To get more enquiries from your website, you need to stop guessing what looks good and start testing what actually works. It’s as simple as showing two different versions of a page to your visitors and seeing which one results in more phone calls or bookings. This is the only way to know for sure if a change to your site is making you money or just wasting your time.
Look, I’ve sat in too many meetings where people argue for hours about whether a button should be blue or green. Or whether the photo should be of a smiling family or a bloke on a ladder. Honestly? It’s all rubbish. Your opinion doesn't matter. My opinion doesn't matter. The only person whose opinion results in a fatter bank account is the person trying to hire you.
Testing your website is basically like having a crystal ball. Instead of spending five grand on a total redesign and hoping for the best, you make small, smart changes and let the data tell you if you're winning.
Why should you care about testing?
Most business owners think that once a website is live, the job is done. They treat it like a brochure they printed in 1994. But your website is a living thing. If you aren't constantly checking if it can perform better, you're leaving money on the table. Every person who lands on your site and leaves without calling you is a lost lead.
If you can move your results from 2 enquiries out of 100 visitors to 4 enquiries, you’ve just doubled your business without spending an extra cent on ads. That’s the power of this stuff. It’s not about ‘pretty’—it’s about profit.
💡 Quick take: Stop trusting your gut. Your gut doesn't pay the bills; customers do. Show them two options and let them vote with their clicks.
Small changes that lead to big wins
You don't need to rebuild the whole thing to see a jump in phone calls. In fact, the smallest tweaks usually have the biggest impact. We often see clients who are overpaying for websites because they focus on flashy animations instead of the basics that actually get people to pick up the phone.
Start with your headline. It’s the first thing people see. If it says 'Welcome to our website', you're failing. Test a headline that focuses on the problem you solve.
Then, look at your 'Call to Action'—that’s just the button or link you want them to click. Does 'Submit' work better than 'Get a Free Quote'? Usually, 'Submit' is terrible. People hate submitting things. They love getting things. Test 'Get My Price' or 'Book a Call' and see what happens.
Is your website working on phones?
I see this all the time in Brisbane. A tradie or a local lawyer has a site that looks great on their big office monitor, but it’s a total mess on a smartphone. Since most of your customers are probably looking for you while they're on the go, your site on phones needs to be perfect.
If your 'Call Now' button is too small for a thumb to hit, or if the text is so tiny they have to squint, they’re going to hit the back button and call the next guy on Google. Testing different mobile layouts is one of the fastest ways to see more bookings come through.
The 'Paint or Bulldozer' approach
Sometimes a site is so far gone that you need to start over, but most of the time, you just need a bit of a refresh. I call this the paint or bulldozer decision. Testing allows you to 'paint' small sections of your site to see if they improve things before you decide to bulldoze the whole lot.
If you change the photo on your homepage and your enquiries go up by 20%, you’ve just saved yourself the cost of a full rebuild. It’s about being smart with your cash.
"Angus Smith's take — If you're arguing with your wife or your business partner about which photo looks 'classier', you've already lost the plot. Put both photos live, wait a week, and see which one actually makes the phone ring."
— Angus Smith, Founder & Marketing Director
How long does it take to see results?
This isn't an overnight fix. If you only get ten visitors a day, you can't run a test for 24 hours and expect to have an answer. You need enough people to walk through the digital door to make the numbers mean something.
For most local Brisbane businesses, we suggest running a test for at least two to four weeks. This covers the weekend lulls and the Monday morning rushes. It gives you a clear picture of how people behave across a normal month.
What should you test first?
Don't try to test everything at once. You'll get confused and won't know what worked. Pick one thing.
1. The Headline: Change 'Quality Plumbing' to 'Leaking Tap Fixed Today or It’s Free'. 2. The Button Colour: Try a high-contrast colour like orange or lime green against a white background. 3. The Form: Remove three fields from your contact form. Do you really need their middle name and fax number? Probably not. 4. Phone Number Placement: Is your number at the very top where they can see it without scrolling? Test putting it in a big, bold bar at the top of the screen.
✅ What to do: Pick the page on your site that gets the most traffic (usually the homepage) and change the main button text today. Monitor your enquiries for two weeks and compare it to last month.
Common mistakes to avoid
The biggest mistake is testing too many things at once. If you change the headline, the photo, and the button colour all at the same time, and your sales go up, you have no idea why. Was it the photo? Was it the button? Keep it simple. One change at a time.
Another mistake is stopping too early. Just because the first three people clicked the green button doesn't mean green is the winner. You need a decent sample size before you make a permanent change to your business.
What to do next
Stop looking at your website as a piece of art. It’s a sales tool. If it’s not generating leads, it’s broken.
You don't need to be a tech genius to start this. There are plenty of simple tools out there that let you swap headlines or buttons without touching a line of code. Or, you can get someone else to handle the heavy lifting while you focus on running your business.
If you want to stop guessing and start growing, have a chat with us at Local Marketing Group. We help Brisbane businesses turn their websites into high-performing lead machines by focusing on what actually works, not what looks pretty in a portfolio.
Ready to see more phone calls? Get in touch with us here.