How to Fix Your Website When You’re Not Getting Leads: A 6-Step Diagnostic and Repair Guide

You’ve invested in a website, maybe even paid for traffic, but the leads just aren’t coming. Your phone isn’t ringing. Your contact form sits empty. It’s frustrating—and it’s costing you money every single day.

Here’s the truth most web designers won’t tell you: a beautiful website means nothing if it doesn’t convert visitors into leads. That stunning design? Those fancy animations? They’re worthless if your site isn’t generating actual business.

The good news? This is a fixable problem.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the exact diagnostic process we use at Clicks Geek to identify why websites fail to generate leads—and more importantly, how to fix each issue. Whether your traffic is too low, your messaging is off, or your calls-to-action are invisible, you’ll have a clear action plan by the end of this article.

Let’s turn your website from a digital brochure into a lead-generating machine.

Step 1: Audit Your Traffic Sources to Confirm You’re Getting the Right Visitors

Before you change anything on your website, you need to know if you actually have a traffic problem or a conversion problem. They require completely different solutions.

Start by logging into Google Analytics (if you don’t have this set up, stop everything and install it right now—you’re flying blind without it). Look at your traffic numbers for the past 30 days. If you’re getting fewer than 100 visitors per month, your problem isn’t your website design. You simply don’t have enough people seeing your offer to generate consistent leads.

But raw traffic numbers only tell part of the story. You need to dig deeper into who these visitors actually are.

Navigate to the Audience section in Google Analytics and check your geographic data. Are your visitors coming from your service area, or are they scattered across the country? If you’re a local plumber in Dallas and most of your traffic comes from New York, you’ve got a targeting problem, not a conversion problem.

Next, examine your traffic sources. Click on Acquisition, then All Traffic, then Source/Medium. This shows you where people are finding you. If most of your traffic comes from social media but you’re a B2B service provider, that’s a mismatch. Your ideal customers probably aren’t browsing Instagram looking for industrial equipment suppliers.

Now check your bounce rate and average session duration. A bounce rate above 70% or an average session under 30 seconds suggests visitors aren’t finding what they expected. They’re landing on your site and immediately leaving. Understanding website conversion rates helps you benchmark whether your numbers are actually problematic or within normal range.

Look at the search terms bringing people to your site (you’ll find this in Search Console, not Analytics). Are these terms related to what you actually offer? If you’re an accountant but ranking for “free tax advice,” you’re attracting freebie seekers, not paying clients.

Here’s a quick win: If your traffic is low but targeted, focus on getting more of the right visitors before obsessing over conversion optimization. If your traffic is high but untargeted, you need to refine your SEO strategy, paid ads targeting, or content marketing approach to attract qualified prospects.

Step 2: Evaluate Your Homepage’s First Impression (The 5-Second Test)

Your homepage has one job: to instantly communicate what you do and why someone should care. You have about five seconds to accomplish this before visitors hit the back button.

Pull up your homepage and set a timer for five seconds. Look at it, then look away. Can you immediately answer these three questions: What does this company do? Who do they help? What should I do next?

If the answer to any of these is unclear, you’ve found your problem.

The most common issue we see is vague, clever headlines that sound impressive but communicate nothing. “Innovative Solutions for Modern Businesses” tells visitors absolutely nothing. “PPC Management That Delivers More Leads at Lower Cost for Local Service Businesses” is specific, clear, and immediately relevant to the right audience.

Your headline should pass the “drunk test”—if someone slightly intoxicated looked at your site, could they tell you what you do? If not, it’s too clever or too vague.

Check your visual hierarchy next. Where do your eyes naturally go when you land on the page? Is it to your value proposition and call-to-action, or is it to a massive stock photo of people shaking hands in a conference room? Your most important elements—headline, subheadline, and primary CTA—should dominate the visual space above the fold.

Look for these conversion killers: walls of text without clear structure, multiple competing messages that confuse the visitor’s next step, no clear visual path guiding the eye down the page, or industry jargon that only insiders understand. If you’re experiencing website traffic but no conversions, these visual hierarchy issues are often the culprit.

Here’s a brutal test: Show your homepage to someone who knows nothing about your business. Give them five seconds, then ask them to explain what you do. If they can’t articulate it clearly, neither can your website visitors. And if they can’t understand what you do, they definitely won’t become leads.

The fix is often simpler than you think. Start with a crystal-clear headline that states exactly what you do and who you help. Follow it with a subheadline that explains the primary benefit or result. Then give them one clear next step.

Step 3: Diagnose Your Call-to-Action Problems

Think about the last time you visited a website and actually wanted to take action—but couldn’t figure out how. Frustrating, right? That’s what’s happening on your site right now if your calls-to-action are weak, buried, or non-existent.

