Small Business Websites Generate Traffic but No Customers

“I’m interested in hearing from people who have successfully built a website, app, SaaS product, or other online business that became profitable. What did the very beginning look like for you? How did you come up with the idea, build it, and get your first paying users? What prior experience, if any, did you have with web or app development before starting? submitted by /u/FluidAd3314 [link] [comments]”

“been thinking about this because i think i’ve been treating “ranking on google” as basically the whole ballgame for a while now without really questioning whether thats accurate for my specific business context: spent a decent amount of time over the past year trying to improve where i show up when someone searches for what i do nearby. did move the needle some, more visible than i used to be. but when i actually sat down and tried to figure out where my customers were coming from, a big chunk o”

“Curious how long you let those mini sites run before you trust the data, like are you looking at actual search traffic converting into some action, or is ranking and impressions enough of a signal to move forward on its own?”

“Go for it, am all ears and happy to share my input. It does sound like you may have found a gap so I'd wanna see the survey for bias and assess whether 4 is enough.”

“Good websites guide visitors toward one clear action. Strong copy sipmple navigation speed and trust can make a uge difference.”

“I’ve been in business a long time, and finding customers feels very different today than it did even 5 years ago. SEO is harder. Paid ads are more expensive. Email works great if you already have a list, but that doesn’t necessarily help you find new customers. And social media can feel like a full-time job without knowing if it’s actually driving business. So I’m curious what’s genuinely working for other small business owners right now. Are your new customers mostly coming from: Google/SEO Pai”

“I think the frustrating part is that being good at what you do and getting customers are two completely different skills. You can build a great website, but if nobody knows you exist or trusts you yet, it doesn’t really matter. That gap is probably where I’d focus first. You”

“I’d recommend you also focus on your Google Business Profile. A plywood shop is the kind of business people find by searching building materials near them, so your GBP needs current photos of the inventory, accurate hours, and a service area that reflects where you actually deliver or sell. Reviews are the second piece. Even 10-15 reviews changes your visibility. Fix those gaps first, then layer in Google Ads.”

“You've been building this stuff for years for hotels, that is your catalogue, it just never got photographed. Ask two or three of those hotels if you can shoot the rooms, a real bed in a real lobby will beat any render you generate.”

“I'd flip the order. A catalog with no checkout and a 4-5 month lead time isn't an ecommerce site, it's a quote machine, so cold FB/IG ads into it will just spend money with nothing to measure. Put up a few real photographed hero SKUs, capture email plus a deposit before you build, and say the lead time on the page. Once those close, then worry about generating a hundred more renders.”

“I do web design/SEO work and I keep noticing a gap: most business owners aren't confused about their business, but they're genuinely confused about their website — why it's slow, why it's not showing up on Google, whether they even need to redo it or just fix what's there. Curious what this sub actually struggles with. Is it: - Not knowing if your site is actually hurting or helping your Google ranking? - Not knowing what a "redesign" even fixes vs. what it doesn&#3”

“Yes, absolutely yes. As long as you are confident in your expierence the rendering is representative of what you will be making. No differnt than architectural renderings. I think those (and I say this with the utmost respect) that are saying it's a bad idea, its a brand risk are not reading your headline correctly on EBITDA size. You really have no other choice but to use AI, and if you can use it will, you will look like you're punching way above your weight class.”

“The site is the cheap part. Retail furniture ads are not. I'd budget $2-5k of testing before you know if it converts. With $45k EBITDA that's real money. Start with Google Shopping, not broad FB ads.”

“The website is the easy part, you can get that up with AI in a weekend. The part that'll actually sink you is AI product photos. You sell furniture, retail buyers judge craftsmanship straight off the image, and generated furniture still has that slightly-melted look people now read as a scam. For high-ticket physical goods that's the fastest way to lose trust.”

“I’ve been building aromu.com for a while. We sell essential oils and essential oil candles. The problem is pretty simple: traffic is low and sales are almost nonexistent. I’ve spent a lot of time improving the website, product pages, photos, SEO and writing content, but I’m starting to wonder if I’m spending time on the wrong things. Maybe the website isn’t convincing enough. Maybe the products or pricing are the problem. Or maybe the site is fine and I simply haven’t found a good way to get the”

“Sounds like you could use some help, DM if you’d like to chat. That being said, creating a website is easy, creating a digital distribution channel is hard. If you don’t have experience with this I wouldn’t recommend using AI to build this. You’ll probably get something done you like but it’s chances of helping you grow your business are small.”

“Send your agent to find candidate sites and make a new site for them ring them and show them. Obviously find a crap site that could do with some love...”

