My website isn't getting enquiries.
A one-minute answer, a plain-English fix, and one thing you can do today — pick how you'd like to take it in below.
Websites don't get enquiries by existing — they get enquiries by being obvious. Nine times out of ten, the fix is making one thing crystal clear: what you do, who it's for, and the exact next step to contact you. Put that at the top of your homepage. Done.
Most small business websites hide the important bit. The homepage says "Welcome to our website!" instead of "Cafe in Grey Lynn. Open 7am–3pm. Book a table." Visitors bounce in six seconds if they can't figure out what you do and what to do next. It's not your website that's broken. It's the first ten words.
A hairdresser in Titirangi paid a friend of a friend $3,000 to build her website. It was beautiful — swirling videos on the homepage, a poem about hair, and a tiny "contact" link tucked in the corner. Bookings stayed flat. We replaced her homepage with three lines: her name, "Hairdresser in Titirangi — over 20 years' experience," and a huge "Book online" button. Bookings tripled. The website hadn't changed. The clarity had.
One sentence, at the top
What you do + where you are. "Family dentist in Manukau." "Small-batch coffee roaster, delivered across Auckland." "Wedding photographer for Central Otago." Plain, direct, and above everything else.
One obvious button — right below
"Book," "Get a quote," "Call us." Big. Coral. Impossible to miss. Not "contact" (too vague). Give people one action and make it huge.
One real photo (not a stock image)
Your team, your shop, your work. Stock photos of women laughing at salads scream "we're pretending." A real photo, even a phone snap, screams "we're real."
Contact details in the header of every page
Phone number in the top-right. Address in the footer. Hours near the top. Never make someone hunt for how to give you money.
The 5-second test
Show your homepage to a friend who's never seen it. Ask: "In 5 seconds, tell me what this business does." If they can't — rewrite the top. Repeat until they can.
Write one sentence describing your business — and paste it at the top.
Use the plainest words you can find. If a 12-year-old wouldn't understand it, rewrite it. "Handmade jewellery in Nelson — earrings, rings, custom pieces." That's it. Put that above everything on your homepage today.
- Clarity beats cleverness — every time.
- One clear sentence + one obvious button = 90% of the work.
- Real photos beat stock photos.
- If a stranger can't tell what you do in 5 seconds, rewrite the top.
Your website's working. But out of all the marketing you could do — where should you actually start? That's Topic 08.
Topic 08 — What marketing should I do first?