Contents06 sections
The five website mistakes small businesses keep making are the same on almost every site we look at: no clear next step, stock photos, a hidden phone number, a page that breaks on a phone, and a site nobody has touched since launch. None of them is hard to fix.
011. There Is No Clear Next Step
Many business websites never tell the visitor what to do. No "Call Us" button, no quote form, no obvious next move. A visitor who has to work out how to contact you mostly does not.
Every page needs one action you want taken: call, fill in the form, book a slot. Make it obvious and put it where a thumb already is.
022. Stock Photos Instead of Your Own
People spot stock photos in a second. The diverse group high-fiving in a glass conference room has never worked at your shop. Use photos of your crew, your truck, your finished jobs. Phone photos in good light are fine. A slightly grainy picture of your own work beats a polished picture of someone else's.
033. A Phone Number Nobody Can Find
Your phone number and address should be visible without scrolling: in the header, in the footer, on every page. Some sites keep the number on a Contact page three clicks in, and every one of those clicks loses somebody.
044. A Site That Breaks on a Phone
More than half your visitors are on a phone. Tiny text, buttons too small to tap, and sideways scrolling are losing you customers every day. Open your site on your own phone now. If it annoys you, it is annoying everyone else too, and they have less patience.
055. Setting It and Forgetting It
A website is not built once and left. Your business changes, new services, new hours, new staff, new photos, and a site still showing two-year-old information looks abandoned. Customers notice.
You do not need to blog every week or redesign every year. Keep the information current, the photos recent, and the prices right. A site that looks maintained reads as a business that is open.
06How Hard Are These to Fix?
Not very. The photos, the phone number, and the next step you can fix this week. A rebuild for phones or a move off a template builder takes longer, and when we do it the site is usually live inside a month. A site that gets these five right is ahead of most small business sites in town.