Find the one question you answer on the phone every day, give it its own page with a plain title, and write the answer the way you say it, including what changes it.

The same question, every day

Every business has one question it answers on the phone several times a day: how much, how long, or whether you come out to a particular town.

The answer is usually good. It has been refined over hundreds of calls into a few clear sentences, with the right caveats in the right places.

And it exists nowhere on the website. The site says contact us for a quote, or mentions the service area in a single line in the footer.

So the question keeps arriving by phone, often from people who would have been happy to read the answer.

Find the question

Most owners know it without thinking. If not, ask whoever answers the phone, or keep a tally for a week.

The first is the one most sites avoid, and the one callers most want answered. A range with honest reasons beats silence, because silence reads as expensive.

Write it the way you say it

The answer on the phone already has the right shape. Write it down in those words.

Record yourself answering it, or have someone take notes during a few calls. The way you explain it to a stranger is clearer than anything written for a brochure.

Keep the caveats. If the answer depends on three things, name the three things and say how each one moves it.

Keep the order too. On the phone you give the short answer first and the details after, and the page should do the same.

Why it needs its own page

The same answer buried in a long page of questions does less work.

A page of its own can carry a title in the words people search with, such as the cost of the service or the name of the area. Search engines can then show that page for that question.

It can sit in the menu and be linked from the home page, where callers would have looked for it.

And it can be sent. Whoever answers the phone can text or email the link to someone who wants the details in writing.

A worked example

An organ and piano technician based in a small city covers the towns along a valley, tuning pianos in homes and schools and maintaining a handful of church organs.

Most of his calls began the same way: how much is a tuning, and do you come out to us. He answered the same way each time, often standing in a client's living room between jobs.

His answer had three parts. A standard tuning had a set fee, and towns beyond a certain distance carried a travel charge.

The third part needed explaining every time. A piano left untuned for years usually needs a pitch raise first, a rough pass to bring it up to pitch, which adds time and cost.

His website said only that he tuned and repaired pianos and organs, with a phone number.

He wrote a page titled with the question itself, in the words he used on the phone: the fee, the towns covered, the travel charge, and the pitch raise explained in two sentences.

Callers began to mention it. Many now ring already knowing the price, and the conversation starts with which day suits.

Price without a price list

Many businesses cannot give one figure, and that is fine. The page can still answer.

Describe the typical job and what it usually costs. Then name the things that make it cost more or less, in the order they matter.

Say what is included, so the figure is not compared with a competitor's that leaves things out.

And say how to get an exact price, whether that is a visit, a photograph or a few measurements.

The area question

Where the question is about area, name the places. People search for their own town, not for a region.

List the towns and neighbourhoods you cover, and be clear about the edges: which places carry a travel charge, and which are too far.

A map can help, but on its own it leaves people squinting at boundaries. The list of names does the real work.

Make it easy to find

A page nobody finds answers nobody.

Link to it from the home page in plain words, using the question itself. Put it in the menu, and link it from the contact page, where people go just before they call.

Use it in replies too. When someone emails the question, the answer can be two lines and the link.

Keep it true

A page with last year's price is worse than no page, because it starts an argument on the phone.

Whenever prices change, the page changes the same day. Put it on the same list as the price sheet and the quote template, so all three move together.

Read it once a quarter against what you actually say on the phone. If the spoken answer has drifted, the page should follow.

The counter-case

Some businesses get a different question every time, because every job is different, and no single page will cover them.

Others have good reasons not to publish prices: costs that move weekly, or work priced entirely on inspection. A page explaining how pricing works, and what affects it, still answers part of the question.

And some owners prefer the call, because the conversation is where they win the work. That is a fair choice on price, though the area question is still worth a page.

For most, the advice holds: find the question you answer every day and give it a page of its own.

From call to page

  1. Ask whoever answers the phone for the top question.
  2. Record your spoken answer once.
  3. Write it down in those words.
  4. Title the page with the question itself.
  5. Link it from the home page and contact page.
  6. Send the link when the question arrives by email.
  7. Update it the day prices change.

Step four is what lets the page be found. A title in the words people actually use can put the page in front of the person who is about to pick up the phone.

Keeping that page current through the year is the same habit as in the home page still selling Christmas.

Frequently asked questions

Which question deserves its own page?

The one you answer on the phone every day, usually about price, area or timing. Whoever answers the phone will know it, or a week of tallies will show it.

Why not just add it to the FAQ?

A page of its own can carry a title matching the way people search, be linked from the home page, and be sent as a link when someone asks.

How should the answer be written?

The way you say it on the phone: short answer first, then the details, keeping every caveat and naming what makes the answer change.

What if I cannot give one price?

Describe the typical job and its usual cost, name what moves the price, say what is included, and explain how to get an exact figure.

How do I answer the area question?

Name the towns and neighbourhoods you cover, since people search for their own town. Be clear about the edges and any travel charge.

How often should the page be updated?

The same day prices change, alongside the price sheet and quote template, and once a quarter against what you actually say on the phone.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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