We see it almost every week. A service business sends us their site — nice photos, tidy copy, hosting in order. But leads are not coming in. "Is it Google?" is usually the first question. Answer: sometimes. Mostly not.
These are the five leaks we run into most often.
1. Your site does not say in 5 seconds why you
Visitors are fast and impatient. If within 5 seconds they do not know (a) what you do, (b) for whom, and (c) what they get out of it, they are gone. Often without a click.
Check: cover the top half of your homepage with your hand. Is your offer still clear? Can we tell who your client is? If not, you leak here.
"We take work off your hands with smart solutions" is not positioning. It is noise.
2. You are page 3 for what actually sells
There is a difference between "being findable" and "being findable for the things that lead to a request". Many service businesses rank fine for their own name, but not for "bookkeeper SMB Utrecht" or "aircon install Moraira".
That is exactly where the money is. Someone typing that is ready to call.
Fix: check your Google Search Console. Look at which keywords bring impressions. If it is only your own name — you have an SEO problem.
3. There is no clear next step
The visitor read your page, is convinced, and then… what? If your call-to-action is "Contact us" with an email address below it, you lose people here.
People want low-threshold contact:
- A WhatsApp button that opens with a prefilled message
- A short form (max 3 fields)
- A clear call button on mobile
The easier that first step, the more people take it.
4. You are too slow to follow up
A lead comes in at 10:47. You are on a job. At 17:00 you check your phone. By 17:00 that person has messaged two other agencies.
Research from HBR (Harvard Business Review) shows: companies that respond within 5 minutes to a lead are 21× more likely to qualify that lead than companies that respond after 30 minutes.
You do not have to reply yourself every time. An automatic WhatsApp confirmation within 30 seconds keeps the lead warm.
5. You measure nothing, so you know nothing
Without Google Search Console, Google Analytics and simple form-tracking, you do not know what is working. You guess.
We are not fans of dashboards with 40 graphs. We keep it simple: one monthly report that answers three questions — how many visitors, how many leads, and which page/keyword brought them in.
Recognise anything here?
The free growth scan tells you which of these 5 is the biggest leak in your case.
How to tackle it
Do not start with everything at once. Take this order:
- Positioning: rewrite your top 200 words so it is crystal-clear what you do and for whom.
- Measure now: connect Google Search Console and Analytics. Wait 2 weeks — you need data before you can fix anything.
- Fix your CTAs: add WhatsApp, shorten forms.
- Only then do SEO and content: otherwise you drive traffic to a leaking bucket.
The order matters more than the individual actions. Someone starting with SEO while their site converts poorly is wasting money.
Questions? Send us a message. Happy to think along, even without it leading straight to an assignment.