Most business owners suspect their website could be better but can't point to what's wrong. Here are five concrete signs it's actively driving people away.
One: it's slow. If your homepage takes more than a few seconds to load on a phone, a meaningful share of visitors leave before they see anything. Speed isn't a luxury — it's the front door.
Two: it looks older than your business. Customers judge credibility in about a blink. A site that looks like 2014 tells people the business might be run like 2014, fair or not.
Where to start
Three: there's no obvious next step. Every page should answer 'what do you want me to do?' — call, book, order, request a quote. If a visitor has to hunt for your phone number, many won't.
Four: it's broken on mobile. Well over half of local searches happen on phones. If your site requires pinching and zooming, you're turning away the majority.
Five: it doesn't connect to anything. A modern website should feed your customer list, your reviews, your bookings — not sit alone as a digital brochure.
The good news: every one of these is fixable, and fixing them usually costs less than the customers you're currently losing.