A local business website has one job: get the visitor to call. We build plain sites that work on a phone.
Somebody in the Louisville area has a problem. The water heater quit, the shingles are in the yard, the dog needs a groomer. They tap a result, and your page loads. In a few seconds they decide if you're the one to call, or if it's back to the results to try the next name.
So a local website has one job. Say what you do, in their town, and make the phone one tap away. A site that's nice to look at and slow to answer those questions is a brochure. A brochure doesn't ring the phone.
Before anyone scrolls, the visitor should be able to answer three questions without thinking:
That means a plain headline with the service and the area in it, one sentence under it, and a call button big enough to hit with a thumb. We put the phone number at the top for that reason. Everything else on the page is there to back up that first screen.
Plenty of local searches happen on a phone, usually by someone in the middle of something. A site built on a big monitor and squeezed down later tends to show it.
Plain beats fancy here. The best local sites are a little boring, and that's why they work.
A single page called “Services” with a bullet list is a weak page. Google can't tell which of those words you want to be known for, and a visitor who wants one thing has to read about nine others.
A roofer might have a page for repairs, a page for replacements and a page for storm damage. An HVAC company might have AC repair, furnace repair and installation. A groomer might have dogs and cats. Whatever your trade is, one page for each thing people actually search for.
Write each page by hand. Don't copy one page and swap the town name. It's easy to spot, and it doesn't do what its writer hoped.
Plain words help both. Use the phrase a customer would type, once or twice where it fits, and write the rest like a person talking.
Stuffing the same phrase into every sentence reads badly and doesn't help.
The basic set is smaller than most people think. A home page. A page for each main service. An about page that says who runs the business. A contact page with the phone number and email. A privacy page. That's the same layout you're looking at now: Home, Services, About, Contact and Privacy.
More pages can come later, such as one for each area you serve, once there's something real to say about each. Starting with ten thin pages is worse than starting with five good ones.
A photo of your own truck in a real driveway is worth more than a picture of strangers shaking hands. Customers see the same generic photos on every site and have learned to skip past them. If you don't have photos yet, leave the space empty and add the real ones as you take them. Your phone is fine for this. Take them straight, in daylight, with the work in the middle of the frame.
If you've got photos of your own jobs, they go in. If you don't, we don't fill the gap with strangers.
A website sits on three things: a domain name, a place that hosts it, and the logins to change it. Ask who holds each one. The domain should be registered in your name or your business's name, with you as the owner. You should have the logins. If your site is built on a company's own account and you can't take it with you, you're renting.
It's a basic question and a lot of owners never think to ask it until they want to leave. Ask us, and ask anyone else who offers to build you a site.
A new site won't fix a listing that's wrong. It won't make up for a phone nobody answers. It won't promise a ranking, and it won't earn reviews on its own. It gives the people who find you something clear to look at when they get there.
And sometimes the site is fine. If yours loads fast on a phone, says what you do and where, and has a number that's easy to tap, we'd tell you to leave it alone and look at the listing. Spending money on a site that didn't need it helps no one.
A site works best next to a clean listing, so read about Google Business Profile optimization in Louisville too. Contractors can see HVAC contractor SEO in Louisville and lead generation for contractors. The whole list is on the local SEO services page.
What you do, the town you work in, a phone number that's easy to tap, a page for each main service, and a way to see you're real, like photos of your own work. Everything else is optional.
If you want calls for it, yes. A page that covers everything ranks for nothing in particular, and a visitor who wants one thing has to hunt for it. One page per main service, each written in plain words.
Where it belongs, yes: on the first screen, in the page titles, in a sentence or two on each service page. Pasting the same paragraph ten times with a different town name doesn't help, and both Google and your visitors notice.
Maybe, maybe not. Open it on your phone. If you can find the phone number in a couple of seconds and the page says what you do and where, the site may be fine and the listing may be the weak spot. If not, it's worth a look.
We'd rather not. A photo of your own truck, your own crew's work or your own storefront does more than strangers shaking hands. If you don't have photos yet, the page works without them and you can add them later.
A list of the services you actually want calls for, the area you cover, your phone number, and any photos of your own work. A site can only be as specific as what it's given.
That's the right question for any company that builds your site. Ask where the domain name, the hosting and the logins will live, and get the answer in plain words before you agree to anything. We'll talk it through on the call.
No. A clearer site gives Google and your visitors a better page to look at. It doesn't control where Google places you, and anyone who promises a position is guessing.
Tell us your business and your town. We'll open your site on a phone and say what we see. Go to contact for phone and email.