Small Business Marketing
Seven Ways Your Website Makes Buying Harder
Getting someone to your website is only part of the job. They still have to work out whether you can help, whether they trust you and what to do next.
Before paying for more traffic, take a look at the experience you are sending people into.
1. The offer is unclear
Open the home page and read the first screen. Does it explain the service and who it is for? “Solutions for your success” tells a visitor almost nothing. “Weekly lawn care in Middletown and Portsmouth” gives them a useful starting point.
2. The important details are buried
Put service areas, hours, contact options and the next step where they are easy to find. If customers regularly ask the same question before buying, the answer probably belongs on the relevant service page.
3. The page makes people wait
Check oversized images, unnecessary video and third-party widgets. Test a real phone on a normal connection. Investigate the parts that delay useful content or make the page jump around.
4. The information looks abandoned
Old staff photos, expired offers and incorrect hours raise avoidable questions. An older award can still be valuable; presenting it as your latest news is the problem. Give someone responsibility for checking business details.
5. The mobile experience gets in the way
Try the menu, phone number and form with your thumb. Look for tiny controls, sideways scrolling and popups that cover the action you want people to take. A layout shrinking to fit the screen is not the same as being easy to use.
6. There is no clear next step
Tell people what happens when they act. “Request an estimate” is clearer than “Submit.” Explain what information you need and give a response expectation your team can actually meet.
7. The inquiry disappears after it arrives
Submit a test message. Did anybody receive it? Who owns the reply? Is there a way to tell whether that person became a customer? Sometimes the website is working and the follow-up is failing.
Pick the obstacle closest to a lost sale and fix that first. You can improve a useful site a little at a time.
If the real problem is still unclear, The Dive looks at the whole path from inquiry to delivery before recommending another tactic.