Running ads before your foundations are solid is like pouring water into a leaking bucket. The water is not the problem. The bucket is.
Here are the ten things we check before we recommend any paid media investment.
1. Google Business Profile Is it claimed, complete, and updated in the last 30 days? This is the single highest-leverage free action most local businesses are not taking seriously.
2. Website speed Run your site through PageSpeed Insights. If your mobile score is below 70, you are losing a significant percentage of visitors before they read a single word.
3. Clear primary CTA What is the one action you want a visitor to take? Is it obvious within three seconds of landing on your homepage? If not, fix this before anything else.
4. Lead capture mechanism Do you have a way to capture contact details from people who are interested but not yet ready to buy? A newsletter, a lead magnet, a free resource. If not, you are leaving a large portion of your traffic behind.
5. Email follow-up sequence When someone enquires, what happens next? Is there an automated sequence that nurtures them over the following days? Most businesses rely entirely on manual follow-up and lose leads through the gaps.
6. Social proof Do you have visible reviews, testimonials, or case studies? Social proof is one of the highest-converting elements on any page and most businesses underuse it.
7. Mobile experience Open your website on your phone. Is it easy to navigate? Is the CTA button easy to tap? Is the text readable without zooming? A poor mobile experience is a conversion killer.
8. Analytics Do you have Google Analytics or an equivalent installed? Do you know where your traffic is coming from? You cannot improve what you cannot measure.
9. Consistent messaging Does your website, your social profiles, and your Google listing all say the same thing about what you do and who you help? Inconsistency creates doubt.
10. Conversion baseline Do you know your current conversion rate? Before you spend on ads, you need to know what percentage of visitors are already converting. If it is below 2%, fix the foundations first.
Run through this list honestly. Most businesses find at least three or four gaps. Fix those first. Then talk about ads.