If your website looks like that, what will you do to my house?

A homeowner is about to let a stranger into their house. Before they do, they look you up. Your website is the first walkthrough, and they're judging it the same way they'll judge your work.

Our founder AK sees it in a lot of do it yourself sites, especially in home remodeling. The homeowner's reaction is simple: "if their site looks like garbage, what are they going to do to my home?"

That one hurts because it's true. If you sell craftsmanship, a sloppy site sends the opposite message.

What the first screen has to do

Most homeowners look at your site on their phone, in a hurry, often while something in their house is broken. Here's the standard we build to:

• Say what you do and where, in plain words, right at the top.
• Put a tap to call button and a text button on the first screen. Nothing should scroll before the phone number.
• Show a real photo of your crew or a real job. Never stock.
• Show your license number and that you're insured. Your years in business, too.
• Show your star rating and review count.
• Make your three main services easy to tap.
• Quote three recent reviews, with names.
• List the cities you serve.

If your current home page doesn't do most of that, it's costing you calls.

One page for every service

Homeowners don't search for "contractor." They search for the exact problem: "crawl space encapsulation in Greenville," "French drain cost," "attic insulation near me."

So every service you sell deserves its own page. Each one should explain what the service is in plain language, what it usually costs as a range, what the process looks like from the first call to the finish, how long it takes, and real before and after photos from that service.

Add a few of the questions homeowners actually ask, answered in your own words. That's what helps you show up in search, and increasingly in AI answers too.

Make it easy to reach you

Keep your form short. Five things at most: name, phone, city, service and a line about the job. Every submission should land somewhere you'll see it, trigger an instant text back and alert your phone.

Then test it. Fill out your own form. Call the number on your own site. Time how long it takes to hear back. Most owners never do this, and most are surprised.

Test it where your customers live

Don't judge your site on the office computer. Open it on a real phone, on cellular, outside. Can you read it without zooming? Are the buttons big enough for a thumb? Does it load before you lose patience?

That's how your customer sees it. That's the version that matters.

Your story belongs there too

One more thing. Put your face on your About page, with your name and your story in first person. Why you started. What you care about. What you won't cut corners on.

People hire people. A homeowner who feels like they know you before you knock is already halfway to yes.

Your website doesn't need to be fancy. It needs to look like someone who takes pride in their work built it. Because someone who takes pride in their work is exactly who they're hoping to find.

Want to see how your site stacks up? Our free Growth Ladder assessment takes about four minutes.

Written by AKFounder of Momentum. Former Executive Sales Coach Lead at Google.