How do I get more customers for my small local business?

Nine ways to get more customers for a local business, roughly in the order we'd do them. Most cost nothing but an afternoon. For each one, we'll also say how we'd do it for you, because that's our job, but the tip works either way.

1. Fill in your Google Business Profile, all of it

When someone searches "electrician near me", the map comes first. Your profile is what they see there, and a half-filled one loses to a full one.

Google says customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable, and 70% more likely to visit, when they find a complete Business Profile (Google Business Profile Help). So: every category that fits, your real hours (holiday hours too), your service area, a dozen recent photos, and a description that says who you're for.

The easy way: when we build your website, we set up Google too, and your business details on the site are marked up so Google can read them and match them to your profile.

2. Ask every happy customer for a review

Reviews are where people decide. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, and 89% expect owners to respond to them (BrightLocal).

The trick is asking at the right moment: the day the job is done, while they're still pleased. Send a short text with your direct review link. Then reply to every review, good and bad, in your own words. Half of consumers are put off by generic replies, says the same survey, so skip the copy and paste.

The easy way: reviews get their own page in a Sitestove site (it's one of the five), so the good ones work twice.

3. Make your website answer three questions in one screen

What do you do, where, and how do I reach you? If a visitor on a phone can't answer all three without scrolling, some of them leave.

Then check the basics: the phone number is tappable, the prices (or a starting price) are there, the photos are of real jobs, and the site loads fast. A site from 2015 that's hard to read on a phone tells people something about your work, fairly or not.

The easy way: send us your current website. In about a week you get a new one, finished and working, on a private preview link. Like it? It's yours for $150 a month. Don't like it? Walk away. We'll still be friends. No site yet? Pick one we already made. Here are two:

4. Answer the questions people search for

Every question a customer asks you on the phone is a search someone else is typing into Google. "How much does a bathroom refit cost?" "Do you do gluten-free?" A page on your site that answers it well puts you in front of people who are deciding right now.

One question per page, the answer in the first two sentences, your real numbers, and a way to book at the bottom. Two a month is plenty. We wrote a whole post on why a blog of answers brings customers.

The easy way: our Answer pages: about two pages a month that answer what your customers type into Google, written with your input, plus a monthly report. From $1,000 a month.

5. Get listed where your customers already look

Directories, your trade association, the local chamber, the suppliers you buy from. Each listing is another place to be found, and the links help too: Google says local prominence draws on "how many websites link to your business" (Google Business Profile Help).

Keep your name, address and phone number exactly the same everywhere. Mismatches confuse customers and Google.

The easy way: Get mentioned: listings in the directories and associations that matter, and emails to your partners written for you to send, then light outreach every month. From $1,000, then $500 a month. No bought links, ever; Google treats them as spam.

6. Ask your partners for referrals

The plumber who sends you kitchen jobs, the florist next to the café, the accountant who knows every business in town. Most would happily recommend you; they just haven't been asked. A short, specific email does it: who you're good for, and how to send them your way. Offer the same back.

The easy way: those partner emails are part of Get mentioned. We write them; you send them, from you.

7. Bring past customers back

A customer who already likes you costs far less to win than a new one. A reminder when the boiler service is due, a note when the autumn menu starts, a thank you with a reason to return. Keep a simple list (with permission) and use it a few times a year. Don't spam it.

The easy way: a page for the season or the offer is a small job on your Sitestove site, quoted before we start, and you can change hours, prices and photos yourself in your own editor, any time.

8. Run small ads, pointed at the right page

Ads work much better when they go to a page made for that ad, not your home page. Somebody searching "emergency roof repair" should land on a page about emergency roof repair, with a phone number at the top.

And count what matters: calls and inquiries, not clicks.

The easy way: Campaigns: Google and Facebook ads pointed at pages made for them, with tracking that counts real inquiries, not clicks. From $1,000 a month plus ad budget, which goes straight to Google or Facebook from accounts in your name.

9. Give people something useful to play with

A price calculator, a "which service do I need" quiz, a booking helper. Useful things get used, and they get sent to a friend ("look, it says about $400").

The easy way: Tools: a price calculator, a booking helper or a quiz built into your site. From $3,500 one time.

Where should I start?

With the first three. They're free or close to it, and they make everything after them work better: an ad or an answer page sends people to your website, and your website and reviews are what turn them into customers.

If your website is the weak link, that's what we fix first. See what $150 a month gets you, or send us your site below.