I finally figured out why my portfolio site got zero leads for 6 months

Had my freelance pressure washing site up since March. Clean design, fast loading, all that. But nobody was contacting me through it. My buddy who does web dev looked at it and pointed out I had no testimonials or before/after pics anywhere on the homepage. Just a list of services and my rates. Swapped some text out for 3 photo comparisons last Tuesday and got 2 inquiries by Friday. Anyone else forget the obvious stuff that customers actually want to see?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan_ross3d ago

...and the thing is I totally get that because I did almost the exact same thing with my landscaping page. Had it up for months with just a price list and a "contact me" button. Nothing. Then I finally threw up a few pictures of this overgrown yard I cleaned up and some quotes from happy customers. Suddenly my phone started ringing. People just wanna see you can actually do the work before they reach out, it's that simple.

emma_jones3d ago

Is it weird how much we overthink this stuff though? @rowan_ross, you hit on something that took me way too long to figure out too. It's like we assume people are shopping for a service the same way they'd shop for a product, but they're not. They're buying trust first, price second. That overgrown yard picture probably did more work than your whole price list and contact button combined, because it shows you're real. Once they see you're not just some faceless listing, all that hesitation just kind of melts away.

the_riley2d ago

Is it just me or does that whole "buying trust first" thing hit different when you've been on the other side of it? I swear I spent way too long trying to look perfect online before I realized people just want to know you're human and you care.