{"id":25615,"date":"2026-07-02T13:07:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T13:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/know-how\/i-rang-three-numbers-for-one-hull-business-heres-what-that-taught-me-about-websites\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T13:07:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T13:07:46","slug":"i-rang-three-numbers-for-one-hull-business-heres-what-that-taught-me-about-websites","status":"publish","type":"know-how","link":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/know-how\/i-rang-three-numbers-for-one-hull-business-heres-what-that-taught-me-about-websites\/","title":{"rendered":"I Rang Three Numbers For One Hull Business. Here's What That Taught Me About Websites."},"content":{"rendered":"
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TL;DR - Quick Read<\/p>\n

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Your website doesn't need to crash to stop working for you. A quick look at local sites recently turned up a pattern worth flagging - stale dates, contact details that don't match, some pages clearly looked after and others left to drift. None of it dramatic. All of it noticed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I went looking for local events to attend recently. Nothing fancy, just a proper look round at what's on. And I kept hitting the same thing - site after site showing events from a year ago, sometimes more. Not broken. Not down. Just quietly out of date, in a way that's easy to miss if you're not the one looking for it.<\/p>\n

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Then, separately<\/p>\n

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I was trying to get through to a local company. Three different phone numbers, three different places - the website, a directory listing, an old social post. I rang all three before I found the one that worked. Neither business had done anything wrong exactly. But both were telling on themselves a bit, if you knew what to look for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Website<\/div>\n

Your website doesn't have to be broken to stop doing its job. It just has to stop telling the truth.<\/p>\n

What's actually going on<\/h2>\n

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Two patterns, both worth knowing:<\/p>\n

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› Dates that don't move. Events, offers, seasonal news - anything time-stamped is the easiest tell, because it can't hide its own age.<\/p>\n

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› Different answers in different places. Same business, three phone numbers. Small on its own, but it's exactly the kind of thing that chips away at trust without anyone clocking why.<\/p>\n

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Neither is a design problem. Both are a \"who's actually keeping an eye on this\" problem.<\/p>\n

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Why it matters more than it looks<\/p>\n

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76%<\/strong>  of people check a business's online presence before visiting in person - even when they've been referred by someone they trust.<\/p>\n

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75%<\/strong>  judge a business's credibility on the website alone.<\/p>\n

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That's not about scaring anyone off having a website at all. It's just how people actually decide who to try these days. Someone recommends you at the school gates on Monday, and by Monday evening they're having a quick look online to check that recommendation still holds. If what they find doesn't quite match what they expected - a number that's wrong, an event from last year still sitting there - that gap gets noticed. And it gets noticed before you ever get the chance to explain yourself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At a glance<\/h2>\n

\"Top<\/p>\n

Hull's a small enough patch that this stuff gets noticed. Word travels here in a way it doesn't in a bigger city, which cuts both ways - it's exactly why a business with its details straight tends to do well by word of mouth, and exactly why the small inconsistencies matter more here, not less.<\/p>\n

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More to come<\/p>\n

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This is the first of a few I'll be sharing here on what actually makes a website worth keeping. Next up: the questions your own site should probably be able to answer, then Trust and Credibility. Worth keeping an eye out if any of this struck a chord.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Have a look for yourself<\/h2>\n

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I've written the whole thing up properly on Web Wise - what to check, why it matters, and a five-minute way to look at your own site with fresh eyes. Read the full piece here →<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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\"Susi<\/p>\n
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About the Writer<\/h3>\n

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Susi Hogan is the founder of Kingstown Web Studio, building clear, practical websites for small businesses across Hull and East Yorkshire. She writes about what actually makes a website work, one observation at a time.<\/p>\n

Read more about Susi →<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n
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Got a question?<\/p>\n

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Scan to WhatsApp or visit wa.me\/447396984711<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The examples referenced above are drawn from genuine local observations; no individual business is named or identified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TL;DR - Quick Read Your website doesn't need to crash to stop working for you. A quick look at local sites recently turned up a pattern worth flagging - stale dates, contact","protected":false},"author":12313490,"featured_media":25616,"template":"","know_how_category":[],"class_list":["post-25615","know-how","type-know-how","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/know-how\/25615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/know-how"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/know-how"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12313490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/know-how\/25615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"know_how_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebusinessculture.co.uk\/hey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/know_how_category?post=25615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}