When I started my roofing company, I built my own website.

I thought I was doing what I needed to do. I had a website. I set up my Google Business Profile. People could look me up and see that I had a business.

And back then, I thought that was pretty good.

But looking back, I really didn’t have much of a system.

I don’t even remember checking everything the way I would today.

I didn’t have my leads going into a CRM. I didn’t have a good way to track who called or who needed a follow-up. I hadn’t set up all the things that should happen after someone finds your business online.

I basically had a digital business card.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with a business card. You need people to know who you are.

But think about it.

What happens when someone visits your website, wants an estimate, and tries to reach you?

Does the phone number work? Does the form go somewhere? Does someone get a message? And who’s going to call that person back?

Those are the things I wish I’d spent more time thinking about.

Because getting a website online is one thing.

Making sure it helps you run your business is another.

So before you spend more money on ads, send someone your website, or pay to have a new one built, here’s what I’d do.

Take out your phone.

We’re going to check four things.

1. Can people tell what you actually do?

Open your website on your phone.

Don’t open the page where you edit it. Open the same link you’d send to a customer.

Now pretend you’ve never seen your business before.

What do you see?

Does it tell you what the company does?

I see a lot of websites with big photos and nice words.

"Quality you can trust."

"Your satisfaction is our priority."

Okay. But what do you do?

Are you a roofer? Do you install gutters? Do you fix storm damage? Do you replace siding?

Your customer shouldn’t have to figure that out.

If you run a roofing company, say you’re a roofing company. Tell people what kind of work you do.

If you handle repairs, make that clear.

If you install new roofs, tell them.

And if you don’t offer a service, don’t make it sound like you do.

The goal is simple.

Someone should be able to open your site and know within a few seconds whether they’re in the right place.

Here’s another thing.

If someone calls you about a roof repair and you want to send them a link, you may be better off sending them to your roof repair page.

Why make them dig through the whole website?

Send them to the page that answers their question.

Your first check: Can a new customer tell what you do without having to search for it?

If not, fix that first.

2. Can they tell where you work?

This one seems simple, right?

But it’s easy to miss.

Let’s say someone lives in a town outside Charlotte. They find your website and want you to come look at their roof.

Do they know if you’ll drive out there?

Or do they have to call just to find out?

Your website should tell people what areas you serve.

You don’t need to list every street in town. You don’t need to create a hundred pages with the same thing written on them.

Just be clear.

If you work in Charlotte and the towns around it, tell people which towns.

If you only take certain types of jobs farther away, explain that too.

And make sure the details are right.

Your website and Google Business Profile should both give people an honest picture of where you work.

Don’t list a town just because you’d like to get more leads from there.

You might get the call.

But then what?

Now you’ve got someone asking for work you never planned to take.

That doesn’t help either of you.

Your second check: Can someone tell whether you serve their area before they contact you?

3. Does your contact form actually work?

This is a big one.

And it’s something I wish I’d understood better when I started.

Back then, I was focused on getting jobs.

I’d get a call, go to an appointment, meet with a homeowner, and then head to the next one.

Sometimes a lead would come from a realtor or another person who knew me.

I’d try to call them right away.

That was the plan.

Call them as soon as possible.

But if you’ve ever run a roofing company, you know how that goes.

The phone rings. A customer needs something. There’s a problem on a job. Now you’ve got to run to Lowe’s and pick up materials before heading to another house.

By the time you get back to what you were doing, you’ve got ten other things on your mind.

And sometimes I’d forget.

Sometimes I’d lose the piece of paper someone gave me with a lead written on it.

That was frustrating.

Because somebody had trusted me enough to send that person my way.

And I didn’t want to lose the chance to help them just because I got busy.

That’s one reason I’m such a believer in having a good follow-up process now.

But it starts before the follow-up.

It starts when the person reaches out.

Go to your website and find your contact form.

Fill it out yourself.

Use your own details and mark it as a test. If you have a team, let them know you’re testing it.

Then see what happens.

Did the message arrive?

Where did it go?

Did you get an email?

Did it show up in your CRM, if you have one?

Can you tell who needs to respond?

And what happens if nobody sees it right away?

A website can tell a customer their message was sent. That doesn’t mean the right person got it.

You need to check.

And you don’t need some giant, costly system to start doing this.

Even a simple process can help.

Have one place where inquiries go. Make sure someone is responsible for them. Keep track of who needs a call back.

Then, as your business grows, you can add tools that help you do more of it without having to remember every little thing.

Automation can help save a lead and remind you to follow up.

But you still need to test it.

Your third check: Send a test inquiry and follow it all the way through.

Don’t stop when the website says "Thank you."

Find out where the message went.

4. Does the customer know what happens next?

This is another thing I learned from running a roofing company.

Customers have questions.

Lots of them.

And many of them ask the same things.

How does the claim process work?

When do I pay my deductible?

When do I pick out my shingles?

Are you going to be there when the adjuster comes?

How much will I have to pay out of pocket?

I heard those questions all the time.

And it makes sense.

Most people don’t buy a new roof every year. They don’t know the whole process.

That’s your job to explain.

Your website should help with that too.

I’m not saying you need to put every answer on the homepage.

But if someone requests an inspection, they should know what they’re asking for.

Are they booking a visit?

Are they asking you to call them?

Are they sending a message so you can set up a time later?

Those are different things.

If your button says "Book an Inspection," make sure the person can actually book one.

If the button says "Request an Estimate," don’t make it sound like the estimate is already set.

And if you tell someone you’ll call them back, make sure your business has a way to keep track of that promise.

You can also use your website to answer common questions.

Explain how your process works.

Tell people what they can expect at an inspection.

Explain what happens before the job starts.

When it comes to insurance, be careful to explain the process without making promises about what a policy will cover. Deductibles, claim decisions, and payments depend on the policy and the facts of the claim.

The more clearly you explain your part, the less a customer has to guess.

And that makes life easier for both of you.

Your fourth check: Read what your website tells someone after they reach out.

Does it match what your business will actually do?

You don’t have to rebuild the whole website today

Here’s what I want you to take from all this.

You don’t need to spend the next three months rebuilding your website because you found a few things wrong.

Start with the basics.

Open it on your phone.

Check what people see.

Make sure they know what you do and where you work.

Test the contact form.

Then make sure you know what happens after someone reaches out.

If something doesn’t work, fix that part and test it again.

That’s it.

And if your website is already doing all those things, good. Keep checking it as your business changes.

Because a website isn’t something you should build once and forget about.

Your services change. Your team changes. Your phone number might change. The way you handle leads might change.

Your website needs to keep up.

I learned a lot of this while I was running my company.

Some of it I learned the hard way.

Now I’m working on tools and systems that make those jobs easier for other business owners.

We’re testing them, fixing them, and seeing what actually works.

I don’t think you need a hundred tools to run a good business.

You need the right ones doing the right jobs.

And your website is a good place to start.

So here’s your next step.

Before you send your website to another customer, open it on your phone and run these four checks.

You might be surprised by what you find.

Michael

Go be wild.