Start by counting how many CTAs appear on your homepage. If the answer is zero or one, that’s your problem. Visitors scroll at different speeds and make decisions at different points. You need multiple opportunities for them to convert throughout the page.

Now evaluate the quality of your CTAs. “Submit” is not a call-to-action. “Contact Us” is barely better. These phrases create zero motivation and communicate no value. Compare that to “Get My Free Marketing Audit” or “See My Custom Quote in 60 Seconds”—these tell visitors exactly what they’ll get and create urgency.

Check where your CTAs are positioned. You should have one above the fold (visible without scrolling), one after explaining your main value proposition, one near your social proof or testimonials, and one at the bottom of the page. If visitors have to hunt for how to contact you, most won’t bother.

Your contact form itself might be killing leads. Open it and count the fields. If you’re asking for more than name, email, phone, and a brief message, you’re creating unnecessary friction. Every additional field you add decreases conversion rates. Yes, you want to qualify leads, but you can do that on the phone call—first, you need to get the lead.

Test your form right now. Fill it out yourself. Does it work on mobile? Do you get a confirmation message? Do you actually receive the submission? We’ve seen countless websites where the form looks fine but doesn’t actually send anywhere because of a configuration error. Learning how to fix website issues like broken forms can immediately recover lost leads.

Look at your CTA buttons themselves. Are they big enough to see? Do they stand out visually from the rest of the page? Are they a contrasting color that draws attention? A tiny gray button that blends into your footer isn’t going to generate leads no matter how great your offer is.

The biggest CTA mistake we see is making people work too hard to take the next step. If your only option is “Schedule a Discovery Call,” you’re losing leads who aren’t ready for that level of commitment. Offer multiple pathways: a quick form for the ready-to-buy prospects, a downloadable resource for those still researching, and a phone number for people who prefer to talk.

Step 4: Check Your Trust Signals and Social Proof

Nobody hands over their contact information to a website they don’t trust. And in the current business landscape, trust is harder to earn than ever. Your website needs to prove you’re legitimate, competent, and worth engaging with.

Scroll through your homepage and service pages. Count how many trust signals you see. If the answer is fewer than three, you’ve identified a major conversion barrier. Trust signals include customer reviews, testimonials with real names and photos, industry certifications, awards or recognition, case studies with actual results, and guarantees or warranties.

The most powerful trust signal is specific testimonials from real customers. Not vague praise like “Great service!”—that could be fake. You need testimonials that mention specific problems you solved and concrete results you delivered. “Clicks Geek helped us increase qualified leads by implementing a systematic PPC strategy that actually targets our ideal customers. We went from guessing to knowing exactly where our marketing dollars go.”

Where you place trust signals matters as much as having them. The most effective placement is immediately after you make a bold claim or ask for action. If your headline promises “More Leads in 30 Days,” follow it with a testimonial from someone who got exactly that result. If you’re asking someone to fill out a form, place reviews right above it.

If you’re a newer business without a mountain of testimonials yet, here’s what you can do: Showcase any industry certifications or training you’ve completed. Display logos of any recognizable companies you’ve worked with (with permission). Offer a clear, specific guarantee that removes risk from the decision. Share your process transparently so visitors understand exactly what they’re getting.

Check if your reviews are visible and current. A testimonials page that hasn’t been updated since 2018 actually hurts more than it helps—it suggests your business isn’t active or successful. If you have Google reviews, embed them directly on your site. If you have industry-specific review platforms, link to those profiles.

One often-overlooked trust signal is simply showing your face and your team. An “About” page with real photos and real stories humanizes your business. People do business with people, not with faceless corporate entities. If every photo on your site is a stock image, visitors subconsciously register that something feels inauthentic.

Step 5: Test Your Mobile Experience and Page Speed

More than half of your website traffic probably comes from mobile devices. If your site doesn’t work flawlessly on a phone, you’re losing leads before they even see your offer.

Pull out your phone right now and visit your website. Don’t just glance at it—actually try to use it. Can you read the text without zooming? Are the buttons large enough to tap accurately? Does the menu work smoothly? Can you fill out your contact form without your thumbs covering half the screen?

Now try to complete the conversion action you want visitors to take. If it’s frustrating, confusing, or requires excessive scrolling and zooming, that’s exactly why you’re not getting leads from mobile visitors.

Page speed is the silent lead killer. Visitors won’t wait around for your site to load. Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool (it’s free) to check your load times. Enter your URL and you’ll get separate scores for mobile and desktop, plus specific recommendations for improvement.

If your mobile score is below 50, you have a serious problem. Visitors are abandoning your site before they even see your content. Common culprits include oversized images that haven’t been compressed, too many plugins or scripts running in the background, and hosting that’s too slow for your traffic volume. These website optimization tips can help you identify and fix the most common speed issues.

