A slow hero image, a buried phone number, a contact form nobody sees — small design decisions that quietly kill conversion rates.
Websites that look good and websites that convert are not the same thing. We review a lot of small business websites as part of our outreach and support — and even ones that have had recent reworks often make these mistakes.
The most common ones we see:
Here’s what each one actually costs you.
When someone lands on your homepage, they have a very short window before they decide to stay or leave. If your first screen doesn’t tell them clearly what you do and give them an obvious next step — “Call now”, “Get a quote”, “Book online” — you’ve already lost a significant chunk of them.
Your hero section should answer three questions instantly:
If it takes longer than five seconds to find the answer to any of those, something needs to change.
For most local service businesses, the phone call is the goal. So why do so many sites make you hunt for the number?
Your phone number should be visible in the header — not just the contact page. Consider placing it in your hero section too. On mobile, it should be a tappable link. Someone ready to call shouldn’t have to work for it.
People buy from people. A photo of your actual team, your actual premises, or your actual work in progress builds trust in a way that a smiling model in a hard hat never will.
Not everyone wants a professional photoshoot, and that’s okay — but even good smartphone photos of real work, real people, and real results beat polished stock imagery and help humanise your business.
More choices, fewer actions. When a visitor sees eight navigation items, their brain stalls. Clear, simple navigation — five items or fewer — guides people through your site instead of overwhelming them.
Cut anything that isn’t pulling its weight. If a page is getting no traffic, consider removing it or combining it with another if it’s light on content.
“Excellent service — 5 stars” tells no one anything. “They completed our loft conversion in 10 days and were spotless throughout — 5 stars from Hornchurch” tells a lot.
Elevate these reviews. Specific testimonials, with names, roles, and ideally locations, perform far better than generic praise. And keep them recent — a testimonial from 2019 makes people wonder whether you’re still in business.
We regularly encounter contact forms that don’t send, don’t confirm submission, or quietly dump messages into a spam folder where they sit for weeks. If you have a contact form, test it right now. Send yourself a message and make sure it arrives.
While you’re at it, cut down the number of fields. Name, email, and a message is often enough. Every additional field you add loses you a percentage of completions — so make sure each one has a reason to be there.
Where possible, prefer checkboxes over open text fields. The less friction for the user, the better.
Over 60% of local searches happen on a phone. If your site isn’t properly optimised for mobile — readable text, tappable buttons, no horizontal scrolling — you’re handing leads to competitors.
This isn’t just about it “working” on mobile. It needs to perform well: fast loading, thumb-friendly navigation, and a clear path to contact on a small screen.
None of these are expensive to fix. Some take minutes. And each one you fix makes a measurable difference to how many visitors turn into enquiries.
If you’d like a fresh pair of eyes on your site from professionals, we offer a free website review and mockup. We’ll go through your site the way a potential customer would and tell you honestly what’s working and what isn’t. Get in touch to arrange one.
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