The Navi Works Playbook.

The Audit — what to find first

Before designing or building anything, audit the existing site. Most of the answers about "what should we do?" come from "what's broken right now?"

An audit isn't a vibes-check. It's a structured pass through nine categories, each producing a list of specific findings. Done right, it generates the entire scope of the rebuild — so you don't end up arguing about features later.

The 9 audit categories

1. Reputation surface — what reviews exist on Google, Yelp, Nextdoor, BuildZoom, vertical-specific platforms? Are any of them shown on the site?
2. Portfolio surface — does the site show actual work? Real photos, before/after, case studies? Or stock images?
3. Platform / stack — what's it built on? When was the framework's last update? Are there obvious tech-debt smells (e.g. ?id=123 URLs, /home.html patterns, jQuery 1.x)?
4. Mobile performance — measure on a real phone. Time to first paint. Cumulative Layout Shift. Touch-target sizes. Horizontal-scroll bugs.
5. Conversion path — count the clicks to "I want to buy / book / call." Is the phone number sticky on mobile? Is there a quote form? Does it qualify the lead or just collect names?
6. SEO surface — title tags, meta descriptions, OG tags, schema markup, canonical URLs, sitemap, robots.txt. Most small business sites have at least 3 of these broken.
7. Local SEO — Google Business Profile completeness, NAP consistency (Name/Address/Phone matching everywhere), service-area accuracy.
8. Brand consistency — does the email domain match the site domain? Logo on every page? License numbers visible? Social-media handles tied in?
9. Security / hygiene — HTTPS, HSTS, mixed content, CSP, cookie consent, privacy policy. Not glamorous; matters legally.

Visual Foundation — color & type

People form trust judgments in roughly 50 milliseconds, based on color and font alone, before they read a single word. Get this right and the rest of the site has tailwind. Get it wrong and the rest is uphill.

Color palette

Pick a palette that distinguishes the brand from competitors in the same vertical. Most painter sites are blue. Most plumbers are red/blue. Most landscapers are green. Doing the same thing makes the site visually invisible in search results.

Look at the top 10 Google results for the client's main service. Don't pick any color you see in 3+ of them. Pick a palette that signals the brand's identity: heritage, modern, premium, scrappy, family-run, etc.

Typography pairing

One serif + one sans-serif, almost always. Serif for headings = gravitas, tradition (newspapers, banks, heritage brands). Sans for body = readable, modern, clean.

Default safe pairings:

• Modern professional: Inter (body) + Source Serif 4 or Fraunces (headings)
• Heritage / craftsman: Helvetica or system-ui (body) + Georgia or Playfair Display (headings)
• Local / friendly: Nunito (body) + Lora (headings)
• Tech / startup: Inter throughout, vary weight only

The brand consistency layer

Once a palette and type pairing exist, they apply everywhere: the website, the email signature, the invoice, the business card, the truck wraps. Inconsistency dilutes trust. Consistency compounds it.

Mobile-First Design

For most local-business websites, 65–80% of traffic is mobile. Designing for desktop first is designing for the minority audience. Flip the priority.

The non-negotiables

• Sticky bottom click-to-call bar — the thumb's natural rest is the bottom of the screen. Phone CTA always one tap away.
• Touch targets ≥ 44 × 44 pixels — Apple's HIG minimum, Google's Material recommends ≥ 48px. No buttons smaller than this. Period.
• No horizontal scroll, ever — set html { overflow-x: hidden; }. Then individually clip any overflowing element. Audit on a real 375px iPhone.
• Tap-to-call links — every phone number is <a href="tel:...">. Email is mailto:. Address links to Maps.
• Forms with inputmode + autocomplete — phone number fields get inputmode="tel" + autocomplete="tel". ZIP gets inputmode="numeric" pattern="[0-9]{5}". Email gets autocomplete="email". Auto-fill is a conversion feature.
• Fixed-position elements respect safe-area — iPhone home-indicator zones eat the bottom of fixed bars. Use padding-bottom: env(safe-area-inset-bottom);.

