Tidemark / Free guide
5 things quietly costing your website bookings.
A five-minute checklist for local businesses. Grab your phone, open your own website, and go through each one. Most sites fail at least two.
1. Your number is hard to find
Most local customers find you on a phone and want to call. If they have to scroll, open a menu or copy your number from the footer, a lot of them won't bother.
How to check
Open your site on your phone. Can you call with a single tap from the first screen, without scrolling?
How to fix it
Put a tap-to-call button in the header, and keep a call button stuck to the bottom of the screen on mobile.
2. It takes more than three seconds to load
Google's research found the chance of a visitor leaving goes up 32% as a page's load time goes from one second to three. Big photos, heavy themes and too many plugins are the usual causes.
How to check
Run your site through the free speed test. Anything under 50 on mobile is losing you customers.
How to fix it
Compress your images, drop plugins you don't use, and move off slow page builders if you can. Sometimes a rebuild is cheaper than patching.
3. The first screen doesn't say what you do and where
"Welcome to our website" tells a visitor nothing. People decide in a few seconds whether they're in the right place.
How to check
Show the top of your homepage to a friend for five seconds, then hide it. Can they tell you what you do and which area you cover?
How to fix it
Lead with a plain headline like "Mobile car detailing in Ballina and Byron Bay", followed by one line on why you, and a clear button.
4. There's no proof you're any good
Stock photos and no reviews make a business look new or untrustworthy, even when it isn't.
How to check
Count the real photos of your work and the real customer reviews on your homepage. Is your licence or insurance mentioned anywhere?
How to fix it
Swap stock images for phone photos of real jobs, add two or three reviews from Google, and mention licences, insurance and how long you've been operating.
5. Your contact form doesn't actually work
This one is more common than you'd think. Forms break when hosting changes or email settings expire, and nobody notices because nothing arrives.
How to check
Fill in your own contact form right now. Did the message reach your inbox within a few minutes? Check your spam folder too.
How to fix it
Use a reliable form service, send enquiries to an inbox you actually check, and test it every few months.
Failed a few?
Most of these are quick fixes. If your site fails three or more, a rebuild is often the faster and cheaper path. Send me your site and I'll tell you honestly which one makes sense.