“A few months ago, I was working on a website for a company. Everything was there: services, pricing, contact information, FAQs... But then I started thinking about what happens after the visitor lands on the website. Someone visits at 11 PM. They have a simple question: “Do you offer this service?” They look around, don't immediately find the answer, and leave. The next morning, someone asks the exact same question on WhatsApp. Then another person asks about pricing. Then another asks about”

I thought user will engage more

“Hi! I recommend you try these: 1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Just a single page website where you're targeting high-intent keywords that people are searching for on search engines like Google. You can use Google Trends for free to search for high-intent keywords that have good popularity. Or you can also use a paid tool like Ahrefs, Keywords Everywhere etc... but Google Trends is usually good enough as a start. In my experience, it's easier and faster to rank for your target main k”

“Which produces higher quality websites in your opinion? submitted by /u/Fast_Humor_1101 [link] [comments]”

You are welcome 😁

holy fuck thank you so much

“Product upload is not an issue; you can upload any product at any time. The main thing is the product landing page. The landing page needs to be simple, or do you need good design?”

“One issue is the word "local". That word tends to imply "near my location" and if people don't feel "local" to you then wording like that can make some users feel out of place and not want to use the platform. If a creator in NY sees the word local and also sees you, or even just the first 1 or 2 articles on the site, are from CA then why would the California artist feel like they should join? If you're looking for a national/global audience then remove the”

“"I built something without checking to see if anyone wants it first, how do I get people to use it?" you don't, you go figure out what people want and then build it and sell it to them”

“1) Massive paid outreach 2) per-article online hasn't worked in nearly 40 years, and by this time it won't, if only because people will point out it hasn't worked in 40 years 3) Give up. I mean this seriously and with love. I've been consulting in this area for 10 years and for 95% of founders, many of whom are better-positioned than your startup, getting a job and kicking ass at that job is usually a much smarter play. Free bonus advice: how many news feeds do you pay for, and h”

could you share your website please? would love to take a look 😄

“Hey everyone, I’m working with a local flooring contractor to clean up his website and sales process, and I wanted to get some realistic feedback from people doing this every day. Right now, his site forces people to fill out a full contact form with their phone number just to get a baseline idea of cost. We’re noticing a ton of homeowners just bounce off the page because they don't want to get hounded by a salesperson before they even know if they can afford the material. At the same time,”

“It's insane and somehow no one sees a problem”

“As the other comment said lol.. Typically creative people. If you've seen my landing page, you would think it's nice too. There is a huge gap between someone prompting claude to make a beautiful landing page and then someone like them or myself who spend weeks tweaking the main landing banner area to perfection. Study design concepts. takes a long time. Took me 10 years to get it right.”

“Pick local SEO. Not because it is a better business. Because a medspa already knows what they are buying and you can walk in with a one-page audit of their Google listing this week. The AI receptionist pitch is a longer education sale and you have no proof yet. First client is whoever can say yes after one conversation, not whoever has the bigger TAM. Once you have cashflow you can sell the other thing to the same clinics.”

“I recently designed and launched a complete website for a 24-hour laundromat in Los Angeles that had been operating as a brick-and-mortar business for over 10 years without a website. The goal was not to make something unnecessarily complicated. Customers mainly needed to find practical information quickly, including: Machine sizes Services and amenities Parking Hours and directions Payment information Frequently asked questions I handled the design, development, mobile optimization and technica”

“Well said. The position needs to be clear right on the hero section. It should not take more than a couple of seconds for any visitor to immediately understand what the business does. The goal is clarity over art.”

“What were the best/most pushed urgency website tactics you used/saw back in 2020-2023 that wouldn’t hold up today due to all the new saturation, or that held you back from being profitable? E.g: countdown timers under 1 hour, “2 left in stock” etc submitted by /u/Late-Cranberry-4826 [link] [comments]”

“I THINK YOU NEED TO REBUILD THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, -REMOVE STOCK PICTURES -ADD REAL REVIEWS -CLEAR PRICING -SPEED i would suggest something like : moroccotravelexperts.com”

“Hi everyone, I'm the owner of a small tour company in Morocco called Morocco Global Travel, and I'd really appreciate some honest feedback on my website. I've built and managed the website myself, and while I get some traffic, the booking rate is much lower than I'd like. Unfortunately, I don't have the budget to hire SEO experts or conversion specialists, so I'm trying to learn and improve everything on my own. Would anyone be willing to review my website and tell me: -”

“I feel like most small businesses start with the obvious stuff like social media, email, paid ads, referrals, etc. But I’m curious what actually surprised people once you started spending real time or money on marketing. Was there a channel you almost ignored that ended up becoming one of your best sources of customers? Could be Google, Meta, Amazon, local partnerships, email, Reddit, direct outreach, anything really. Would love to hear what worked and how long it took before you realized it was”

“Keep it painfully simple until customer calls start repeating themselves. One clear promise, who it's for, maybe 2-3 proof points, and a dead obvious way to talk to you. Docs/FAQ can wait until you're tired of answering the same question for the fifth time.”

“I think you’re right on track. Just do fun content like chubbies and on the golf course. You will get a ton of customers. Do some ads but don’t only get customers via ads.”