The mobile-first CSS pattern

Write mobile styles in the unprefixed CSS. Add desktop overrides only inside @media (min-width: 768px). Reverse engineering desktop-first to mobile is consistently more painful and bug-prone.

Trust Signals & Social Proof

Trust isn't earned over time on a website. It's front-loaded in the first 2 seconds. The visitor decides "this is legit" before scrolling.

Front-loaded credibility anchors

Within the first viewport on mobile, the visitor should see at least 4 of these:

• ★ Star rating with review count (concrete: "5.0 · 18 reviews")
• Years in business ("Since 2002")
• License / credentials number (CSLB, contractor #, NAR member, etc.)
• "Family-run" / "Local" / "Veteran-owned" identity signal
• Service area / city named
• Response promise ("Free quote in 1 hour")

Six types of social proof, in order of impact

1. Identity-aligned reviews — neighborhood-named ("Janet R., Land Park · Yelp"). 3× more persuasive than generic praise.
2. Numbered aggregate — "40+ reviews," "200+ clients" — concrete, falsifiable.
3. Star ratings with platform attribution — "5.0 on Yelp," "4.9 on Google." Platforms add credibility.
4. Logos / badges — BBB, CSLB, manufacturer certifications, "As seen in." Visual shorthand for legitimacy.
5. Case studies / before-and-after — high effort, high payoff. Photos of YOUR work doing YOUR thing.
6. Generic celebrity / authority quotes — least effective. Skip unless the source genuinely matters.

Always specific over generic. Always named over anonymous. Always platform-attributed over freestanding.

Copy & CTA Design

The headline does 80% of the work. The CTA does the rest. Everything in between is supporting infrastructure.

Three battle-tested copy frameworks

AIDA — Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Classic for landing pages. Headline grabs attention → benefits build interest → social proof builds desire → CTA closes.

PAS — Problem, Agitate, Solve. Strong for service businesses. State the problem the visitor has → make them feel it → show how you solve it.

Before-After-Bridge (BAB) — Where they are now → where they could be → how you bridge the gap. Highly effective for transformations (renovation, fitness, finance).

Headline rules

• Specific beats clever. "Painting Sacramento homes since 2002" beats "Quality You Can Count On."
• Outcome beats feature. "Save 5 hours a week" beats "Custom workflow automation."
• Short beats long. 6-9 words on mobile. The eye scans, doesn't read.
• Local beats abstract. Name the city. Name the neighborhood if possible.

CTA design rules

• Action verb first. "Get a Free Quote" beats "Free Quote." "Book Your Spot" beats "Booking Available."
• Color contrast. CTA color appears nowhere else on the page (no other element competes for attention).
• Specific over vague. "Quote in under 1 hour" beats "Contact us."
• Reduce risk. Add micro-copy: "Free · No obligation · 1-hour response." Each phrase removes a hesitation.
• Big enough to tap. ≥ 48px tall. Full-width on mobile.
• 3 CTA placements minimum: hero, mid-page, sticky bar. Visitor doesn't scroll back up.

Forms That Qualify

A form's job isn't to collect names. It's to qualify leads — so the business owner spends time only on the visitors most likely to buy.

The qualifying form pattern

Five steps, in this order:

1. Project type — radio buttons. Forces a self-categorization.
2. Scope / size — one room, whole floor, whole house? Multi-unit?
3. Timeline — ASAP, 1–3 months, 3–6 months, just gathering quotes?
4. Photo upload — diagnostic AND emotional. Visitors who upload are 2–3× more likely to take the callback.
5. Contact — name, ZIP, phone (required). Email optional.

By the time the visitor enters their phone, they've made 3 micro-decisions (radio buttons). Each click increases sunk-cost commitment to finishing.

