Did you know that you only have a few seconds to convince your average website visitor to stick around? People have short attention spans these days, and they’ll decide in seconds whether to stay on your site or push the back button.

Your website needs to draw visitors in and convince them to stay and learn more. In order to do that, it needs to be professional and beautiful, like in the example above.

What makes a website beautiful? In general, the most attractive websites are going to be clean, well-organized and simple, without a lot of excess clutter or busyness.

When you’re designing your roofing website, it’s important to take some time to think about what your goal is for the site. When a visitor stops by, do you want them to fill out your contact form, call you to schedule an appointment or book a free estimate?

Whatever the goal of your website is, you need a clear call to action (CTA) in order to encourage someone to take the action, like in the example above. This will make your website more effective and provide a better experience for your customers, because they will know exactly what to do next.

It’s wise to have a single, overarching CTA for your website, but if you have more than one, it's important to make sure that you only focus on one at a time. There should be only one CTA visible above the fold.

Often, the most attractive websites are the most basic. You don’t often need a lot of fancy graphics or anything else to provide a good experience for your visitors. In fact, if there’s too much happening on your website, it can actually turn your visitors off.

One way to ensure that your website stays as clean and professional as possible is to make sure that you use plenty of white space, especially around significant elements, like CTAs and buttons, as shown in the example above.

An important thing to note is that white space isn’t always white. It can be any color, but it can also be a background image.

Hiring a roofer is no small thing, and before someone commits to working with you, they’re going to want to know that they’re in good hands. To do this, they’ll usually start by learning what previous customers have to say about you.

Reviews help consumers make decisions about local businesses, and roofers are no exception. So, it’s important to make sure that you have plenty of reviews, and the best way to do that is by simply asking.

Once you get reviews, display the best ones on your website. Or, display your most recent reviews in a reviews widget. This is free social proof, and it’s worth its weight in gold.

When someone comes to your website, it’s usually because they have a specific purpose in mind. Maybe they want to learn about the service you offer, read up on your business or contact you to schedule an appointment.

Whatever a visitor wants to do when they land on your website, it’s important to make it easy for them to do so. That means that your site needs to be easy to navigate.

Use a simple menu navigation, like the one in the example above, on your website. Users are familiar with it and know how to use it, and it’s easy to design.

Let’s face it, there are a ton of roofers someone in your area could work with. Of the many local roofers they have to choose from, why should they choose you? What’s the one special thing you offer or specialize in that makes you unique from the others?

This is called your unique value proposition (UVP). Essentially, it’s what makes you different from the others, and it’s important to highlight on your website, as shown in the example above.

Make sure your UVP is truly unique. It shouldn’t be “great customer service” or anything else other roofing companies also claim.

When someone visits your website, you want it to have all of the information someone needs to make a decision about whether or not to work with you. And, when they do decide that they want to do business with you, it’s important to make it easy for them to do so.

People like to have options. Some may want to contact you by phone or email, and some may want to provide you with their information so that you can get back to them.

By adding a contact form to your website, like in the example above, you’re giving your visitors one more way to contact you. That allows them to choose the best option for their needs.

Like I said, most people won’t choose a roofer by selecting a name in a hat or closing their eyes and pointing to an option in the Yellow Pages. They want to know that they’ve hired the right roofer for the job.

Anything you can do to build trust and demonstrate that you’re trustworthy will go along way toward designing a more effective roofing website. In addition to adding testimonials to your site, it’s also a good idea to add trust badges, like in the example above.

Trust badges inform visitors about your certifications and achievements — like an A+ BBB Rating or a GAF certification. They show that you’re professional, capable and worthy of their business and trust.