Bad Plumber Website Design Mistakes That Can Kill Your Business

Chances are, you already have a website for your plumbing business. However, is it bringing in the desired number of leads? And of these leads, how many convert? If you cannot answer with confidence that your website is bringing in the traffic you want, you may be making some website design mistakes that can kill your business. So, how can you tell whether you have made any of these mistakes?

In this article, we share with you some bad plumber website design mistakes that can kill your business. If you identify any of these mistakes, it may be time to get a new web design entirely or change aspects of your current one.

Using “Click Here” As Anchor Text for Hyperlinks

When it comes to hyperlinks, you want to be as straightforward as possible so your customer knows exactly the kind of content they will be directed to when they click. When the anchor text to your hyperlink is “click here”, your reader has to sieve through a huge chunk of surrounding text just to find out what exactly they are clicking on. Do not make your reader do this – if the line reads “Click here to sign up for our newsletter” with the anchor text being “Click here”, simply shorten it to “Sign up for our newsletter” and anchor that line itself.

Multiple Font Sizes and Colors in The Main Text

The key when it comes to text on your website is for it to be of a consistent font size and color, titles and subtitles aside. If you make use of multiple font sizes and colors for the main text, it can get confusing for the reader. Naturally, you will want anchor texts for hyperlinks to be a different color – most websites choose one that fits with their theme and stands out from the default text color, which is usually black or dark grey. Be careful not to reuse this color when not hyperlinking. If you do so, readers may get confused and try to click on it only for nothing to happen, making them feel stupid. This is something you want to avoid at all costs.

Some websites adhere to a consistent font size and color, instead creating emphasis through capitalization and the excessive use of exclamation marks.  Do not do this – all caps translate to screaming in text speak and can be construed as rude or too pushy. Similarly, using more than one exclamation mark in a single instance (!!!) can make you come across overexcited or unprofessional. To create emphasis, simply bold the important line or phrase. This achieves the dual purposes of highlighting important information and giving your website a neat and professional look.

Filling in Space with Irrelevant Images

Did you know that the concept of “white space” is an element of web design? That’s right, many websites make use of a chunk of blank space in between sections to avoid cluttering their site and their readers’ minds. White space doesn’t have to be white – it can be a single color such as grey or green in correspondence with your design. Although white space can be effective when used in moderation, too much white space can be a problem as well. This is where some plumbing businesses try to fill it in with irrelevant images, such as that of a happy, smiling couple or a handshake.

Do not make this mistake – if you do not have a suitable image to fill that space with, a good strategy would be to include snippets of customer testimonials in block text and quotation marks. Using blocks of text that fit your color scheme can enhance your web design while adding in a useful chunk of content. Or you can make use of graphics and digital design to come up with an image that’s both visually compelling and relevant to your business.

Messy or Undigestible Text Formatting

Although formatting text for your plumber website isn’t the same as formatting the structure of an essay, there are certain similarities. For one thing, if you are listing out the services you offer, you wouldn’t want this to be in one long sentence, where the reader has to pay extra careful attention in order to pick out what they are looking for. This is especially true for technical terms and jargon which aren’t easily understood by people outside the industry. If your text is formatted in a way that’s hard to read, chances are your reader may just give up and head to a competitor’s website. Listing your offerings in bullet point will make them more digestible.

In addition, make sure that the justification of your text is consistent. While it is acceptable to centralize titles and subtitles, paragraphs of main text, lists and bullet points should be justified to the left. This makes it easier for the human eye to follow. Furthermore, you will want to ensure that the font size is not too big or too small. A good rule of thumb is that font size should be at least 16 point.

Cluttered Main Page

Type “plumbing services” into Google and click on the first result that comes up. That’s it – stop. Do not scroll any further. What do you see? Are there multiple chunks of text, or is there a clear logo and header, navigation tabs and just the right amount of text? When it comes to the main page of your website – what users see before scrolling down – you want to make sure it’s not too cluttered and contains just enough to entice them into staying and browsing. You do not need to include anything much more than your logo and header, one compelling image, a tagline summarizing what you offer and a call to action. It can be good to include a sneak peek into quantifiable results or customer testimonials too, but that should be it.

Hidden Contact Information and/or Social Media Links

Your contact information is one of the most important things you can include on your website. After all, it’s what you want customers to do – contact you – and it also helps them ascertain that they have found the right business. Your contact number, e-mail address and physical location (if applicable) should be included in your footer and if necessary, your header. If your business has multiple locations, include the main one in the footer with a link to your “Contact Us” inner page to assist customers in finding the branch closest to them.

If your business is active on social media, you will want to link your accounts to your website. Do not assume customers will search for you – it’s your job to entice them to your page, not the other way around. You can even go a step further and embed your feed on your website to entice your customers to click on it and follow you.

Not Mobile-Friendly or Responsive

Gone are the days where businesses had to design two separate sites for desktop and mobile viewing. Usher in the era of “responsiveness”, where your website design responds to the size of your display by shifting blocks that are laid horizontally downwards. If you are unsure whether your website is responsive, get it up on your phone or tablet. Does the display shrink to fit your screen, or do you have to zoom in just to be able to read what’s on the page? If your website is not responsive, you need to switch to a responsive template immediately. Google ranks websites that are not responsive further down in search results, and you do not want that to happen to you.

Now that you are acquainted with the common website designs plumbers make that can kill their business, it’s time to take a fresh look at your website. Are you making any of the above mistakes and if so, what can be done to rectify the situation? Whether it’s a simple case of switching to a responsive template or you redoing your website from scratch, there’s no bigger investment that plumbers can make in 2020 than the one in their online presence. A well-designed website not only ensures that customers stay longer, pushing you up in Google SERP results, it also makes them more likely to convert and recommend your services to friends and family.

If you are feeling daunted or stuck for ideas, always think back to the premise your business was founded on. What image do you want to portray? What is your vision? What kind of services do you provide, and what are your goals?  With all these in mind, you will be sure to come up with a website design that showcases the best of what you have to offer and stand out against competitors. Gain your customers’ trust and retain their interest with a superior website design, growing your plumber business in an era of fierce digital competition.