Form design rules

• Progress indicator at the top — shows the visitor how close they are to done.
• One question per visual block — never crowd 5 fields into one card.
• Required fields marked, optional fields said-so — never assume the visitor knows.
• Big tappable radio cards on mobile, not native radio buttons. Native radios are 16×16 — borderline impossible to tap accurately on a phone.
• Submit button below the fold on mobile — forcing a final scroll past the form contents reinforces commitment.
• "Or call now" alternative after the submit button — for visitors who'd rather talk than type.

The qualifying paradox

More questions on the form = fewer total submissions, but higher conversion-to-customer rate. For most local services, a 3-field form gets 2× submissions but 0.5× close rate vs. a 5-field qualifying form. Net result: same number of customers, half the wasted phone calls.

Pricing Psychology

When to show pricing — and when to hide it — is one of the highest-leverage decisions on the site. Default to revealing.

Show pricing when…

• The vertical typically hides it (competitors all say "Contact us"). Showing creates contrast.
• The price range is broad but predictable ($X–$Y per square foot, $X–$Y per visit).
• Projects are commoditized enough that visitors will Google around regardless.
• You want to disqualify low-budget visitors before they call.

Hide pricing when…

• Every project is bespoke and the range would be misleading ($1K–$200K).
• The conversation IS the value (consulting, advisory).
• You can't honor the lowest number you'd publish (legal liability).

Display patterns that work

• Range-and-anchor — "Most projects $4,500–$7,500" with one specific anchor: "Typical 1,800 sq ft single-story: $5,800."
• Three tiers — Starter / Growth / Operator. Visitors anchor to the middle. Set the middle as the most-likely sale.
• Comparison columns — Plan A vs Plan B. Frame as a choice, not a yes/no.
• "Starting at" — only when the floor is genuine and the high end won't shock.

Anchoring in the wild

The first price the visitor sees becomes the reference point for every subsequent price. If you show $15,000 first, $5,000 feels cheap. If you show $500 first, $5,000 feels expensive. Order matters.

Consumer Psychology Toolkit

A short reference of the named principles we apply on every site. Each one is a small lever — used together, they compound.

Decision & behavior

• Hick's Law — Decision time grows with the number of choices. Fewer visible CTAs = faster decisions.
• Fitts's Law — Time to acquire a target depends on size and distance. Bigger, closer buttons get tapped faster.
• Progressive disclosure — Reveal information in steps, not all at once. Reduces overwhelm.
• Sunk-cost commitment — Once a visitor has invested 3 small "yes" decisions (radio buttons), they're psychologically biased to finish.
• Decision fatigue — Every choice depletes willpower. Reserve choices for moments that matter.

Persuasion (Cialdini's six)

• Reciprocation — Free advice, free consult, free audit. Creates a debt the visitor wants to repay.
• Commitment / consistency — Small "yes" → bigger yes. Foot-in-the-door.
• Social proof — Reviews, ratings, "people like you chose this."
• Authority — Credentials, certifications, years in business, named expertise.
• Liking — Same identity (local, family-run, similar background as visitor).
• Scarcity — "Only 2 booking slots in May." Use sparingly; overuse breaks trust.

Cognitive biases that shape conversion

• Anchoring — First price seen sets the scale.
• Loss aversion — "Don't miss out" beats "gain X." Roughly 2× pull.
• Endowment effect — Once a visitor uploads a photo or fills the form, they psychologically "own" the lead.
• Identity alignment — Reviews from people the visitor identifies with (same neighborhood, same demographic) outperform generic reviews 3:1.
• Specificity bias — Concrete numbers feel more truthful than vague claims. "5,847 customers" beats "thousands of customers."

Trust microcopy

Tiny phrases that close hesitation gaps. Place under or near every major CTA:

• "Free · No obligation · No upselling"
• "Quote in under 1 hour"
• "30-day satisfaction guarantee"
• "We never share your info"
• "Cancel anytime"
• "Pay only if it works"

SEO & Schema Fundamentals

Most small business sites have at least 3 broken SEO basics. Fix the basics and you outrank competitors who paid an "SEO agency" thousands.

