None of these points is magic; each of them can be checked in a few minutes. The order matters — which is why we start at the first.
Calls get lost in four places, always in the same order: they cannot see you → they see you but do not trust you → they click, then give up → everything goes stale. Fixing the fifth thing before the first never works.
—A funnel in four steps
This is the path a customer travels. If any step breaks, everything after it is lost — however good it is.
They see you
Search and the map. If you are not there, for those people you do not exist.
They trust you
The profile, the photographs, the reviews. Empty = “nothing is happening here”.
They click and stay
The site on a phone, the speed, clear contact details.
It stays that way
Certificates, forms, details — everything has a shelf life.
01They do not see you when they search
Most new customers today start with a search: they type the service and the town, then call somebody from the first few results. If you do not appear there — for those people you do not exist, however good you are.
02They see you, but what they see does not inspire trust
The customer has found your profile. The next things they look at: photographs, opening hours, reviews, the address. An empty profile with two old photographs says “nothing is happening here” — and the customer moves to the next result, which is one click away.
We have set out in detail what customers actually see on your Google profile. The short version: the profile does not have to be perfect, but it has to look alive and accurate.
03They click through to the site — and give up
If a website exists, it is the next stop. A surprising number of calls are lost there, for banal reasons: the site is slow to open on a phone, the phone number is not tappable, the prices and services are nowhere to be seen, the contact form does not work. The customer does not report the problem — they simply leave.
On one redesign we brought the hero video down from ≈7.69 MB to ≈1.01 MB — about −87%, the same footage. On mobile data that is the difference between a page that opens and a page nobody waits for.
Measured in QA tests on the delivered version of the “agricultural expert witness” project. We do not promise the same result on every project. The full case studyThe seven things a small business website must have are set out in a guide of their own — go through them on your own site, on a phone.
04Everything works — but nobody maintains it
A website and a profile are not a job that is finished once. Certificates expire, forms break after a change at the provider, information goes stale. A business that had a tidy presence two years ago and has not touched it since often does not know that its contact form has been silent for months. What regular care of a website involves is set out in the guide on what website maintenance includes.
05How to know where to start
The order matters — which is why buying “a new website” or “ads” straight away is the wrong move:
- Check whether you are there at all (search + map). Not there → the Google profile first.
- Check how you look (the profile through a customer’s eyes). Empty and out of date → tidy the profile.
- Check where they give up (the site on a phone, the speed, the contact details). The site puts people off → a repair, or a new site.
- Make sure it stays that way (maintenance).
06Common questions
Do I need a website if my Google profile is complete?+
For some trades a tidy profile covers the first wave — but a profile cannot explain an offer, show work, or answer questions the way a website can. When a customer compares two firms, the one with a clear website usually looks more serious.
Do more reviews mean more calls?+
Reviews help people choose you once they can already see you — they do not help them see you. So visibility first (the profile, the map, the website), and only then a systematic effort to collect reviews.
How quickly can I expect a change?+
It depends on what is being fixed: accurate details and a tidy profile take effect quickly, whereas a position in search is built over months. We do not promise specific timescales — we promise you will know exactly what was done and what comes next.