Why your website isn't generating leads (and how to fix it)

“What’s the point in spending time on our website if it doesn’t generate any leads?” 

It’s one of the most frequent frustrations that we hear from B2B businesses – when you’re investing time and budget in your website, you naturally need it to support your commercial ambitions. 

However, that success starts with understanding who you need to reach, what they’re searching for and what gives them the confidence to choose you, and you need multiple elements working in partnership to attract the right prospects and give them a clear reason to engage. 

Whether your traffic comes from organic search or paid campaigns, inconsistent messaging, outdated information or unclear user journeys can all be stumbling blocks, but the good news is that most of the issues stopping your website from generating leads are easier to fix than you'd think. 

Key takeaways 

• Lead all messaging with the customer’s problem, not the company history 
• Check that your site works correctly on mobile devices. 
• Make case studies and testimonials easy to find 
• Use the three-second rule for any ad creative and test it on someone with no context before posting 
• Ensure your landing page and ad campaign have consistent messaging  
• Confirm that your tracking is set up and firing correctly 

Here are the seven most common areas to focus on, and what to do about each one.  

1. Your website’s message is unclear 

One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make online is not talking enough about how they help their customers, and what differentiates them from others that offer the same product or service. 

That's not to say that talking about your company history, awards or certifications isn’t important (because they are) but it’s not the information that people are looking at when they first land on your page – they want to know what you do and how you can solve their issue. 

If the site takes too long to answer that question or they can’t differentiate you from your competitor, they’ll search for their solution elsewhere.  

The goal of your website is to hook people by proving you understand their challenges and have the solution. Once you’ve earned their interest, they will stay to find out more about you.  

For example, each of Cartwright’s service offerings start with a frustration such as “Do you have a brand or product that frustratingly feels like a ‘best kept secret’?” or “Desperate to get onto page one...?” and then goes on to say how the service solves that. 

2. Your website looks like it's stuck in the past  

A website that looked great five years ago can very quickly feel tired and unmaintained. It doesn't matter how good your product or service is if your site doesn't reflect the same quality. 

Slow load times, tiny text and messy layouts that are hard to navigate are red flags for visitors. When businesses are shortlisting who to buy from, a frustrating user experience is one of the fastest ways to be ruled out before you even get the meeting in the diary. 

A quick check you can do is to pull your website up on your phone right now.  

Can you use it as intended without having to zoom or turn your phone sideways? Does it look the same as when you load it on your laptop? If not, you need to optimise your mobile experience to make sure it looks just as good as your desktop version. 

3. You are invisible, resulting in prospects not finding you  

Users rarely scroll past the first page of Google, so if you don’t appear there, you are missing out on potential clients. People at the top of the funnel search for non-branded queries relating to a specific service or solution, then browse through the results to find a website that meets their needs.  

Your website needs to be optimised for high-intent keywords, to ensure you are appearing in search engine results and get noticed. Ultimately, your content should allow users to discover you, even before they know they need you – an award-winning tactic we’ve used with several clients..   

4. You're not proving that you’re a trusted business 

Trust is something that a lot of websites fail to establish correctly. Telling somebody that they can trust you isn’t enough - you need to prove it. B2B customers are more risk-aware when it comes to buying decisions because of the stakes that come with it. This means they look for proof more than the average consumer would.  

This is where case studies, certifications and testimonials become so important.  They need to be visible and easy to find - don’t bury them three clicks deep under a drop-down where nobody will find them.

A strong FAQ section is another great way to build trust, especially if it answers the tough questions that your competitors are avoiding. Marcus Sheridan’s strategy “They Ask, You Answer” works well here because there are so few businesses willing to be completely transparent with the customer.  

If you’re the only one in your space answering the difficult questions such as pricing, comparisons or problems, you instantly become easier to trust and get an advantage over your competitors. 

5. Your creative isn't stopping the scroll  

The average adult consumes up to 11 hours of content every day and people scroll past far more content than they ever stop for. So, if you’re not giving them a reason to stop, they'll just keep scrolling. 

You have roughly three seconds to capture somebody's attention. Platforms like Facebook won't even count a video view until it hits three seconds of watch time.  Before your next campaign goes live, show the video to someone who has no idea about your business. 

Are they still interested after three seconds? Do they understand what you're offering? Would they recognise your brand if it wasn’t for your logo? 

6. Your landing page messaging isn't lining up with your ad 

When someone clicks on your ad, they've already made an assumption about where they’re going. If your landing page doesn’t match that, they may leave before taking the next step and the rest of the work you’ve done on your website won’t get a chance to do its job.  

To keep the journey running smooth: 

1. Keep your headline and offer consistent. Whatever your ad promised should be immediately visible on the landing page. 
2. Stick to brand guidelines. Matching colours and imagery reassure people they're in the right place. 

Keep it simple. The best ads still tell people what they need to know, but they make saying yes, a quick, easy decision. Stick to one offer so there’s no confusion about what to do.  

7. Your tracking is broken or inaccurate 

You can fix every issue on this list and still struggle to generate leads if you don't know what's happening when people land on your site. Without accurate tracking, you're essentially flying blind and guessing, which means you can't make informed decisions about next steps for your campaigns. 

If your tracking pixel isn't firing correctly, none of your form submissions or purchases gets reported back to Meta or Google. That can completely skew your data.  

And it goes beyond just reporting; your ads rely on this data to improve performance and deliver to the right people. Good tracking means a lower cost per lead, a higher return on investment and deeper insight into audience behaviour. 

You can test your tracking through platform debugging tools and running live test conversions. But the best way is not to rely solely on your pixel alone. Use a CRM alongside it to cross-reference the data you’re getting and make sure what you're seeing is actually accurate. 

Quick wins you can make this week 

You don't need to try to fix everything all at once. A few things that you can check this week: 

1. Read through the copy on your website - are you solving a problem for the customer? 
2. Show your site to a family member or a friend who doesn't know much about your industry. Does it make sense to them? If you have to explain it, it's not clear enough. 
3. Check that your testimonials, case studies and certifications are easy to find. If they’re buried under menus, move them somewhere obvious. 

Most of what we've covered here doesn't require a full website redesign. It just means looking at your website in the way a first-time visitor would and making small changes to fix the issues costing you leads.