The non-negotiable SEO checklist

• <title> tag on every page — unique, includes city + service, under 60 chars.
• <meta name="description"> — 140–160 chars, includes keyword + value prop. This is the search-result snippet.
• Open Graph tags — og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url. Required for proper iMessage / Facebook / Slack share previews.
• Twitter Card tags — twitter:card, twitter:title, twitter:image. Same idea, different platform.
• <link rel="canonical"> on every page — tells Google which URL is the master version.
• One H1 per page — the page's primary topic.
• Logical heading hierarchy — H2s under H1, H3s under H2s. Don't skip levels.
• Image alt text — descriptive, keyword-aware, not stuffed.
• Sitemap.xml — lists every page you want indexed. Submit to Google Search Console.
• robots.txt — allow what you want indexed, disallow what you don't (admin, staging, escrow).

Schema.org structured data — the unfair advantage

JSON-LD blocks tell Google explicitly what your business is, where it operates, what it costs, who endorses it. Result: rich snippets in search results (stars, hours, phone, prices) that get measurably higher click-through rates than plain blue links.

Pick the schema type matching the vertical:

• LocalBusiness — base type. Almost everything inherits from this.
• Painter, Plumber, Electrician, Roofer — specific home-services types.
• Restaurant, FoodEstablishment — food service.
• Dentist, MedicalBusiness — healthcare.
• Product — e-commerce items.
• Service — for service offerings within a business.
• FAQPage — for FAQ sections (gets "People Also Ask" placement).

Always include: name, image, telephone, address, areaServed, aggregateRating (if available), priceRange, openingHours.

Common SEO mistakes that kill ranking

• Same title tag on every page (only the homepage ranks).
• Title tag mentions only one city (every other city is invisible to search).
• One consolidated services page (no targeting for individual services).
• Zombie template pages indexed (e.g. under_construction.html, main.html).
• Canonical URLs all point to the homepage (de-indexes every interior page).
• Mixed case in URLs (/Services.html vs /services.html = 2 pages competing).

Local SEO & Per-City Pages

For local businesses, ranking #1 in Sacramento doesn't help you in Roseville. Each city is a different battle. The architecture has to match.

The Google Business Profile (GBP)

The single highest-leverage piece of local SEO is a fully filled GBP. It powers the map pack — the three results above the regular search results — and accounts for 40–60% of local clicks.

• Claim and verify the listing.
• NAP consistency — Name, Address, Phone identical on the site, GBP, Yelp, BBB, Nextdoor, Facebook. Even punctuation differences hurt.
• Categories — primary + secondary. Pick the most specific available.
• Service areas — list every city you'll travel to.
• Photos — 10–20 minimum. Real photos of work, team, vehicles, location.
• Hours — accurate, including holiday adjustments.
• Q&A — pre-populate with common questions. Don't let competitors plant misleading ones.
• Posts — a weekly post (offers, updates, project photos) signals "this business is active."
• Reviews — ask for them after every job. Respond to every review (positive and negative).

Per-city × per-service landing pages

For a contractor serving Sacramento, Fair Oaks, Roseville, Folsom, Citrus Heights, Carmichael (6 cities) with 5 services (Interior, Exterior, Cabinets, Decks, Commercial), the site should have:

• 1 home page
• 1 services overview page
• 5 per-service pages
• 6 per-city pages
• 30 per-service × per-city pages (the SEO engine)

Each per-service-per-city page has:

• Title tag: "[Service] in [City], [State] · [Brand]"
• City-specific neighborhoods named (12+ chips on the page)
• City-attributed reviews (3 with neighborhood names)
• City-specific FAQ (one question with the city name in it)
• Schema.org with addressLocality + areaServed
• Internal links to the other cities (footer or breadcrumb)

Citations & directories

Get listed in: Yelp, BBB, Yellow Pages, Nextdoor, BuildZoom (for contractors), Houzz, Angi, vertical-specific directories. Each consistent NAP citation feeds Google's confidence in the business's existence and location.

