Start with your phone, not your desktop
Open your website on the device your customers actually use. Most local searches happen on a phone, often while someone is standing in the middle of the problem you solve. If you have to pinch, zoom, or hunt for a phone number, that is the first sign.
Look at how long it takes before you can tell what the business does, where it works, and how to reach it. If that takes more than a few seconds, the design is working against you.
Want this applied to your actual website?
The free audit walks through exactly these questions on your site, not a hypothetical one.
Get My Free AuditThe seven signs
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The site looks dated next to newer competitors
Open your site and a competitor’s side by side on the same screen. The gap is usually obvious within seconds, and your customers make that comparison too.
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Your services have changed but the site has not
You have added work, dropped work, or moved upmarket. If the site still describes the business you ran three years ago, it is selling the wrong thing.
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The phone number is an image instead of a tappable link
On a phone this forces someone to memorise digits and switch apps. Most will not bother.
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Photos are low resolution or borrowed stock
Blurry photos read as careless. Generic stock reads as anonymous. Either one undercuts the quality of the actual work.
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There is no obvious next step on any page
Every page should make one action clear: call, book, request a quote, or visit. If a visitor has to hunt, most will leave instead.
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The menu, price list, or brochure is a PDF
PDFs are awkward on phones, invisible to search, and almost always out of date. That information belongs on the page itself.
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You avoid sending people to the site
This is the one that matters most. If you would rather text someone a photo than send them a link, the website is not doing its job.
What to do next
You do not need to replace everything at once. Some sites need a full rebuild; many just need clearer messaging, better photography, and a working contact path. An audit should tell you which one you are looking at before you spend anything.
Have a question this did not cover? Ask us and we will answer it, whether or not you ever hire us.
