What a website actually needs in order to convert

Speed, before anything else

A site that takes five seconds on a phone on rural coverage has lost a third of its visitors before they see the design. This is the single most common fault we find and the least visible, because the people who leave never appear in your enquiry figures.

Large uncompressed images are the usual culprit, followed by a slideshow nobody asked for and four tracking scripts.

Say what you do and where, above the fold

A visitor decides in a couple of seconds whether they are in the right place. A headline that says 'Quality craftsmanship since 1998' does not tell them. 'Roof repairs and re-roofing across Kildare and north Dublin' does.

Name the service and name the area. It feels blunt and it converts far better than anything clever.

Proof, and it has to be yours

Photographs of your actual work, dated and local, do more than any claim about standards. Stock images of somebody else's kitchen are recognised instantly and cost you credibility.

Reviews should be visible on the page, not hidden on a testimonials tab. Most visitors will never click to a second page.

• —Fast on a phone, tested on a real phone
• —Service and area stated in the first line
• —Real photographs of your own recent work
• —Reviews visible on the main pages
• —A phone number that dials on tap, in the header
• —A short form that asks four useful questions
• —Coverage area named, so people know whether to ring

Make contact obvious and easy

The number should be tappable and in the header on every page. The form should be short. If you answer messages, offer WhatsApp, because a lot of people would rather message than call.

Anything that adds a step between deciding to contact you and doing it will cost enquiries.

What looks good and loses money

Full-screen video headers that delay the content. Scroll animations that hide text until it drifts in. Clever navigation that hides the services. Carousels, which almost nobody clicks past the first slide.

None of these are wrong in principle. They are wrong when they sit between a visitor and the information they came for, which on a small business site is nearly always.