Performance & Accessibility

Slow + inaccessible = invisible. Google penalizes both. Visitors abandon both. These are the floor, not the ceiling.

Core Web Vitals

Google's three speed metrics that affect ranking:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — should be < 2.5 seconds. Measures when the biggest visible element finishes loading.
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint) — should be < 200ms. Measures responsiveness to taps and clicks.
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) — should be < 0.1. Measures unexpected layout jumps as the page loads.

Test at pagespeed.web.dev. Test on mobile, not desktop — mobile is the ranking signal.

The performance non-negotiables

• Compressed images — WebP format if possible, sized appropriately. A 4MB hero image is malpractice.
• Lazy-loaded images below the fold — loading="lazy".
• Critical CSS inlined — paint above-the-fold without waiting for stylesheet downloads.
• No render-blocking JS — defer or async non-critical scripts.
• Self-host fonts when possible — Google Fonts adds a network round-trip.
• Modern CDN / edge cache — Netlify, Cloudflare, Vercel handle this automatically.
• Reserve image dimensions — width + height attrs prevent layout shift.

Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA basics)

Required not just legally, but because accessibility benefits everyone (the older homeowner reading on a phone in bright sunlight is the same audience as a screen-reader user).

• Color contrast ≥ 4.5:1 for body text, ≥ 3:1 for large text. Test at webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker.
• All images have alt text — descriptive, not "image1.jpg".
• Form fields have labels — even if visually hidden, programmatically associated.
• Keyboard navigation works — every interactive element reachable with Tab.
• Focus indicators visible — never outline: none; without a replacement.
• Error messages programmatically associated — not just red text floating below an input.
• Semantic HTML — <button> for buttons, <a> for links, <nav> for navigation.

Analytics & A/B Testing

If you don't measure it, you're guessing. Set up the basics on day one — you can't retroactively learn what visitors did before tracking was on.

The day-one analytics stack

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — free, baseline traffic + behavior. Set up conversion events for every CTA (call clicks, form submits, photo uploads).
• Google Search Console — free, shows which queries surface the site, click-through rates, indexing issues, mobile usability.
• Microsoft Clarity — free, session recordings + heatmaps. Watch real visitors interact. Faster than guessing.
• Plausible / Fathom — paid alternatives if privacy-conscious or EU clients. No cookie banner needed.

Conversion events to track

• Phone CTA tap (tel: link click)
• Email CTA tap (mailto: link click)
• Quote form started (first field focus)
• Quote form submitted
• Photo uploaded in form
• Page scroll depth (50%, 90%)
• External link click (Yelp / Google reviews / GBP)

A/B testing — when to bother

Most small business sites don't have enough monthly traffic to A/B test rigorously. Rule of thumb: need at least 1,000 monthly visitors for a meaningful test in under 30 days. Below that, test sequentially (change A, observe 30 days, change B, observe 30 days).

What's worth testing first:

1. Hero headline (highest leverage)
2. Primary CTA copy ("Get a Quote" vs "Free Quote in 1 Hour")
3. CTA color (sometimes shocking results)
4. Form length (3-field vs 5-field qualifying)
5. Pricing display (show vs hide)

What's not worth testing: minor visual tweaks, button shadows, font weights. These move conversion fractionally and need huge samples to prove.

The CRO loop

1. Form a hypothesis from data (heatmap shows people miss the CTA).
2. Make ONE change.
3. Measure for ≥ 30 days.
4. Decide: keep, revert, or iterate.
5. Document the result.

Most "CRO experts" violate step 4 (multiple changes at once) and step 5 (no documentation). Don't.

The Master Checklist

The single page we run through before any client mockup ships. If anything's unchecked, it's either done before launch or flagged on the Navi Notes page as something the client must unblock.

