5 Things We Fix on Almost Every Small Business Website We Take Over

You paid someone to build your site two years ago. Now it is slow, looks dated, does not show up on Google, and you are not sure whether to fix it or start over.

We see this pattern constantly. Business owners invest in a website once, then forget about it. The internet evolves, Google updates its algorithms, mobile usage keeps growing — and the site stays frozen in time.

Here are the five issues we fix on almost every small business website we take over.

1. Slow Load Times from Unoptimised Images

What it looks like: You click a link and wait. And wait. The page loads in chunks, images popping in one by one. Your PageSpeed score is somewhere in the 40s.

Why it happens: The developer who built your site uploaded full-resolution images straight from the camera or phone. A 5MB photo that looks great on a 27-inch monitor takes forever to load on a phone on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway with 4G signal.

What fixing it does: We compress and resize every image, use next-gen formats like WebP, and implement lazy loading so images only load when they come into view. PageSpeed scores jump from the 40s to the 90s. Bounce rate drops. Google ranks you higher.

Real example: One client's site took 8 seconds to load on mobile. After image optimisation alone, it dropped to 2.5 seconds. Their contact form submissions doubled within a month.

2. No Mobile Responsiveness

What it looks like: On a phone, text is tiny, buttons overlap, images overflow the screen, and you have to pinch and zoom to tap the navigation menu.

Why it happens: The site was designed on a desktop and never tested on real mobile devices. Many cheaper templates claim to be "responsive" but break in practice.

What fixing it does: Over 70% of Nigerian internet users browse on mobile. If your site does not work perfectly on a phone, you are invisible to most of your potential customers. We rebuild the layout with mobile-first CSS so every screen size gets an intentional, usable experience.

3. Missing or Broken Contact Forms

What it looks like: You click "Contact Us," fill out the form, hit submit, and... nothing. No confirmation. No email. No follow-up.

Why it happens: The form was never connected to an email address, or the email configuration broke during a hosting migration, or the form uses an outdated service that stopped working.

What fixing it does: We test every form on every page — desktop and mobile. We set up confirmation emails so the user knows their message went through. We route submissions to the right inbox. It sounds basic, but we estimate that 1 in 4 sites we audit has a broken contact form.

Quick self-check: Go to your own website right now. Fill out the contact form. Did you get a confirmation? Did the message arrive in your email? If not, you are losing leads every single day.

4. No SEO Basics

What it looks like: Your site does not appear on Google for your own business name, let alone for the services you offer.

Why it happens: The developer never set meta titles, meta descriptions, or heading tags. There is no XML sitemap. Google cannot understand what your pages are about, so it does not show them in search results.

What fixing it does: Every page gets a unique, keyword-rich meta title and description. We add proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3), internal links between your pages, schema markup for local business, and submit your sitemap to Google Search Console. Within weeks, most sites start appearing for relevant searches.

Real example: A Lekki-based real estate agency had zero Google presence despite having a year-old website. After SEO basics were implemented, they started ranking for "Lekki duplex for sale" within 6 weeks and reported their first organic lead in month two.

5. Outdated Content and Broken Links

What it looks like: The homepage still says "Welcome to our new website" — from 2023. Staff members who left two years ago are still listed. Links to blog posts return 404 errors.

Why it happens: No one was assigned to maintain the site after launch. Content updates were not part of the original scope, so they never happened.

What fixing it does: A content audit removes outdated information, updates team pages, fixes broken links, and refreshes copy to reflect your current offerings. Google penalises sites with stale content, and visitors lose trust when they see outdated information.

Your Self-Check List

Run through these five checks on your own site right now:

1. Speed test — Run your URL through Google's PageSpeed Insights. If mobile score is under 70, you have work to do.
2. Mobile test — Open your site on a phone. Can you read everything without zooming? Can you tap all buttons?
3. Form test — Submit your contact form. Did you get a confirmation? Check your inbox and spam folder.
4. Google test — Search "site:yourdomain.com" on Google. How many pages are indexed? Then search for your business name. Do you appear?
5. Click-through test — Click every link on your site. Any 404s? Any outdated information?

Need a Hand?

If your site failed even one of those checks, you are leaving money on the table. We offer free mini website audits where we run through all five issues and give you a written report with specific fixes and estimated costs. Request your free audit.