You calculate the ROI of a website with one simple formula: (monthly visitors x conversion rate x lead-to-customer rate x average job value) minus the website's monthly cost, divided by that cost. For most home-service businesses the math works out fast, because a single closed job usually pays for months of website cost. Here's the formula and a worked example with real numbers.
Key takeaways
- ROI formula: (leads x close rate x avg job value − cost) ÷ cost.
- Home-service sites convert about 2–4% of visitors into leads (Rocket Media, 2024).
- Home services close about 7.8% of leads into customers overall, and ~46% of phone leads (EstateHub, 2026).
- One extra closed job a month typically covers a full year of a $99/mo website.
What's the formula for website ROI?
Website ROI = (new customers from the site x average job value − website cost) ÷ website cost, over the same time period. To get "new customers from the site," multiply your monthly visitors by your conversion rate (visitors who become leads) and then by your close rate (leads who become paying customers). Everything above zero is profit on the site.
Worked example: a $99/mo home-service site
Let's use conservative, sourced numbers for a contractor site that costs $499.95 setup + $99/mo:
- Monthly visitors from Google + Google Business Profile: 300
- Conversion rate (visitor → lead): 3% → 9 leads/mo (Rocket Media range: 2–4%)
- Lead → customer close rate: 8% → ~0.7 jobs/mo (blended; EstateHub 7.8%)
- Average job value: $600
Monthly revenue from the site ≈ 0.7 x $600 = $420. Monthly cost = $99.
ROI = ($420 − $99) ÷ $99 ≈ 324%. And that's before you count the setup fee (recovered in month one) or the fact that phone leads close at ~46%, far higher than the blended rate.
| Input | Conservative | Better site |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly visitors | 300 | 600 |
| Visitor → lead | 3% (9 leads) | 4% (24 leads) |
| Lead → customer | 8% | 12% |
| Jobs/mo | ~0.7 | ~2.9 |
| Revenue/mo (@$600) | ~$420 | ~$1,730 |
| Cost/mo | $99 | $99 |
| ROI | ~324% | ~1,650% |
What if I don't know my numbers yet?
Use the break-even shortcut: divide your monthly website cost by your average job value to see how many jobs the site must bring to pay for itself. At $99/mo and a $600 job, the site breaks even at 0.17 jobs a month — about one job every six months. Anything beyond that is profit. Very few marketing channels have a break-even that low.
What should I include in the "cost" side?
Include everything to keep it honest: setup fee (spread over 12 months), monthly hosting/care plan, and your time. A plan that bundles hosting, edits, and support into one monthly fee makes this easy to calculate — there are no surprise developer invoices. Leaving out hidden costs is how people overestimate ROI, so count them all and the number will still hold up.
Why website ROI compounds
Unlike ads, a website's return grows over time as your pages rank, your reviews accumulate, and your Google Business Profile matures. The same $99/mo buys more traffic in month 12 than in month 1, so the ROI you calculate today is usually the floor, not the ceiling. That compounding is the core reason a website beats rented channels on long-run return.