37 boxes. We don't ship until they're all checked or transparently flagged.

Vertical Addenda

The 13 chapters above apply to every site we ship. Each vertical also has its own quirks — what the visitor's actually trying to do, which trust signals matter, which schema type to use. Three to start: musicians, practitioners, restaurants. We'll add more as we build more.

A · Musician EPK

Defining outcome: A booker, journalist, fan, or label rep can hear the music, see upcoming dates, and email the artist within 30 seconds. Everything else is decoration.

Hero pattern: Artist name as the H1, one-line tagline (genre + city), and 3–5 platform-link buttons (Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube · Instagram · Bandcamp). No carousel, no video autoplay, no parallax. Bookers scan on mobile between meetings — give them what they need above the fold.

Section order that converts: Listen first (embeds), then bio, then upcoming dates, then gallery, then contact. Bio is for the curious, not the gatekeeper. The booker wants the music and the email.

Trust signals specific to musicians:

• Verified Spotify / Apple Music artist URLs (the link itself is proof of legitimacy)
• Press quotes with publication name, even small ones (Sac News & Review, local NPR affiliates)
• Notable past venue names ("Played: Old Ironsides, Crest Theatre, Harlow's")
• Festival appearances or opening slots, if any
• Photos at named venues (visual proof of the past venue list)

Schema.org type: MusicGroup (band / solo artist) with track, album, and event nested for upcoming shows. Adding sameAs arrays of Spotify/Apple/YouTube URLs cross-validates the artist for Google Knowledge Panel.

Gigs as structured data: Every upcoming show is an Event with location (Place), startDate, offers (ticket URL + price). Google surfaces these directly in search results.

Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple embeds: Always lazy-load (loading="lazy"). One Bandcamp embed alone can add 800ms to LCP if it loads above the fold. Hold them below the fold or behind a "Load player" click.

Newsletter / mailing list: Single email field, no name or "interests" checkboxes. Mailchimp / Buttondown / ConvertKit. Frame the value: "Get a heads-up when I drop a new song or play your town" beats "Subscribe to my newsletter."

Common gotchas:

• Hardcoded "next show" copy that goes stale within a week. Always use a structured gig list with display dates so future-Alex doesn't have to remember.
• Soundcloud embeds eating LCP. Prefer Spotify or Apple Music — faster, more brand-trusted.
• Press kit as a downloadable PDF that's two years out of date. Rebuild it as a `/press/` page on the site instead.

B · Practitioner / Wellness (Chiropractor · PT · Therapist · Acupuncture · Massage)

Defining outcome: A pain-or-anxiety-driven visitor — already deciding "do I make an appointment today?" — finds the booking link, sees that the practitioner takes their insurance, and clicks book within 60 seconds.

Hero pattern: Practitioner name + credentials (DC, DPT, LAc, LMT), a single sentence outcome ("Get out of pain in fewer visits than you think"), one trust micro-line ("Insurance accepted · Same-week appointments · Sacramento"), and a primary CTA: Book now (or Call now as the secondary).

Booking is the whole game. Embed Calendly / Square Appointments / Jane / SimplePractice directly. If the booking system needs an account or a 6-step intake, lead with a "Call to book" button as primary and the embedded scheduler as secondary.

Trust signals specific to practitioners:

• License number + state ("DC #12345, California Board of Chiropractic Examiners")
• Years in practice + "trained at [school]" credential
• Insurance logos accepted (Aetna, Blue Shield, Kaiser PPO, Cash) — with a clear "we'll verify your benefits" line for nervous visitors
• Google Business Profile reviews surfaced with patient name + neighborhood
• "As featured in" if local press has covered them
• Before-and-after for visible verticals (PT range-of-motion, posture, scar work) — gated behind a click and with patient consent

Schema.org type: MedicalBusiness (or specific subtype: Chiropractic, PhysicalTherapy) with medicalSpecialty, availableService, acceptedPaymentMethod = `["Insurance", "Cash"]`, and openingHoursSpecification.

