The Truth About Business Websites
Here's something most web agencies won't tell you: a pretty website that's slow, hard to use, or doesn't show up on Google is worthless.
We've seen businesses spend thousands on gorgeous websites that nobody visits. Beautiful designs that load so slowly people leave before they see them. Perfect layouts that look terrible on mobile phones.
What actually matters? Speed. Finding information easily. Looking trustworthy enough that people are comfortable contacting you or buying from you. Showing up when people search for what you sell.
That's it. Everything else is secondary.
What Actually Makes a Website Work
After building hundreds of websites, here's what we know for sure:
Speed matters more than you think. Every second your site takes to load, you lose potential customers. Amazon found that every 100 milliseconds of delay cost them 1% in sales. You're not Amazon, but the principle applies.
Mobile isn't optional. More than half of web traffic comes from phones. If your site doesn't work perfectly on mobile, you're turning away the majority of your potential customers.
Clear beats clever. People should know exactly what you do and how to contact you within seconds of landing on your site. Clever taglines and creative navigation confuse people.
Trust signals work. Reviews, testimonials, certifications, real photos of your team - these all increase the chance someone will actually reach out to you.
Calls to action need to be obvious. What do you want visitors to do? Call you? Fill out a form? Buy something? Make that action obvious and easy.
Getting Found on Google (Without the Mystery)
SEO (search engine optimization) sounds complicated, but the basics are simple:
Create content that answers real questions. What do your potential customers search for? Create pages that answer those questions better than anyone else.
Make sure Google can read your site. Fast loading times, mobile-friendly design, proper page structure. These technical basics matter.
Get other sites to link to you. When reputable websites link to yours, Google sees that as a vote of confidence. This takes time and good content.
Be patient. SEO takes months to show results. Anyone promising page-one rankings in 30 days is either lying or using tricks that will get you penalized later.
The businesses that do well long-term focus on being genuinely helpful, not on gaming the system.
Content That Actually Converts
Most business websites have the same problem: they talk about themselves instead of talking about the customer's problems.
Nobody cares that you've been in business for 20 years or that you have 'state-of-the-art' equipment. They care about whether you can solve their problem.
Good website content:
- Addresses the visitor's pain points immediately
- Explains how you help in plain language
- Shows proof that you've helped others like them
- Makes it obvious what to do next
- Avoids jargon and buzzwords
The formula is simple: understand what your customers actually worry about, and show them you can help with that.
How to Know If Your Website Is Working
You need to track the right things:
Traffic: How many people visit your site? Where do they come from?
Behavior: What do they do when they get there? Which pages do they look at? Where do they leave?
Conversions: How many visitors actually do what you want - fill out forms, make calls, buy things?
If your website gets lots of traffic but nobody contacts you, there's a problem with the site itself. If you get contacts but they're the wrong kind of people, there's a targeting problem. If you're getting good leads, do more of whatever's working.
Google Analytics is free and gives you most of what you need. Set it up properly from day one.
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Get Free Website ReviewFrequently Asked Questions
For a small business, a solid website typically costs between $3,000 and $15,000. Below that, you're usually getting templates with limited customization. Above that, you're getting more complex features, custom functionality, or e-commerce capabilities. The right budget depends on what you need your site to do.
A straightforward business website takes 4-8 weeks from start to finish. Complex sites with custom features, e-commerce, or lots of content can take 12-16 weeks. Anyone promising a custom website in a week is cutting corners somewhere.
For very small businesses or side projects, they're fine to start. But they have limits - slower performance, less customization, and you're stuck with their templates. Once your business depends on your website to bring in customers, a custom-built site usually pays for itself.