I've lost count of the times a client has asked me to fix their ads when the real problem was the page the ads were sending people to. You can have a well-built campaign bringing in exactly the right visitors, and still get very little back if the page can't close.
So before I spend anyone's money on clicks, I go through the same list. None of it needs a redesign. Most of it can be sorted in an afternoon.
The message
1. The headline should match the ad. If the ad says "same-day boiler repair" and the page opens with "Welcome to Smith & Sons", people feel like they've landed in the wrong place. Repeat the promise that got them to click, ideally in similar words.
2. A stranger should understand it in five seconds. I sometimes show the top of the page to someone who doesn't know the business, take it away after five seconds, and ask what the company sells. If they can't tell me, a busy person on their phone won't work it out either.
3. One offer, one main action. Every extra menu link and side offer is another way out. A page built for paid traffic usually works best with one job: book the call, get the quote, or buy the thing.
4. Answer the questions people actually ask. How much is it? How long does it take? Do you cover my area? What happens after I get in touch? If your sales team hears the same three questions on every call, answer them on the page.
Trust
5. Put real proof near the button. Reviews, client names, guarantees, accreditations, photos of actual work. Put them close to the form, not tucked away at the bottom. And make sure it's genuine. People can tell.
6. Make the business look real. An address, a phone number, a real person's name, a clear refund or cancellation policy. This matters more with paid traffic, because these visitors weren't looking for you specifically. They found you through an ad and they're deciding whether to trust you.
Friction
7. Keep the form short. Only ask for what you need for the next step. Every extra field loses you some people. If you need more detail to qualify a lead, get it on the call or on a second step.
8. Make the button say what happens. "Submit" doesn't tell anyone anything. "Get my free quote" does.
9. Give people another way to reach you. Plenty of people would rather ring or send a WhatsApp than fill in a form. On mobile, a tap-to-call button can pick up leads the form would have missed.
Phones and speed
10. Test it on a phone, on mobile data. Most paid traffic is on mobile. Office Wi-Fi hides a lot of problems. Big images, video backgrounds and pop-ups are usually what slows things down.
11. Check it actually works on a phone. Can you read it without pinching to zoom? Are the buttons big enough to tap? Does the phone field bring up the number keypad? Does a cookie banner or chat widget cover half the screen as soon as the page loads?
Tracking
12. Test the conversion yourself. Fill in the form. Check the conversion fires once, not twice when you refresh, and not just from loading the page. Then check the lead actually turns up in the inbox or CRM. More often than you'd think, it doesn't, and nobody has noticed.
After the checklist
If you work through these and fix what you find, you'll often do more for your cost per lead than any change inside the ad account. The ads get people to the door. The page decides whether they come in.