Take out your phone, open your own website and try to call yourself. Count the taps. If the answer is more than one, this post is for you.
A contractor's website has one job above the others, and that is to make the phone ring. The customer is usually on a phone already, often with a problem in front of them. Every extra step between "I need a plumber" and your ringtone is a chance for them to hit the back button and call the next name.
What right looks like
Your phone number is at the top of the screen on every page. It stays there when the page scrolls. It's large enough to hit with a thumb, and when you tap it, the phone asks "Call (813) 555-0142?" with no copying or typing. One tap, one confirmation, ringing.
Six ways sites get it wrong
1. The number is a picture
It looks like a phone number, but it's part of the logo or a banner image. A picture can't be tapped to dial. The customer has to memorize ten digits and type them in, and most won't.
2. The number is only on the Contact page
Someone lands on your home page, wants to call and has to go looking. On a phone that means opening a menu, finding Contact and waiting for another page to load. The number belongs on every page, at the top.
3. The number is only at the bottom
Footers are where numbers go to be ignored. A person with water on the floor does not scroll through your company history to reach it.
4. It's text, but it isn't a link
Some phones guess that a string of digits is a number and make it tappable. Some don't. A proper call link works on all of them. If someone else manages your site, the thing to ask for is a "tel link" on the phone number. It's a one-line change.
5. It's the wrong number
This happens more than you'd think. An old cell number, an office line nobody answers, a tracking number from an ad service you cancelled last year. Tap it and see where it rings.
6. The site wants a form filled out first
A form is fine as a second option, for people who'd rather not talk or who are looking at midnight. It shouldn't be the only way in. If your site has a big "Request a Quote" button and no visible phone number, you're making callers do paperwork.
The other half: what happens when it rings
A perfect call button that leads to a full voicemail box is still a lost job. Three quick checks.
- Your greeting says the business name. "You've reached Dave at Dave's Electric" tells a caller they dialed the right place. The default robot greeting makes them wonder.
- Your voicemail isn't full. Clear it out.
- Your hours are on the site. If you don't pick up after six, say so, and say when you call back. People will wait for a contractor who told them what to expect.
Let people text, too
Plenty of customers would rather text than call, especially from work. If you answer texts on that number, say so right next to it: "Call or text." It costs nothing and it catches the people who were never going to dial.
The thirty-second test
- Open your site on your phone, on cell data and not your home wifi.
- Find the phone number without scrolling.
- Tap it once. Your phone should offer to call.
- Scroll halfway down the page. The number should still be on screen.
- Open one other page and check again.
If any step fails, that's the first thing to fix on your site, ahead of new photos or a new design.
How we handle it
Every site we build has the phone number as a tap-to-call button at the top of every screen, on every plan, because it matters more than anything else on the page. You can open one of our demo concepts on your phone and try the test above. Or get a free preview with your own number on it and see how it looks. No card needed.