You run a management consultancy, an IT support company or an HR advisory firm in London. Your clients are scale-ups in Shoreditch, professional practices in the City, charities, perhaps a few mid-market manufacturers outside the M25. You have had a website for years. Someone said you needed one, you paid for it, and there it sits. The question is whether it does any work at all.
For a B2B services firm, a website that wins nothing is more than wasted spend. It is a missed opportunity every time a buyer looks for a provider and finds a competitor instead. In a market as crowded as London, that happens constantly. Here are the signs that give it away, and the decisions they lead to. No tutorials, just what you need to judge and decide.
Sign 1: no client has ever said they found you online
This is the simplest test. Take your last ten contracts. How did each client arrive? A former colleague, a framework you were already on, a partner who brought you into a project, an introduction at an industry dinner. If none of them mentions a search, your website plays no part in winning business. At best it is a business card that people glance at after someone has already recommended you.
Sign 2: the contact form only attracts sellers
Look at what actually comes through the site. Agencies pitching their services, recruiters, speculative CVs, the odd automated message. Not one note saying “we are looking for a partner to support our restructuring” or “we need managed IT for three offices”. When the only useful traffic is people trying to sell to you, buyers are not finding you.
Sign 3: you never appear when someone searches for what you do
Try it the way an operations director who has never heard of you would: search for an HR consultancy for SMEs in London, an IT support company for law firms, or a change management consultant in the City. Ask an AI assistant the same question. If the same two or three competitors come up every time, and never you, that is your answer. A busy buyer rarely looks beyond those first names.
Sign 4: the site talks about you, never about the client
Many services firms' websites read like a corporate brochure: our story, our team, our values, our approach. Nothing about the specific problems you solve for a fintech going through rapid hiring, a housing association modernising its systems or a family business preparing for sale. B2B buyers are looking first for someone who understands their situation. A site about yourself reassures people who already know you, and answers none of the questions a prospect is asking.
Sign 5: you paid a lot for it and measure nothing
If you do not know how many people visited last month, where they came from and how many got in touch, you cannot know whether the site earns its keep. That is not a technical detail. It is like employing a business development manager without knowing who they met or what they closed. Our guide on a website that cost a lot and brings nothing looks at this common situation.
The decisions that follow
If three or more of these signs apply, tinkering with the site will not fix it. The real decision is about the role you want your online presence to play.
Decide whether the web should become a source of clients
For some firms living off one or two anchor accounts, it is not a priority. For most, relying solely on the founders' network and on tenders is a risk. Companies expanding into London, organisations starting a new programme and growing SMEs search for providers online before they shortlist anyone. Our guide on visibility for a B2B company explains what that changes in a long sales cycle.
Decide who owns it
You can hand it to someone on the team, hire, or bring in a specialist. Whichever route you take, insist on measured results rather than promises. And be wary of filling the gap with paid campaigns alone: our guide on paid ads versus lasting visibility for a London services firm explains why.
Decide to measure
Whatever you choose, start by knowing where you stand. The free website score gives a first reading in seconds. A full audit goes further and places you against your direct competitors.
What Traffic Engine does for a services firm
Traffic Engine is Kolonell's service that makes your firm appear when a decision-maker searches for what you do, on Google and in the answers of AI assistants, so that you receive qualified enquiries. You get a dated report every week and follow results in your own Search Console. Kolonell guarantees delivery and measurement, never a position.
It starts with a Visibility Audit at £590: where you stand on Google and in AI assistants, how you compare with your sector, the potential and an action plan, delivered within 48 business hours and fully credited against the setup if you start within 30 days. The setup is £1,300, then plans run from £940 a month for Presence to £1,600 for Momentum, on a 12-month commitment with a measured review at 3 months. For a consultancy whose average client relationship runs to several engagements, the calculator on the offer page shows how few new clients it takes to cover that. See the offer and the seats still open.