Before you run ads, post on social media, or hire anyone for marketing — audit your website.
It sounds obvious but most businesses skip this step entirely. They spend money driving traffic to a site that quietly loses most of it. More visitors into a broken funnel just means more people bouncing. The traffic isn't the problem. The website is.
This is the exact checklist we run through with every new client before we touch anything else. We've condensed it into 25 specific items across five areas. Each one has a clear pass or fail — no ambiguity, no "it depends." Go through it, mark what fails, and you'll have a clear picture of where your site stands and what to fix first.
"More visitors into a broken funnel just means more people bouncing. The traffic isn't the problem. The website is."
Before you start
How to use this checklist
Open your website on a laptop and on your phone at the same time. Go through each item and mark it as a pass or a fail — no partial credit. If you're unsure whether something passes, it fails. Uncertainty is itself the answer.
When you're done, count your fails per section. Any section with three or more fails is a priority area. Two or more sections with three or more fails means your site is actively costing you leads right now, not just underperforming.
The downloadable PDF version at the bottom of this page is formatted for printing or saving. Work through it digitally or print it out — whichever makes it easier to actually do.
How to read your score
0–3 fails
Solid foundation. A few things to tighten up.
4–7 fails
Noticeable gaps. Prioritise the quick wins first.
8–12 fails
Your site is losing leads. Start with Speed and SEO.
13+ fails
The site needs a full review before any marketing spend.
Section A — 5 checks
Design & user experience
This section is about whether a first-time visitor can understand your site and find what they need. Good design here isn't about how the site looks — it's about whether it works for the person using it.
A
Design & user experience
5 items
A1 — Your homepage headline tells visitors what you do within 5 seconds
Read your headline cold, as a stranger would. Does it say what you do, who it's for, and where you operate? If it says something vague like "Helping businesses succeed," that's a fail.
Why it matters: visitors decide whether to stay within 5–8 seconds of landingA2 — There is one clear call to action visible without scrolling
On your homepage, above the fold: is there a button or link telling visitors exactly what to do next? "Contact us," "Book a call," "Get a quote" — something specific. Three CTAs competing is the same as none.
Why it matters: unclear next steps are the single most common reason visitors leave without actingA3 — Your contact details are easy to find on every page
Phone number and/or email should appear in the header or footer — somewhere consistent. If a visitor has to hunt for how to reach you, most of them won't bother.
Why it matters: friction before contact kills conversionsA4 — Navigation is simple and has no more than 6–7 items
Too many nav items creates decision paralysis. If you have dropdown menus with more than five items each, you likely have a structure problem, not just a design problem.
Why it matters: simpler navigation means visitors spend less time confused and more time convertingA5 — Each service or product page explains what it is, who it's for, and what to do next
Your service pages should answer three things: what does this service actually involve, who is it the right fit for, and what happens when I enquire? If any of those are missing, the page isn't doing its job.
Why it matters: service pages are where buying decisions happenSection B — 5 checks
Speed & mobile
This section catches more fails than any other. Most small business websites were built without mobile or speed in mind, and both are now ranking signals for Google — not just convenience factors for visitors.
To check your load speed, go to pagespeed.web.dev and enter your URL. It takes 30 seconds and shows you a score out of 100 separately for desktop and mobile. Aim for 80+ on both.
B1 — Your site loads in under 3 seconds on mobile
Check this on PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev). Under 3 seconds is a pass. 3–5 seconds is borderline. Over 5 seconds is a fail regardless of how nice the site looks.
Why it matters: most visitors won't wait more than 3 seconds — and Google ranks faster sites higherB2 — All images are compressed and under 200KB each
Open your browser's developer tools (right-click → Inspect → Network tab → reload). Look for any images over 500KB — those are almost certainly the cause if your load time is slow. Free tools like Squoosh or TinyPNG compress them in seconds.
Why it matters: oversized images are the most common cause of slow load timesB3 — All text is readable on a phone without zooming
Open your site on your actual phone — not browser dev tools. Can you read the body copy comfortably without pinching? Anything under 16px font size on mobile is too small for most people.
Why it matters: 60%+ of your visitors are on mobileB4 — Buttons and links are easy to tap on a phone
Try tapping every button and link on your homepage on a real phone. Are any of them small enough that you miss them? Google recommends tap targets of at least 48px × 48px. If you're hitting the wrong link half the time, your visitors are too.
Why it matters: small tap targets frustrate mobile users and increase bounce ratesB5 — The layout doesn't break or overflow on a small screen
Resize your browser window down to about 375px wide (an iPhone SE size). Does anything overflow the edges, stack awkwardly, or become unreadable? If the mobile experience looks like a squished version of the desktop, it needs work.
Why it matters: broken mobile layouts signal an unmaintained site to both visitors and GoogleSection C — 5 checks
SEO basics
You don't need to understand every corner of SEO to pass this section. These five checks cover the fundamentals — the things that make a measurable difference to whether Google finds your site and decides to show it to people searching for what you offer.
If you want a deeper read on why SEO matters for small businesses, our earlier post Why most small business websites lose leads covers this in more detail.
