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Why Your Small Business Website Is a Useless, Lonely Desert and What to Do About It

So, you’ve got a website.

It looks nice. It has your logo, some pretty pictures, and maybe even a button that says Contact Us. And yet… nothing. No calls, no emails, no sales. It just sits there, about as useful as a handbrake on a canoe.

Meanwhile, your competitors—who have websites that look like they were designed in 1998—seem to be doing just fine. How? Why? Is the universe against you?

No. Your website isn’t generating business because it’s doing everything except what it’s actually supposed to do.

But don’t worry—I’m here to tell you exactly what’s wrong and, more importantly, how to fix it.

1. No One Can Find It (Because Google Thinks You Don’t Exist)

Your website might be brilliant, but if it’s on page 47 of Google, no one will ever see it. And since the only person who willingly goes to page 47 of Google is someone who has made a terrible mistake, your website is practically invisible.

What to do about it:

  • Sort out your SEO – That means using the right keywords on your site so Google actually knows what your business does. If you sell handmade leather boots, but your website never actually says “handmade leather boots,” then congratulations—you’ve made yourself unsearchable.
  • Get listed on Google Business – This takes five minutes, and yet so many businesses don’t bother. If you’re not on there, customers will assume you don’t exist.
  • Start blogging – I know, I know. “I don’t have time for blogs.” But Google loves fresh content. If your last website update was in 2015, Google assumes you’ve gone bust.

2. Your Website Looks Like It Was Designed by a Drunk Octopus

Let’s be brutally honest. If your website looks like it was put together by someone whose only qualification is “I once used Microsoft Paint,” it’s not going to inspire confidence.

  • If it’s cluttered with flashing banners, random fonts, and colours that make your eyes hurt—fix it.
  • If the text is the size of an ant and impossible to read on a phone—fix it.
  • If you still have an “Under Construction” page—delete your website and start over.

What to do about it:

  • Keep it simple. Clean, professional, easy to read. Your customers aren’t here to admire your graphic design skills—they just want to find the information they need.
  • Make sure it works on mobile. If your website looks fine on a desktop but turns into an unreadable mess on a phone, you’re losing customers.

3. Your Website Has the Personality of a Brick

Most small business websites read like they were written by a corporate committee trying not to offend anyone. They’re full of words like solutions, innovative, and synergy—but they say absolutely nothing.

If your website sounds like a robot wrote it, people will assume you’re boring, untrustworthy, or both.

What to do about it:

  • Write like a human. Be clear. Be real. If you wouldn’t say it to a customer face-to-face, don’t put it on your website.
  • Show personality. A little humor, a bit of storytelling—something that makes people think, Ah, this is an actual person, not a soulless corporate drone.

People buy from people, not from faceless websites filled with corporate nonsense.

4. There’s No Call to Action (So People Just Leave)

So, a customer lands on your website. They like what they see. They might even want to buy from you. But then… what now?

If your site doesn’t tell them exactly what to do next, they’ll leave. People need clear instructions.

What to do about it:

  • Put clear, obvious calls to action everywhere. Want them to book a consultation? Say it—with a big, obvious button that says Book Now.
  • Make your contact details impossible to miss. If people have to go digging to find your phone number, they won’t bother.
  • Remove unnecessary steps. If your checkout process is as complicated as filing taxes, people will give up and go elsewhere.

You’d be amazed how many businesses lose sales simply because they never actually ask for them.

Final Thoughts: Your Website Is Supposed to Work for You, Not Just Sit There

Your website is not just a fancy online brochure—it should be bringing in business. If it’s not, it’s either:

  1. Invisible (bad SEO),
  2. Annoying to use (slow, ugly, or confusing), or
  3. Failing to actually sell anything (no calls to action).

The good news? You can fix all of this.

So, instead of sitting around wondering why your competitors are getting all the business while your website collects digital dust, do something about it.

Make some tweaks, write like a human, and tell people what to do next.

And if you need help, your local web developer, Tropical Coast Web Design, is here to make it happen.

Otherwise, you might as well replace your website with a single-page PDF that says, “Please go away and buy from someone else.” Because right now, that’s what it’s doing.

Tropical Coast Web Design