Service pages do the SEO work: Per condition, not per modality. "Low back pain treatment in Sacramento" outranks "Chiropractic services." Visitors search the symptom, not the technique.

Compliance is real here. No specific outcome claims ("cures sciatica" → don't). No before-photos without a HIPAA-compliant consent form on file. Privacy policy must explicitly cover health information. If you collect intake forms on the site, encrypt in transit (HTTPS) AND at rest, and confirm the form host is HIPAA-covered (most basic Google Forms / Typeform setups are not by default).

Common gotchas:

• "Schedule online" CTA that opens a booking system requiring a 12-field intake before showing availability. Front-load: show availability first, collect after.
• Stock photos of generic spines / acupuncture needles. Replace with photos of the actual practice space within 30 days of launch.
• Listing every modality in the hero ("Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Cupping, Dry Needling, Sports Therapy"). Pick one outcome the visitor cares about — pain — and lead with it.

C · Restaurant & Bar

Defining outcome: A hungry visitor — deciding right now where to eat tonight — sees today's hours, the menu, the location on a map, and the reservation link without scrolling. If reservation isn't available, they tap the phone number to call.

Hero pattern: Restaurant name, one-line concept ("Wood-fired pizza & natural wine — Land Park, Sacramento"), today's hours surfaced live ("Open today: 5–10pm"), reservation CTA, and a tap-to-call number. No video. No parallax. No "Welcome to our website."

The menu is critical and notoriously broken. Never a PDF. Never an image. Always HTML, indexable, mobile-readable, and updatable without a developer. If the kitchen changes the menu daily, build a menu.json that the kitchen edits via a tiny admin (or even a Google Sheet → JSON pipeline) and the page renders.

Trust signals specific to restaurants:

• Star rating + review count from Google + Yelp + Tripadvisor (whichever has the highest, lead with it; surface the others below)
• "Since 1998" or "Family-run since 2010" — restaurants live and die on age
• Press quotes with publication ("Best new pizza in Sac" — Sacramento Bee)
• Award badges (Michelin Bib Gourmand, James Beard semifinalist, "Top 100 in Yelp")
• Photos of food (the actual food they serve, taken in the actual restaurant)
• Photos of the room (so visitors can self-select fit: date night vs. family vs. business lunch)

Schema.org type: Restaurant (or BarOrPub) with servesCuisine, priceRange, menu URL, acceptsReservations, openingHoursSpecification for every day, geo coordinates, and aggregateRating if you have it. Google Maps surfaces this directly.

Reservations + ordering integrations: OpenTable / Resy / Tock for reservations; Toast / Square / Clover for online ordering; DoorDash / Uber Eats / Caviar for delivery. Don't link them buried in a nav — surface as primary CTAs in the hero (Reserve a table) and an obvious section (Order online).

Live hours: Render today's open/close from openingHoursSpecification with a real-time "open / closed / closes in 30 min" indicator. Hard-coded "Mon–Fri 5–10pm" copy goes stale, breaks during holidays, and erodes trust on the most important moment — when someone's deciding tonight.

Photos do 70% of the conversion. The single highest-impact thing on a restaurant site is great food photography. If the budget is $500 and choices are "fancy site with stock photos" or "simple site with one professional photo shoot," choose the photo shoot.

Common gotchas:

• Menu as PDF. Visitor on mobile won't pinch-zoom. Bounce.
• Hours as static text that don't reflect today's actual schedule.
• Stock photos of unrelated food.
• "Welcome to [restaurant name], where we serve great food in a warm atmosphere" — every visitor closes the tab. Lead with the dish, not the platitudes.
• No phone number above the fold. People still call restaurants — especially Mom on Mother's Day.

More verticals get added the moment we ship for them. Currently shipping for: tree care (May), chiropractic (May), winery (live).