Your analytics show people visiting, but the phone is quiet and the contact form is empty. It is frustrating, and it usually means one of two things: the wrong people are arriving, or the right people arrive and something stops them. The good news is that both are fixable, often in a few days.
First, check that calls are being counted
Before changing anything, make sure the problem is real:
- Test your own contact form. Send a message and check it arrives. Forms often break quietly, or messages land in spam.
- Tap your phone number on a mobile. It should open the dialler. If it is an image or plain text, many people will not bother copying it.
- Ask new customers how they found you. Some calls from the website get credited to "word of mouth" because people looked you up first.
- Check Google Business Profile calls. Many local customers call straight from the map listing without visiting the site. Your profile shows these in its performance section.
Problem 1: the wrong visitors are arriving
Traffic is not the goal. Traffic from people who can buy from you is. Common causes:
- Visitors from the wrong place. A blog post that ranks nationally, or visitors from other countries, inflates numbers but cannot become local customers. Check the location report in your analytics.
- Information searches, not buying searches. "How to fix a leaking tap" brings DIY readers. "Plumber near me" brings customers. Both have value, but only one calls.
- Bots and spam. Sudden spikes from one source, with visits lasting zero seconds, are often not people at all.
The fix is to focus SEO on service and location pages that match buying searches. Our small business SEO checklist covers how.
Problem 2: the right visitors leave without acting
If the visitors are local and looking for your service, the page is losing them. Here are ten common fixes.
- Put your phone number at the top of every page, as a tap-to-call link on mobile. Add a call button that stays visible while scrolling.
- Say what you do and where in the first line. "Emergency electrician in Phoenix, same-day visits" beats "Welcome to our website".
- Make it fast on a phone. Most local searches happen on mobile. Large images and heavy sliders can make pages slow to load, and people leave. Test with Google's free PageSpeed Insights.
- Show proof. Real Google reviews, photos of real work, licences and years in business. Stock photos of smiling models do not build trust.
- Give a rough idea of price. "Most jobs between $X and $Y" or "free quotes" removes the fear of a surprise bill. Silence on price makes some people leave to find someone who says it.
- Shorten the contact form. Name, phone, and what they need is usually enough. Every extra field loses people.
- Offer more than one way to reach you. Call, text, form and, for some businesses, online booking. Some people will never phone.
- Show your hours and service area clearly. People need to know you cover their town and can come soon.
- One page per main service. Someone searching "roof leak repair" should land on a page about roof leak repair, not a homepage listing twelve services.
- Answer the common questions on the page. How soon can you come? Are you insured? Do you charge for quotes? Answer these before people have to ask.
Do not forget Google Maps
For many local businesses, the Google Business Profile brings more calls than the website. If the profile has the wrong hours, few photos or no recent reviews, people may choose a competitor before they ever reach your site. Our Google Business Profile checklist walks through what to fix, and how to get more Google reviews helps with the trust part.
How to tell if the fixes worked
- Track phone clicks and form submissions as goals in Google Analytics.
- Compare calls and enquiries month to month, not just visitors.
- Keep asking new customers how they found you.
Make a few changes at a time so you can see which ones help.
Want a second pair of eyes?
It is hard to see your own website the way a stranger does. Our free audit looks at where your visitors come from and what might be stopping them from calling, and if you want ongoing help, our affordable SEO plans start at $180 a month with no contract.