Your website should be your hardest-working member of staff. It’s open all hours, never takes a holiday and talks to more people in a week than you could in a month. But plenty of sites quietly stop earning their keep – and nobody notices until the phone goes quiet.
Grab a coffee, open your website on your phone and work through these ten checks. You don’t need any technical know-how.
1. Can people tell what you do in five seconds?
Land on your homepage as if you’d never heard of your business. Is it instantly clear what you do, who it’s for and where you are? If your headline is something vague like “Welcome to our website”, it’s time for a rewrite.
2. Does it work properly on a phone?
Most people will visit on their mobile. Check that text is easy to read without zooming, buttons are big enough to tap and nothing spills off the side of the screen.
3. Is it quick?
If a page takes more than a couple of seconds to appear, people start to leave. Try it on 4G, not just your office wifi. We’ve written more about this in our guide to why page speed matters.
4. Is there a clear next step on every page?
Every page should tell visitors what to do next – call, book, get a quote or send a message. One clear button beats five competing ones.
5. Is your phone number easy to find (and tap)?
Put it in the header, make it tappable on mobile and double-check it’s the right one. You’d be surprised how often it isn’t.
6. Is the content up to date?
Old offers, last year’s opening hours or a “latest news” post from 2021 all make a business look closed. If you can’t keep a section fresh, it’s better to remove it.
7. Do your contact forms actually work?
Fill in your own form and check the email arrives – including in your spam folder. Broken forms are one of the most common (and costly) problems we find.
8. Does it show real proof?
Reviews, case studies, photos of your team and your work all build trust. Stock photos of people shaking hands don’t.
9. Can people find you on Google?
Search for what you do plus “York” – for example “florist York”. If you’re nowhere to be seen, your site probably needs some search engine optimisation.
10. Is it secure?
Look for the padlock in the address bar. If your browser warns that the site is “not secure”, fix it quickly – it puts people off and can hurt your rankings.
How did you do?
If you ticked off all ten, brilliant – your website is in great shape. If a few made you wince, don’t worry. Most of these are quick fixes, and we’re always happy to take a look.
Pop in to see us on Blake Street, call 01904 501 524 or get in touch for a friendly, no-obligation website review.