Check your mobile form experience specifically. Forms that work fine on desktop often break on mobile. Are the input fields large enough? Does the keyboard pop up automatically when someone taps a field? Can users easily switch between fields? Does the submit button stay visible, or does it get hidden by the keyboard?

Test your click-to-call functionality. If you have a phone number displayed, is it clickable so mobile users can tap to dial immediately? This seems basic, but we see surprisingly many business websites where the phone number is just text, requiring visitors to manually copy and paste it into their phone app. That extra friction loses leads.

Quick wins for mobile optimization: Compress all images before uploading them. Use a caching plugin if you’re on WordPress. Ensure your buttons are at least 44×44 pixels (Apple’s recommended minimum touch target). Make your phone number clickable with a tel: link. Test everything on an actual phone, not just by resizing your browser window.

Step 6: Implement Tracking to Measure What’s Actually Happening

You can’t fix what you can’t measure. If you’re not tracking conversions and visitor behavior, you’re making changes based on guesses instead of data.

Start with conversion tracking in Google Analytics. Set up goals for every important action on your site: form submissions, phone calls (if you’re using call tracking), downloads, and any other lead-generation activities. This lets you see exactly how many leads your site generates and which traffic sources produce them.

To set up a goal in Google Analytics, go to Admin, then Goals under the View column, then click New Goal. For a form submission, you’ll typically track the “thank you” page that appears after someone submits. For phone calls, you’ll need call tracking for marketing campaigns software that integrates with Analytics.

Install a heatmap tool like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity (both offer free plans). These show you exactly where visitors click, how far they scroll, and where they abandon your pages. You’ll quickly spot problems you’d never notice otherwise—like a CTA that nobody sees because it’s below where most people stop scrolling, or a section that everyone skips because it’s not relevant.

Session recordings are even more revealing. These tools record actual visitor sessions so you can watch exactly what people do on your site. You’ll see where they get confused, what they ignore, and where they give up. It’s like looking over someone’s shoulder as they use your website. Understanding the customer journey mapping process helps you interpret these recordings and identify where prospects drop off.

Create a simple dashboard to monitor your lead generation metrics weekly. You don’t need anything fancy—a spreadsheet works fine. Track: total website visitors, leads generated, conversion rate (leads divided by visitors), traffic sources, and which pages generate the most leads. This baseline lets you measure whether your changes actually improve results.

Set up Google Search Console if you haven’t already. This free tool shows you which search terms bring people to your site, how often your site appears in search results, and technical issues Google has detected. It’s essential for understanding your organic traffic and can help you improve website ranking over time.

The most important metric isn’t traffic or even leads—it’s qualified leads that turn into customers. Start tracking which lead sources produce actual revenue. You might discover that you’re getting plenty of leads from one channel, but they never convert to sales, while a smaller number of leads from another source consistently become customers. That insight completely changes where you should focus your efforts.

Your Lead Generation Recovery Plan

You now have a complete diagnostic framework for identifying why your website isn’t generating leads. Here’s your action plan to start seeing results:

Run through each of these six steps systematically. Don’t skip ahead or try to fix everything at once. Start with Step 1—verify you’re getting enough of the right traffic. If that’s your bottleneck, additional changes won’t help until you solve the traffic problem first.

If your traffic is solid but conversions are weak, focus on Steps 2 and 3—your messaging and calls-to-action. These typically deliver the biggest improvement in the shortest time. A clear headline and strong CTAs can double your conversion rate overnight. Our guide on how to improve website conversion rate walks you through the specific changes that move the needle fastest.

Implement tracking before you make major changes. You need baseline metrics to know if your improvements actually work. Too many business owners make changes based on hunches, never knowing if those changes helped or hurt their results.

Test one major change at a time. If you redesign your homepage, rewrite all your CTAs, and change your contact form simultaneously, you won’t know which change produced the improvement (or decline). Make one significant change, measure the impact for at least two weeks, then move to the next improvement.

Remember that lead generation isn’t about perfection—it’s about systematic improvement. Your website doesn’t need to be flawless. It needs to be clear, trustworthy, and easy to convert on. Focus on removing barriers, not adding complexity. If you’re still struggling after implementing these fixes, you may be dealing with a deeper issue of why marketing isn’t working for your business that requires a broader strategic review.

The businesses that succeed with online lead generation aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or the fanciest websites. They’re the ones who understand their numbers, test systematically, and optimize based on what actually drives results.

Tired of spending money on marketing that doesn’t produce real revenue? We build lead systems that turn traffic into qualified leads and measurable sales growth. If you want to see what this would look like for your business, we’ll walk you through how it works and break down what’s realistic in your market.