Small business website checklist: 25 points to check today

You don’t need a new website to get more out of the one you have. Go through these 25 points with your own site open on your phone. Every “no” is something concrete to fix. Want to tick them off and get a score? Use the free interactive website checklist.

1. The basics

1. Your business name, what you do and where, in the first screen. A visitor should know in three seconds whether they’re in the right place.
2. A phone number people can tap to call, on every page. On a phone, a tap-to-call button is often the most-used part of the site.
3. Opening hours and address (or service area) that are easy to find. If you travel to customers, list the towns you cover.
4. A domain in your business name (yourbusiness.com), not a free subdomain of a website builder.
5. A professional email address ([email protected]). It looks more trustworthy than a free email address.

2. Trust

6. Real photos of you, your team, your work or your place. Stock photos are fine as fillers, but real ones convince.
7. Real reviews, or a link to your Google reviews. Never invent reviews: show the real ones, even if there are only a few.
8. Prices, or at least “from” prices, for your main services. People who can see a price are more likely to get in touch.
9. An about section that says who is behind the business. A name and a face build trust fast.
10. A padlock (https) in the address bar. If Chrome says “Not secure”, here’s how to fix it.

3. Getting found on Google

11. A Google Business Profile with correct hours, photos and website link. For local searches, your profile is often seen before your website.
12. A clear page title and description for each page. They’re what people read in Google’s results.
13. Your town or area mentioned naturally in the text. “Plumber in Toowoomba” helps; repeating it 20 times doesn’t.
14. One page per main service, not everything on one line. Each page can then appear for its own searches.
15. Your site connected to Google Search Console (free), so you can see what people search to find you and spot problems.

4. Phones and speed

16. Text is readable on a phone without zooming.
17. Buttons are big enough to tap with a thumb.
18. The home page loads in under 3 seconds on mobile data. Test it free with Google PageSpeed Insights; here’s what to fix if it’s slow.
19. Images are compressed, not straight from the camera. Our free image compressor does it in your browser.
20. No pop-up covers the page on phones. If you must use one, make it small and easy to close.

5. Turning visitors into customers

21. One main action per page: call, book or request a quote. Too many buttons and people do nothing.
22. A short contact or booking form that actually reaches you. Send yourself a test message today; forms break more often than you’d think.
23. You reply to website messages within one business day. The first business to answer usually wins the job.
24. Links to your social profiles, without sending people away first. Put them in the footer, not at the top.
25. Content updated in the last 3 months: prices, hours, photos. An old “© 2019” or last year’s prices make visitors wonder if you’re still open.

What to do next

Fix the easy ones yourself today: the phone button, your hours, a test form message, your Google profile link. For the rest, our website check-up ($49) goes through all of this for you and sends a clear report with what to fix first. If your Google profile needs work, we can set it up or tidy it for you.