering out leads you've already paid to acquire.. through time, referrals, or ads. Our Foundation site addresses all five at the most efficient price point we offer. Worth a conversation.