Nobody rings to say they chose another firm because your website looked tired. They just don’t ring. For most professional and property firms, the website is the first meeting, held without you in the room.
Here are seven signs it’s working against you. Each comes with a quick check you can do today.
1. It looks older than your firm feels
If your work is sharp and your website isn’t, people believe the website. Narrow boxed layouts, small grey text and stock photos of handshakes date a site instantly.
Check: open your site next to your two closest competitors. Which firm would you call?
2. It’s hard to use on a phone
Many visitors will first see your site on a phone: after a referral, between meetings, on the couch. If they have to pinch, zoom or hunt for a phone number, they leave.
Check: on your phone, find your phone number and a way to book a meeting. Count the taps.
3. It’s slow
A site that takes more than a few seconds to show anything loses people before they’ve read a word. Slow sites also tend to rank lower in Google.
Check: run your homepage through Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool and look at the mobile score.
4. Nobody can tell what you do in five seconds
“Delivering excellence through innovative solutions” could describe a law firm, a builder or a bank. Your first line should say plainly who you help and how.
Check: show your homepage to someone outside your industry for five seconds, then ask what you do.
5. Getting in touch is hard work
Contact details buried in the footer, ten-field forms and enquiries landing in an inbox nobody checks are the most expensive problems on this list. Each one is a lead that wanted you and gave up.
Check: fill in your own contact form. Did it arrive? Who saw it, and how fast?
6. You can’t remember the last update
Old team photos, last year’s projects and a news page that stopped in 2022 tell visitors the lights are off. Usually it isn’t laziness. Updating the site is fiddly, so it slides.
Check: how long would it take to add a new team member today? If the answer is “I’d need to ask someone”, that’s the problem.
7. It doesn’t match the rest of your brand
Your proposals, signage and LinkedIn say one thing. Your website says another. Every mismatch makes a prospect wonder which version is the real firm.
Check: put your website, a proposal and a business card side by side. Do they look like the same firm?
Three or more? Time for a rethink
One or two of these can often be patched. Three or more usually means the site needs a rebuild, not another fix. Patching an old site tends to cost more over two years than replacing it.
We’ll redesign your landing page for free so you can see the difference before you spend anything. And once your new site is live, there’s nothing to log into: send us the change and we’ll make it, which takes care of number six for good.