“Do you try to put everything a potential customer might need on the site, or keep it simple and let people ask questions/contact you? And how do you decide what goes on the homepage vs. docs/FAQ when you don't have many customer conversations yet? submitted by /u/Frosty_Ad2682 [link] [comments]”

I've spent like 6 months trying but never even came close to selling one, not sure if selling websites have low demand or is it something else, never really worked for me,…

“Interested to know what small tweaks or quick wins people made to their website that improved conversions. Was it including free shipping? Pictures of how your products were made? Free returns? Payment icons? Reviews on product page? Share the sauce ! submitted by /u/Ironmax166 [link] [comments]”

“Running a small agency in Melbourne’s west (Wyndham side), I keep getting the same question from tradies, clinics, and local retailers: “Do I need a $10k custom site, or is a cheaper template fine?” Here’s the split that usually makes sense: 1. Fix the lead path before the pretty redesign If Google Business Profile is incomplete, NAP is inconsistent, or the site has no clear service pages / click-to-call / form, a redesign won’t fix enquiry volume. Map pack + trust signals move local leads first”

“Congrats on that first customer. Feels good, don’t it? Now that you know Google can bring in leads, I'd probably double down a bit on some SEO basics for your landing page and product descriptions. Doesn't have to be a full-time job, but even minor improvements can compound over time.”

“for the website, keep it simple: homepage with hero image of your work, about/why choose us, gallery of before/afters, services page, contact form, and reviews. wordpress with a lightweight theme works fine. google business profile is going to drive way more leads than paid ads at this stage, so focus on getting reviews there first. for tracking, start with lead source (where each estimate came from) and close rate per source so you know what's actually working.”

“I'm late to the party but this is a site I did. Inova Dental Her old site was what you described blue and white, had a bunch of technical issues with it. Their CTR and book rate doubled from the redesign the previous site was that bad. We used purple and teal for lightmode. Wanted the website to feel warm and friendly but modern. The darkmode is her actual brand colors of pink and blue and it leans more heavily to modern and younger demographic.”

“I posted in here last week asking for brutal advice on my website and a few gave it to me. To them, thank you SO MUCH!!! I’ve cut my information in it down by a LOT. As per the feedback, I would say my website has improved 70%. I would say I’ve reduced the words on the website by about 40%. It was raw and real and exactly what I needed to hear. I really think I’m moving towards being a serious competitor towards Billion Dollar companies. But now I have another question. Even though the website i”

“think about user intent first. homepage should answer 'what do you do, who for, why trust you' in like 10 seconds. deeper pages (services, process, case studies if relevant) are for people already interested. at my agency we usually see better conversions when critical info (pricing tiers, service scope, contact) is easy to find but you're not dumping everything on one page. faq is good for common objections or logistics”

“Exactly this. If something you can do for them saves or makes them money they will happily pay you a percentage of that. Find out what you can do best for them and target that.”

“Can you describe how anyone would be a captive audience for a single web page?”

“For those who own or run a small business: What’s one marketing decision you made that genuinely helped your business grow? It could be something simple like improving your website, getting more reviews, focusing on Google, networking locally, referrals, social media, or something completely different. What did you try, and what made it work for your business? submitted by /u/AI-STAR-SEO [link] [comments]”

“I put most everything on there. Other social media spots we have can be succinct. I want people to be able to access everything on our site and get all the info they may want. And if they don’t want to deep dive that’s ok too.”

“How do you guys actually handle questions from website visitors? submitted by /u/Frosty_Ad2682 [link] [comments]”

“hey everyone, I started a small web design business this summer through Ontario's Summer Company program and I've actually managed to pick up a few clients from posting on Reddit, so figured I'd try here too I mainly work with small businesses that either don't have a website yet or have one that's pretty outdated. I can do new sites, redesigns, mobile optimization, contact/quote forms, basic SEO, etc. I've also been working with a pretty random mix of businesses lately w”

“I’m a web developer working with small and local businesses, and I’m curious about something from the business-owner side. If you’ve ever paid for a website, redesigned one, or decided you actually needed one: What made you take the decision? What was the biggest problem with your old website or online presence? What did you actually want the website to do for your business? What would make a website worth paying for? I’m asking because I’d rather understand what business owners actually need in”

“A client drop a few grand just to have their landing page be a procedurally generated acid trip and the whole thing only works on desktop firefox, its out there just rare”

“I think there’s definitely a market for this, especially with small businesses that don’t want to think about domains, hosting, email, updates, etc. I wouldn’t build too much around the idea before validating it though. I’d try to get 2-3 local businesses first and offer to handle everything for them for a monthly fee. You’ll probably learn pretty quickly which parts they actually value and, more importantly, which tasks become a pain for you once you’re managing several clients instead of just”

“Sorry, but everything about your website screams AI. Copy, design, typography, UI/UX. It's exactly like every other Claude designed website that every other person has ever made. My advice would be to really think about your target audience, get really granular about every detail about them then rebuild the website for them specifically. Don't let Claude build it from scratch. Every business has the same website these days so yours is coming across as yet another cheap drop shipping scam”