The website checklist

20 questions for any local business website. Go through it on your phone, the way your customers see it. Your answers stay in this browser.

0 of 20

People can find it

Before anyone reads a word, search has to point them to you.

Searching your business name brings up your own website near the top.Search it on your phone, logged out, and look past the ads.
Your Google Business Profile shows the right hours, phone, website and recent photos.Search your name on Google Maps and read the panel as a stranger would.
Your web address starts with https and opens without a warning.Type it in with http:// and see whether it switches to https:// by itself.

They read text. Anything that's only a picture is invisible to them.

Your menu, prices and services are real text, not pictures of text.Try to select a price with your finger or mouse. If you can't, it's a picture.
Your hours are written on the site as text.Search your site for "hours" or the day of the week.
Every page has its own clear title.Look at the browser tab on each page. "Home" and "Page" don't count.
The site gives search engines your name, address, phone and hours in their own format.Paste your address into Google's Rich Results Test and look for a business result.

Small things tell a visitor whether anyone is still minding the shop.

Your name, address and phone match everywhere: your site, Google, Yelp, Facebook.Open each one side by side. Suite numbers and old phone lines count.
The photos are of your real place, people and products.Stock photos of smiling strangers read as a template.
You have recent reviews, and you answer them.Check the date on your newest Google review.

Most of your visitors are on a phone, often on the go.

It loads in a couple of seconds on your phone, on cellular data.Turn Wi-Fi off and open it.
Nothing slides sideways, and you can read it without zooming.Scroll the whole home page with one thumb.
Buttons and links are easy to hit with a thumb.Tap every button on the home page without zooming in.

Every visit should end in a call, an order, a booking or a visit.

Your phone number is tap-to-call.Tap it on your phone. It should start a call.
The main thing people come for is visible without scrolling: order, book, call, or visit.Open the home page and don't scroll. Is it there?
Your address opens in Maps with directions.Tap the address.
Your contact form actually arrives somewhere.Send yourself a test message, then check your inbox and spam.

An old special or last year's hours costs more trust than no website at all.

Hours, prices and menus are current.Compare the site with what's on the counter today.
No expired promotions, old events or last year's holiday notice.Read the home page as if you were a first-time visitor.
Someone would notice within a day if the site went down.Ask yourself who that someone is.

Send me your website and I'll run the full report: the same checks on your current site and on a preview of a new one, side by side.