Nyah Eliud
What is this, in about five words?
The most common failure on business homepages is a headline that sounds admirable but says nothing. “Excellence delivered”. “Your partner in growth”. “Innovation for tomorrow”. The visitor still has no idea what you sell.
Say what you do, plainly, at the top of the page. You can be clever in the second line. The first line has one job, and it isn’t to impress you.
Is this for someone like me?
People need to see themselves before they read on. A hotel site should make it obvious whether it’s for business travellers or families. An accountant should say whether they work with one-person businesses or companies with fifty staff.
Naming your customer doesn’t shrink your market as much as owners fear. It filters out people who were never going to buy, and it makes the right people feel they have found the right place.
What does it cost?
Price is the question people most want answered and are least likely to ask. A site that hides it completely forces every interested visitor into a conversation, and a lot of them just leave instead.
If you can’t publish fixed prices, publish the shape of your pricing: a starting figure, a range, or how it’s worked out. That answers the question without tying you to a number.
Why we publish oursOur web design and SEO prices are on this site because we would rather someone worked out at midnight that we’re affordable than had to book a call to find out.
Why you and not the other one?
Your visitor has three tabs open. Everything you claim, the other two claim as well: quality, experience, customer focus. None of it sets you apart, because it’s what everyone says.
What actually sets a business apart is specific and slightly awkward to say. A published price. A guarantee with real terms. A named team. A case study with numbers. A policy your competitors won’t match.
Can I trust you?
Trust on a website is built from evidence, not adjectives. Real photos rather than stock. Named people rather than “our team of experts”. Reviews with names on them. Work a visitor can go and look at. A real address.
One piece of evidence someone can check beats a paragraph describing yourself. And every stock photo of a smiling call-centre worker quietly costs you a little credibility.
What do I do next?
Every screen should have one obvious next step. Not six competing buttons, and not a single “Contact us” hidden in the top corner.
Give people a choice of how far to commit. Something low-risk for the undecided, like a free audit or a price list. Something direct for the ready, like a call or a purchase. Repeat it as the page goes on, because people decide at different points.
Where are you, and how do I reach you right now?
In this market especially, a visible phone number and a WhatsApp button aren’t clutter. They’re the conversion. A lot of your visitors would rather send a message than fill in a form, and they won’t go hunting for the option.
Put your city in the footer and in the text. It helps a stranger trust you and it helps you rank locally, which is a rare case of one change doing both jobs.
A homepage, checked against the seven
Score your own homepage with this table, on a phone, without scrolling. Give yourself one point for each question a stranger could answer in about five seconds.
| Question | Fails when | Passes when |
|---|---|---|
| What is this? | A slogan like “Excellence in every detail” | “Accounting for small businesses in Yaoundé” |
| Is it for me? | No customer is named | “For shops, clinics and schools” |
| What does it cost? | No price, no range, no explanation | “Bookkeeping from 40,000 FCFA a month” |
| Why you? | Generic claims anyone could make | One specific reason a competitor cannot claim |
| Can I trust you? | Stock photos, no names, no address | Real photos, named clients, a physical address |
| What next? | Five buttons, or none | One clear action, repeated at the end |
| How do I reach you? | A form only | Phone and WhatsApp, where a thumb can tap them |
Five or more is a homepage doing its job. Three or fewer, and fixing the homepage will usually do more for enquiries than any amount of new traffic.
How to test yours in five minutes
Open your homepage on a phone. Hand it to someone who doesn’t know your business and ask them to tell you what you sell, who it’s for, and what it costs. Do not help them.
Whatever they can’t answer in about thirty seconds is your first fix. It’s a rougher test than any analytics dashboard and it’s usually more useful.
If you would like us to run that test properly, the free audit covers it alongside the technical checks.
Go further: the website guide, our web design service, web design prices, or care plans.
Questions people ask
If you can, yes, even as a starting price or a range. In a market where most businesses hide prices, showing one removes the main reason people hesitate, and filters out enquiries that were never going to fit.
The part of the page visible before anyone scrolls. On a phone that is very little space, so the headline, who it is for and one clear action need to fit there.
One main action, repeated at the bottom, plus a phone or WhatsApp link. Several competing buttons make people choose, and many choose to leave.
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