GUIDE — DIAGNOSIS BEFORE PRESCRIPTION
Why your website isn't getting calls
Most trades websites don't fail because they look bad. They fail quietly, in five specific places — and every one is checkable in about two minutes on your own phone. Here's the list we work from when we audit a site.
THE FIVE LEAKS
Where the calls go missing.
First, tell two problems apart. If nobody is finding your site, that’s a traffic problem — the honest part at the bottom is for you. If people visit and still don’t call, it’s usually one of these five leaks — and every one is fixable.
- 1. Your phone number is buried — or not tappable. Most of your visitors are on a phone, standing in a driveway or a supply store. If your number isn't one tap from every screen, a share of them just call the next company. Self-check: open your site on your phone. Can you call yourself in under three seconds?
- 2. There's no quote form — or it asks for nothing useful. "Contact us" with an email address makes the customer do the work. A short form (name, phone, what they need, where) turns a maybe into a lead you can call back. Self-check: does your form ask anything you'd want to know before quoting?
- 3. The photos are stock, and customers can tell. A smiling model crew in matching polos is not your crew. Real job photos — even imperfect ones — beat polished fakes, because a customer is picturing their house, not a brochure. Self-check: count how many photos on your homepage are actually your work.
- 4. Nothing on the site is newer than 2020. An old footer date and last decade's services tell visitors you may have folded — and tell Google the page may not be current. Neither one sends anyone your way. Self-check: look at your footer year and your newest photo or post.
- 5. Your trade and your town are never actually written down. If your site never plainly says "plumbing in Milton" (or your trade and towns), Google has to guess what you do and where — and you'll quietly lose to a worse company that says it outright. Self-check: search your trade + your town. Are you on the first page at all?
THE HONEST PART
Sometimes the site is fine.
If all five check out and the phone is still quiet, the problem is usually traffic, not the website: nobody is finding you at all. That's a different fix — your Google Business Profile, reviews, and the directories your customers actually browse. We say so in audits when we see it, because selling you a rebuild you don't need is a bad way to run a studio.
Either way, the audit is free, it's done by a human on desktop and phone, and the report is yours to keep — hand the fixes to anyone you like. Request one here; it comes back within one business day.