Your website has five seconds. Use them well.

Most visitors decide whether to stay on a website almost instantly. The good news: you can improve those first seconds with a handful of small changes, no full redesign needed.

Say what you do, in plain English

Lead with the customer, not with you: Your top line should tell someone what you do and who it is for. "Websites and leads for local businesses" beats "Welcome to our world of innovative solutions" every time.

One sentence, no jargon: Read it out loud. If a friend outside your industry would not get it, rewrite it. Simple reads as confident.

Show something real: A photo of your actual work or your actual team builds trust faster than stock images. People can spot a stock smile from a mile away.

Make the next step obvious

Pick one main button: "Book a call", "Get a quote", "See our work". Choose the one thing you want most and repeat it at the top, the middle and the bottom of the page.

Put contact details where people look: A phone number that you can tap on mobile, and an email in the header or footer. Do not make people hunt for it.

Keep forms short: Name, email and one question is plenty. You can always ask for more once you are talking.

Fast, tidy and thumb-friendly

Shrink your images: Huge photos are the number one reason sites feel slow. Resize and compress them before you upload.

Test on your own phone first: Many of your visitors will be holding a phone. Can they read the text, tap the buttons and finish the form with one thumb?

Put proof near the button: A couple of real reviews or a logo strip next to your call to action takes away the last bit of doubt.

Want a second pair of eyes on this? Say hello and we will take a look, no strings attached.

Written by the Funnal team. Illustration: Funnal.