7 website mistakes quietly costing you customers

A trade website has one job: turn a stranger with a problem into an enquiry. Most don't fail at that job dramatically — they leak. A second here, a doubt there, a form nobody can find. Here are the seven leaks we see most, roughly in order of damage.

1. It's slow

Your customer is on a phone, on 4G, possibly standing in a kitchen with water coming through the light fitting. Every second of loading is a percentage of them gone. The usual culprits: huge uncompressed photos, bloated page builders, and themes carrying ten years of plugins. This is why we build static sites — nothing to bloat.

2. There's no obvious way to enquire

If the visitor has to hunt for a contact page, you've lost the impatient ones — which is most of them. The ask should be everywhere: a clear button in the header, another every couple of scrolls, a short form that works with thumbs. Bonus points for letting them send a photo of the problem — it's how trades actually quote now, and customers love skipping the call-out.

3. Stock photos where your jobs should be

Homeowners can smell stock photography instantly — the too-white smile, the suspiciously clean overalls, the American house. It reads as "we have nothing real to show you". Your camera roll is full of proof that beats any stock library: real roofs, real kitchens, real before-and-afters. Use it.

4. One vague page instead of service pages

A single "Services" page listing everything ranks for nothing and convinces no one. Each service deserves its own page answering that customer's actual questions — what it costs, how long it takes, what can go wrong. That's also how Google decides you're relevant for the search.

5. Ignoring the towns you cover

If your site never mentions the places you work, Google plays safe and shows someone whose site does. Honest area pages — real towns, real service, no copy-paste padding — are how you show up beyond your postcode.

6. No proof anywhere

Insurance, accreditations, guarantees, reviews — the boring credibility furniture is what a nervous homeowner is scanning for. If your reviews live only on Google or Checkatrade, bring them onto the site where the deciding happens.

7. Titles that say nothing

The page title is your blue link in Google — your shop window before anyone visits. "Home | JD Ltd" tells Google and customers nothing. "Roof Repairs in Yeovil | JD Roofing" wins the click. It's a one-line fix per page, and one of the fastest-payback jobs in SEO.

All of it is fixable

Some of these you can sort yourself this week — start with titles and photos. Others are a rebuild-shaped problem. If you want a straight answer on which camp your site's in, the free audit is exactly that: a short video showing where your site leaks, what to fix first, and what to ignore.