What makes a website work
Almost nobody cares what your website looks like. They care that it loads, that they can tell within seconds what you do, that you look like a real business rather than a risk, and that contacting you is obvious. These are the eight things we check before we build anything, and the order matters.
What the visitor needs
If nobody arrives, nothing else on this list matters.
- Ranking for what people actually type, which is rarely what a business calls itself
- Showing up in the map results when somebody searches for a trade and a town
- Being quoted by AI answers, where a growing share of questions now end
A stranger decides in about three seconds whether they are in the right place.
- What you do, who you do it for and where, above everything else
- The exact thing they searched for, answered, rather than a general version of it
- Written in their words, not the trade's words
Most people have been let down by a tradesperson or a supplier before. They arrive braced.
- Real work shown, not stock photographs of somebody else's
- Reviews and ratings where people will actually see them
- A named human with a face, rather than a page about the team
They have your competitor open in another tab. That comparison is happening whether you like it or not.
- Looking at least as good as whoever they are comparing you with
- Signalling the price you want to charge, because a cheap looking site caps what you can ask
- Matching the quality of the actual work, since a scrappy site contradicts a beautiful job
The moment somebody decides to act is the moment you can most easily lose them.
- Phone, WhatsApp, email and a form, because different people choose differently
- Reachable from every screen without hunting for it
- Working at eleven at night, when they finally have five minutes
What you need
The best websites quietly remove work you are currently doing by hand.
- Answering the questions you answer by phone forty times a week
- Letting existing customers rebook, cancel or find an invoice without ringing you
- Qualifying the wrong enquiries out as well as the right ones in
Most business owners cannot say which page brought them their last job.
- Showing which pages actually bring the work, not just which get visits
- Tracking calls, form fills and WhatsApp taps as the things that matter
- Enough information to make the next decision with, in plain English
A website you do not own is a rent payment with a countdown on it.
- Domain, code, hosting and accounts all in your name
- Portable, so leaving is possible and therefore never necessary
- Updated, backed up and secure, with somebody who answers when it breaks
What this means if you want a website
Every website Fixr Systems builds is checked against all eight before it goes live, and the free audit checks any site you already have against the same list. If you want one built this way, the web design page has the price and the process.
Written and kept up to date by Ben Criddle, who builds everything Fixr ships.Last reviewed 2 September 2026