Why your website is not getting enquiries

Enquiries come from visitors who wanted what you sell. Open Search Console and read the searches that bring people to the site. If they are about something you do not offer, or come from places you do not serve, no page design will turn them into customers.

A visitor decides in seconds. The first screen of the page, before any scrolling, should say what you offer, for whom and where. A photograph and a slogan do not. Ask someone who does not know the business to look for five seconds and tell you what it sells.

The phone number, the form or the booking button should be visible without hunting, and should appear again at the end of the page. On a phone, the number should dial when tapped. Then test it: send yourself an enquiry through every form. A form that fails without a message loses enquiries nobody knows about.

A visitor on a phone gives a page a few seconds. Run the page through Google’s PageSpeed Insights on the mobile tab. Our guide to checking your website speed explains the result.

A stranger needs evidence before making contact. The strongest forms are specific.

• Reviews from named customers, with a link to where they were left.
• Photographs of real work, not stock images.
• Prices, or at least a starting figure.
• An address, a company number and a named way to complain.

Analytics shows where visitors give up. Look at the pages people land on, how many go on to the contact page, and how many of those submit the form. The largest fall between two steps is the point to fix first.

A site that cannot be made fast, clear and easy to act on has reached the end of what its design allows. Our guide to whether you need a new website sets out how to tell.