Why is my website not getting customers?

Why is my website not getting customers?

Because a website is not a billboard. Being online is not the achievement. A site only earns its keep when a stranger lands on it, understands what you do, believes you, and takes a step. Each of those is a place where people drop off.

There are really only two kinds of problem. Either nobody is visiting, which is a visibility problem, or people visit and leave without doing anything, which is a conversion problem. Four of the five reasons below are about the second one, because that is where most small business sites quietly bleed.

Is my website too slow?

Probably, if nobody has checked. People do not wait. If your homepage is still loading while someone is squeezed in a matatu on Thika Road with two bars of network, they are already back on Google clicking your competitor.

Test it properly. Paste your address into Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool and look at the mobile score, not the desktop one. Then try the human test: open the site on your phone using data, not office Wi-Fi.

The usual culprits:

• Huge images. A 5 MB photo straight from the camera, shown in a tiny box.
• Too many plugins, sliders and animations nobody asked for.
• Cheap or overloaded hosting.
• Videos that start loading before anyone presses play.

Resizing and compressing images alone fixes a surprising number of slow sites. It is boring. It works.

Does my website work properly on a phone?

In Kenya, most of your visitors are on a phone. So if the site only looks good on the designer's big screen, it only looks good to the designer.

Grab your phone and try these:

• Can you read the text without zooming?
• Can you tap every button with a thumb, without hitting the wrong one?
• Does the menu open, and can you close it again?
• Does tapping the phone number start a call?
• Does the contact form fit the screen, or do you have to scroll sideways like a detective?

Every 'no' is a customer you are losing daily. Mobile is not the small version of your site. It is the main one. That thinking is the heart of our UI/UX and digital experience design work.

Do visitors know what to do next?

A call to action, or CTA, is the thing you want a visitor to do: call, WhatsApp, book, request a quote, buy. Many websites describe the business beautifully and then just... end. Like a salesperson who gives a great pitch and walks away.

Signs your call to action is weak:

• The only way to reach you is hidden on the Contact page.
• The button says something vague like 'Submit' or 'Learn more'.
• There are six different buttons competing, so people choose none.
• Your form asks for ten fields when a name and a phone number would do.

The fix is simple. Pick one main action for each page. Say it in plain words, like 'Get a quote on WhatsApp' or 'Book a free consultation'. Put it near the top, repeat it at the bottom, and make it a button a thumb cannot miss.

Does my website look trustworthy?

Kenyans have been conned online before. Everybody knows somebody who paid a deposit and got blocked. So visitors arrive with one silent question: 'hii ni legit?' Your site has a few seconds to answer it.

What builds trust fast:

• A real phone number, a business email and a physical location or service area.
• Photos of your actual work, team or premises, not stock photos of people in suits shaking hands.
• Reviews and testimonials with real names, and a link to your Google reviews.
• Clear prices, or at least a 'from' price, so people know if they can afford you.
• The padlock in the address bar, meaning the site runs on HTTPS.
• A design that looks cared for: consistent colours, no broken links, no 'Lorem ipsum' left behind.

Looking premium is not vanity. It is how strangers decide you are safe to pay. That is the whole idea behind visual positioning.

Can people even find my website on Google?

If nobody visits, nothing above matters. Do a quick test: search for what you sell plus your town, like 'cake delivery Kisumu', and see whether you appear. Then search your business name. If you are missing from both, visibility is your first problem.

The common causes are a new site Google has not indexed yet, pages with almost no text, page titles that just say 'Home', and no Google Business Profile. We broke the whole thing down in why your business is not showing up on Google.

How do I fix a website that is not converting?

Do it in this order. Each step is cheaper than the one after it.

1. Open the site on a phone with mobile data. Time it. Note everything annoying.
2. Ask a friend who does not know your business to find your price and contact you. Watch silently. Do not help.
3. Fix speed first: compress images, remove what nobody uses.
4. Add one clear call to action to every page, with a WhatsApp or call button.
5. Add proof: reviews, real photos, contacts and location.
6. Sort out the search basics so new people can find you.

If the structure itself is the problem, a redesign may be cheaper than endless patching. Ours is KSh 15,000, and basic on-page SEO setup is KSh 5,000. The rest of the numbers are in how much a website costs in Kenya.