C1 — Every page has a unique, descriptive title tag
Right-click on any page → View Page Source → look for the <title> tag near the top. It should describe that specific page in plain language using words your customers search for. If every page has the same title, or if the title is just your company name, that's a fail.
Why it matters: the title tag is one of the strongest ranking signals Google usesC2 — Every key page has a written meta description
In the same page source, look for <meta name="description">. This is the text that appears under your link in Google search results. If it's empty or auto-generated, Google will pull random text from the page — and that usually makes a poor first impression.
Why it matters: a good meta description significantly improves click-through rate from search resultsC3 — Your H1 heading on each page includes a target keyword
The H1 is the main heading on each page — usually the largest text. It should clearly describe what the page is about using the actual words people search. "Web Design Services in Dhaka" is better than "What We Do." There should be only one H1 per page.
Why it matters: Google uses the H1 to understand what a page is aboutC4 — Your Google Business Profile is set up and complete
Search your business name on Google. Does a business panel appear on the right with your hours, address, photos, and reviews? If not — or if it's incomplete — this is one of the highest-impact free fixes available for local businesses. Set it up at business.google.com.
Why it matters: Google Business Profile is the primary driver of local search visibilityC5 — Google Search Console is set up and shows no crawl errors
Google Search Console (search.google.com/search-console) is free and shows you how Google sees your site — including errors, indexing issues, and what searches you appear for. If you've never set it up, do it now. It takes about 15 minutes and the data is invaluable.
Why it matters: crawl errors mean some of your pages may not be indexed at allSection D — 5 checks
Trust & credibility
People buy from businesses they trust. Online, trust has to be earned visually — through social proof, transparency, and small signals that tell a visitor "this is a real company with real customers." These five checks cover the most important ones.
D
Trust & credibility
5 items
D1 — At least 2–3 client testimonials are visible on your homepage
Not just a "Testimonials" page buried in the nav — real quotes from real clients on the homepage itself. Ideally with a name and a face. Generic praise ("Great service!") is less persuasive than specific outcomes ("We went from 2 leads a month to 12 after working with them").
Why it matters: testimonials near the top of the page can double enquiry ratesD2 — There is a photo of you or your team somewhere on the site
A real face builds trust faster than any amount of carefully written copy. It doesn't need to be a professional photoshoot — a decent phone photo on your About page is enough. Stock photos of strangers do more harm than good here.
Why it matters: people buy from people, not from faceless websitesD3 — Your site uses HTTPS (the padlock icon appears in the browser)
Look at your URL bar right now. Is there a padlock icon? If it says "Not Secure" or shows a warning, your site doesn't have an SSL certificate — and both visitors and Google will notice. Most hosting providers offer free SSL through Let's Encrypt.
Why it matters: browsers actively warn visitors about non-HTTPS sitesD4 — Your About page explains who you are and why you do this work
The About page is typically one of the most visited pages on any small business site — people want to know who they're dealing with before they enquire. A three-sentence placeholder is a missed opportunity. Be specific: who you are, what you specialise in, why it matters to you.
Why it matters: the About page is where buying decisions are often quietly madeD5 — Copyright date and basic legal links in the footer are current
A footer showing "© 2019" tells visitors the site hasn't been touched in five years. Update the copyright year. Include a Privacy Policy if you collect any data (including analytics). It's a small thing that quietly signals whether the site is maintained.
Why it matters: outdated footers signal neglect and reduce credibilitySection E — 5 checks
Lead generation
The final section is the one that ties everything together. You can pass every other section and still have a site that doesn't generate leads if the mechanics of capturing enquiries are broken. These five checks make sure the plumbing actually works.
E1 — Your contact form works and delivers to the right inbox
Submit your own contact form right now with a test message and check that it arrives. Broken contact forms are more common than you'd think — plugins update, email settings change, and nobody notices for months because nobody checked. If it doesn't arrive within two minutes, it's broken.
Why it matters: a broken contact form means you've been losing leads silentlyE2 — There is a clear CTA at the bottom of every service page
Scroll to the bottom of each service page. Is there a button, form, or link pointing to the next step? Or does the page just... end? People who read all the way to the bottom are your most interested visitors. Don't leave them with nowhere to go.
Why it matters: end-of-page CTAs catch the visitors who are closest to buyingE3 — Google Analytics or Search Console is set up and collecting data
If you can't see how many people visit your site, where they come from, and which pages they land on, you're flying blind. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is free. Setting it up takes under an hour. Without it, you can't measure whether anything you're doing is working.
Why it matters: you can't improve what you can't measureE4 — Your phone number is clickable on mobile
On a phone, tap your phone number on the website. Does it open the dialler automatically? If it's just text, mobile visitors have to manually type it in — and most won't. In your website code, phone numbers should be wrapped in a tel: link: <a href="tel:+1234567890">
Why it matters: click-to-call is the highest-converting action on a local business mobile siteE5 — There is a confirmation page or message after form submissions
After someone submits your contact form, what do they see? If the page just refreshes with no message, they don't know whether it worked. A simple "Thank you — we'll be in touch within 24 hours" confirmation message costs nothing to add and eliminates a significant source of uncertainty for the visitor.
Why it matters: no confirmation means visitors re-submit, fill your inbox with duplicates, or assume it failed
