One of the most common things I hear from business owners is some version of: “People are visiting the website, but nobody’s getting in touch.” Sometimes the traffic is the problem. More often, the site is quietly turning away people who were ready to hire.
Here are the seven problems I see most often on small business websites, roughly in order of how much work they cost, and what to do about each one.
1. Visitors can’t tell what you do, or where
Your headline has a few seconds to answer three questions: what do you do, where do you do it, and why should I pick you? “Welcome to our website” and “Quality you can trust” answer none of them.
The fix: say it plainly. “Residential electrician in North Brisbane. Same-week bookings, upfront pricing.” It’s not poetry, but it tells the right visitor they’re in the right place.
2. It’s slow, especially on phones
People are impatient online, and a slow page loses them before they’ve read a word.
of mobile visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load.
Google, “The Need for Mobile Speed”, 2016The fix: compress and resize your images, remove plugins and widgets you don’t need, and use decent hosting. Test your site with Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool and start with whatever it flags as the biggest issue.
3. It doesn’t work properly on every device
It’s easy to design a website on a laptop and never really check it on a phone, or the other way around. Both matter.
of web page views in Australia were on mobile phones in August 2026, with 54.4% on desktops.
StatCounter Global Stats, Australia, August 2026The fix: open your own website on your phone and try to do what a customer would: find a service, check where you work, and get in touch. If anything is fiddly, small or hidden, fix it. Then do the same on a desktop.
4. Getting in touch is harder than it should be
If someone has to hunt for your phone number, or your contact form asks for twelve things, you’ll lose them. I regularly find contact forms that are broken outright, sending enquiries to an old email address nobody checks.
The fix: put your phone number in the header and make it tappable on mobile. Keep forms short: name, contact details and a message is often enough. And send yourself a test enquiry today to make sure it actually arrives.
5. There’s no proof you’re any good
A stranger has no reason to trust you yet. Stock photos and generic claims like “we’re passionate about quality” don’t help.
The fix: show real proof. Photos of your actual work and team, reviews from real customers, licence numbers, the areas you’ve worked in, and the specific problems you solve. Specific beats polished every time.
6. The wrong people are finding it, or nobody is
A website can only convert the visitors it gets. If you’re not ranking for the searches your customers actually make, the traffic you do get may not be ready to buy, or there may simply be very little of it.
of Google searchers clicked on something from the second page of results.
Backlinko, analysis of 4 million Google search resultsThe fix: check Google Search Console to see what searches you appear for. If you’re showing up for irrelevant terms, or sitting on page two for the ones that matter, that’s where SEO earns its keep. Dedicated pages for each main service and area are usually the first step.
7. There’s no clear next step
Every page should end by telling the visitor what to do next. Many sites leave people at the bottom of a page with nowhere to go but the back button.
The fix: give every page one clear call to action that suits where the reader is. “Get a free quote” on a service page. “Book an inspection” on a page about a specific problem. Make it a button, not a buried text link.
Where to start
You don’t need to fix everything at once. Start with whatever is costing you the most: usually a broken or buried contact path, then speed, then clarity. Once the site converts the visitors it has, it’s worth investing in bringing more of them in.
If you’d like me to look at your site and tell you which of these apply, request a free website health check. You’ll get a short, prioritised list in plain English. Or see how I approach web design.