Post #5 · Interactive guide

Audit yourself.

Fifteen checks, five minutes, one score. This is the exact list I run on every site before I call it done — run it on yours.

How it works

Be honest

Go through the ten checks below. Tick the ones your site actually passes — not the ones it almost passes, not the ones on the to-do list. Your score updates live. Most small-business sites I see score 4 or less. The fixes are usually an afternoon's work.

The 15 checks

Tick what passes

Fifteen checks in five categories. Be honest — the score only helps if it's real.

SPEED

1. Loads fast
Open it on your phone, on data, not wifi. If you are still waiting after 3 seconds, so is every customer.

Slow pages lose half their visitors before the first pixel. Compress images, skip the video background.

FIRST IMPRESSION

2. Says what you do
A stranger lands on your homepage. In 5 seconds, can they say what you sell and to whom?

If the headline is 'Welcome to our website', you failed. One line: what you do, for whom.

3. One clear action
Is there exactly one thing you want the visitor to do? Call, buy, book, sign up — one.

Two equal buttons is zero decisions. Pick the one that pays and make it the biggest thing on the page.

4. Real photos
Are the photos of your actual work, your actual shop, your actual face?

Stock photos of handshakes smell like a scam. One real photo beats ten perfect fakes.

5. No lorem ipsum
Search the site for lorem ipsum, 'coming soon', and 2019 copyright dates.

Nothing says 'abandoned' like placeholder text. Dead pages are worse than no pages.

MOBILE

6. Phone number taps to call
On a phone, does tapping your number actually dial? (It should be a link, not text.)

On mobile, more than half your visitors are one thumb-tap from calling you. Do not make them memorize digits.

7. Works on a phone
Not 'has a mobile version'. Open every page on a real phone. Can you read it without pinching?

Google ranks the phone version first. If your site is desktop-only, you are invisible to most of the internet.

8. Menu fits on mobile
Open the menu on a phone. Can you reach every page without hunting or horizontal scrolling?

If the menu needs its own user manual, the menu is the problem.

TRUST

9. Secure lock
The little padlock in the address bar. No 'Not secure' warning.

Browsers now shame non-secure sites in front of your customers. Free certificates exist. There is no excuse left.

10. Social proof
Reviews, testimonials, photos of real customers — visible without scrolling?

Nobody wants to be your first customer. Show them they won't be.

11. Google knows you exist
Search your business name. Do you own the first result? Is the map listing claimed?

For local work, the Google listing matters more than the website. Claim it, fill it, feed it photos.

FRICTION

12. Contact is effortless
Can a customer reach you in one tap from any page — call, text, or email?

Every extra step halves the people who finish. Put the contact where thumbs already are.

13. Forms are short
Count the fields on your contact form. Name, contact, message — that's plenty.

Every field past three is a customer you talked out of contacting you.

14. No popups on arrival
Nothing blocks the visitor in the first 10 seconds. No newsletter popup before they've read a word.

You haven't earned the interruption yet. Earn it first, then ask.

15. 404 helps
Type a bad URL on purpose. Does the error page guide visitors home, or strand them?

Dead ends should have signposts. A good 404 keeps the visit alive.

Your score

The verdict

0/15

Score under 10? I build websites for a flat $150 — every one of these checks included, 50% off until Oct 31.

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