How to find businesses that need a website
· 6 min read
Needing a website and being ready to pay for one are different things. These are the signals that indicate both, and how to check them at speed.
Signal 1: demand exists, conversion does not
A business with reviews, photos and a rated listing already has customers finding it. If there is no website, every question a customer has — price, timing, availability, portfolio — becomes a phone call the owner may miss.
Signal 2: the business sells something that needs to be seen or booked
- Appointments: salons, clinics, dentists, trainers, tutors.
- Visual proof: interior designers, caterers, photographers, builders.
- Price lists and menus: bakeries, cloud kitchens, repair services.
Signal 3: it advertises somewhere else
A business paying for pamphlets, hoardings or a sponsored Instagram post has a marketing budget and an intent to grow. Ask what those ads point to — often nothing but a phone number.
Signal 4: a competitor in the same locality is ahead
Nothing sells faster than showing a business that the shop two streets away appears in search with prices, photos and a booking form while they do not.
Checking all four quickly
Manually this means opening listings one by one on Google Maps. Zertex does the first and most mechanical part for you: pick a city and category, and it returns businesses with no website plus their public phone number, so you spend your time on judgement instead of tab-switching.
What to skip
- Listings with no reviews and no photos — usually inactive.
- Franchise outlets — the website decision is made at head office.
- Businesses whose entire trade is walk-in and local-only with no bookings.