Most company websites look good. They are clean, modern and the designer has nothing to be ashamed of. And still they do not sell. The reason is usually simple: the site was built as a business card that explains who we are, not as a tool that helps a visitor decide. These are the six principles we work with on every project, plus the mistakes we see on almost every site sent to us for review.
One goal per page
If a page tries to recruit staff, sell a service, tell the company history and promote an event at the same time, it does none of them. Every page needs one goal and one outcome you expect from it. The home page can lead to a service, the service page can lead to a conversation. Everything else is noise.
The test is simple. Write one sentence on paper: this page succeeds if the visitor does X. If that sentence contains the word or, you have too many goals. In Latvia we very often see one long home page with the entire company squeezed into it. It is convenient to build, but it never becomes the answer to a specific search, because it talks about everything.
The offer in the first screen
A visitor has to understand three things in the first seconds: what you do, who you do it for and why it is worth anything. Not an abstract slogan, but a clear sentence. If the offer only appears after three screens of scrolling, most people will never reach it. The decision to stay or leave takes a few seconds, and on a phone the first screen is roughly 600 pixels tall. That holds a headline, one explaining sentence and one button. That is all you get.
The most common mistake is a headline that would fit any company. Solutions for your growth says nothing. Modular houses at a fixed price, delivered in three months says everything. That clarity is the foundation of createhouse.lv, where the buyer is making a large purchase and wants to know exactly what they are buying in the first screen. We used the same principle on a far smaller project, kehrisbarbershop.lv, where the visitor only needs two things: where you are and how to book.
Proof instead of claims
A sentence saying you are professional and reliable changes nothing. A number, a client name or a real piece of work changes a lot. Show projects, results, testimonials with names and logos. The bigger the sum, the more proof you need. Someone buying a twenty euro haircut risks very little. Someone buying a house risks a year of income and needs to see finished builds, the process, the timeline and the people doing it.
In practice that means being specific. Not happy clients, but 42 houses completed since 2019. Not fast service, but a reply within 24 hours on working days. If you have no numbers yet, use a story: one client, one problem, one result. Three sentences work better than a whole page of general claims.
One clear action
Every page needs one primary action that repeats. If a page has seven different buttons with seven different labels, the visitor picks the easiest option: closing the tab. Choose one action, name it clearly and repeat it at the top, middle and end of the page.
Button text should be a verb, not a noun. Book a consultation beats Contacts. Ask only for what you truly need in the form. Every extra field lowers completion, and a budget question scares people the most. A name, an email and one question are usually enough to start a conversation.
Speed and mobile
More than half of your visitors arrive on a phone, and for local services that number is often above 70 percent. If the page takes three seconds to load and the text is tiny on mobile, all the other work is wasted. Aim for under two seconds until the main content is visible.
Three things give the biggest gain. First, images. Do not upload a 6 megabyte camera file; a compressed image under 200 kilobytes in a modern format is enough. Second, video that autoplays on the home page usually costs more than it returns. Third, every extra tracking script slows the page down. Test on a cheap phone over mobile data, not only on a new laptop in the office.
Measurability
A website whose results cannot be measured is a matter of opinion. Set up analytics and conversion events on day one so you know how many people submit a form, call or write. Without it you cannot tell whether the new site performs better than the old one. We cover how to do that in Marketing analytics: how to know whether your money is working. If the site is not being found in search yet, start with SEO basics for companies.
The mistakes we see most
- A headline that fits any industry, and the offer buried on the third screen.
- A contact form with nine fields, including a budget question.
- A gallery of 60 photos that takes a minute to load and explains nothing.
- A pricing page that only says price on request, with no reference point at all.
- Not a single real name or face, just the word team.
A seven step check
- Open the site on a phone and time how long the main content takes to appear.
- Write one sentence for each page goal. If it contains the word or, split the page.
- Rewrite the main headline so it would not fit a competitor.
- Add three concrete proofs with numbers or names.
- Cut the form to three fields and remove the budget question.
- Compress every image and turn off autoplaying video on the home page.
- Add an event for every form and call, then measure for a month.
Where to start
Open your website on a phone and hand it to someone who does not know your industry. If they cannot say what you offer and what you want from them within five seconds, the problem is not the design, it is the structure. Structure can be fixed without a full rebuild, and it usually costs far less. If you want a second opinion, look at our services or write to hello@polaroaks.com.