A website rarely breaks in a way you would notice. It still loads. It still looks fine on your laptop. But visitors arrive, hesitate, and leave without getting in touch. You never hear about them, so it is easy to assume the site is doing its job.
These are the six problems we see most often when we look at small business sites. You can check every one of them yourself, on your phone, in about ten minutes.
| Check | How | Pass if |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | PageSpeed Insights, mobile tab | Largest Contentful Paint is 2.5 seconds or less |
| First screen | Five-second test with a stranger | They can say what you do and what to click |
| Phone number | Tap it on your phone | It offers to call straight away |
| Contact form | Send a test from a personal email | It reaches your inbox, not spam |
| Prices | Read your main service page | There is a price, a "from" price or a range |
| Area | Search your page for your town names | The towns you cover are named in plain words |
1. It is slow on a phone
Most local searches happen on a phone, often on mobile data. A page that feels quick on office wifi can crawl on a train or in a car park. If the first screen takes more than a few seconds to show anything useful, a lot of people will simply go back and tap the next result.
How to check: turn off wifi on your phone, open your site in a private tab, and count. Then try the same with a competitor. For a proper number, put your home page into Google PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile result. Google counts a Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less as good, and over 4 seconds as poor.
Usual fix: resize and compress large photos, especially the big one at the top of the page. Google lists late-loading images and slow server responses among the things that delay the main content. Heavy page builders and too many plugins are common culprits too.
2. Nobody can tell what to do next
Visitors decide very quickly whether they are in the right place. They want to know what you do, where you do it, and how to get in touch. If the top of your homepage is a slogan and a stock photo, they have to work for that information. Many will not bother.
How to check: show your homepage to someone who does not know your business for five seconds. Ask them what you do and what they would click. If they cannot answer both, the page needs a clearer headline and one obvious button.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| "Quality you can trust" | "Boiler servicing and repairs in Blackburn and Darwen" |
| "Welcome to our website" | "Laser hair removal in Lancaster. Book a free patch test." |
| Three buttons: About, Services, Gallery | One button: "Get a free quote" |
3. Your phone number is not tappable
A surprising number of sites show the phone number as plain text, or inside an image. On a phone, that means copying it by hand. It is a small thing, but it puts a hurdle in front of your most motivated visitors.
How to check: tap your number on your phone. It should offer to call straight away. Do the same with your email address.
Usual fix: make the number a phone link, and put it in the header so it is on every page. On mobile, a "Call now" button at the top or bottom of the screen works well for trades and anyone who takes urgent jobs.
4. The contact form goes nowhere
This one is more common than anyone likes to admit. Forms get set up, the email address changes, a plugin updates, and messages start landing in a spam folder or nowhere at all. Everything looks normal from the outside.
How to check: send yourself a test enquiry today, from a personal email address, and see where it lands. Put a reminder in your diary to repeat it every month.
While you are there, check the form itself. Does it ask for more than you need? Name, a way to reply and a short message is usually enough. Every extra required box is one more reason to give up. And check what happens after sending: the visitor should see a clear message saying when you will reply.
5. There are no prices, or even a starting point
Not every business can publish a fixed price, and that is fine. But a page with no indication of cost at all makes people nervous. They worry they cannot afford you, or that they will be pushed into a sales call. A simple "from" price or a typical range answers that worry and filters in the right enquiries.
How to check: open your main service page and look for a pound sign. If there is none, write down what your last five similar jobs cost. That gives you an honest range to publish, in the form "Most of our [service] jobs cost £[lowest] to £[highest]".
6. Google does not know where you work
If you serve a local area, your site needs to say so clearly, in plain words. Mention the towns you cover. Put your address or service area in the footer. Make sure the details match your Google Business Profile exactly. Without that, you are relying on Google to guess, and it often guesses wrong.
How to check: on your phone, use find in page on your home page and main service page, and search for the three towns you most want work from. If they do not appear in the text, add a plain line such as "We cover Burnley, Accrington, Clitheroe and nearby villages". Google uses the mobile version of your site for ranking, so check on mobile.
We wrote more about this in our guide to getting your Google Business Profile right.
What to do next
Work through the list and note anything that fails. Most of these are quick fixes on their own. If you would rather have a second pair of eyes, our free site check runs the technical basics in under a minute. For a full picture, the Visibility Audit compares you with the local competitors you are losing to and gives you one clear plan.
Frequently asked questions
How fast should a small business website load on a phone?
Aim for the main content to appear within about 2.5 seconds on a mobile connection. That is the threshold Google uses for a good Largest Contentful Paint score. You can test any page for free with Google PageSpeed Insights.
How often should I test my website contact form?
Once a month is a sensible habit, and always after any change to your website, email address or hosting. Send a test from a personal email address and check it arrives in the inbox, not spam.
Does Google look at the mobile or desktop version of my site?
The mobile version. Google says it uses the mobile version of a site's content, crawled with a smartphone, for indexing and ranking. If something is missing or broken on mobile, assume Google sees it that way too.
How do I make my phone number tappable?
Ask whoever manages your site to turn it into a phone link, written as tel: followed by your number in international format, for example 01234 567890 becomes tel:+441234567890. Most website builders also have a phone or call button setting.
Should a small business show prices on its website?
If you can, yes. Even a "from" price or a typical range helps visitors decide whether to get in touch, and filters out enquiries that were never going to fit your budget.