Before you start, grab your phone. Most of your customers will see your site on one, so that’s where these checks count. Use a private (incognito) browser window for the search checks, so your own history doesn’t flatter the results.
1. It’s slow on a phone
Check: run your home page through Google’s free PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile tab. Google counts it as good when the main content shows within 2.5 seconds (its “Largest Contentful Paint”). Then load the site on your phone away from the office Wi-Fi and count.
Fix: compress and resize images, remove sliders, pop-ups and plugins you don’t need, and move to better hosting if the server itself is slow.
2. It’s hard to use on a phone
Check: can you read every page without zooming? Can you tap each button with your thumb without hitting the one next to it? Does anything spill off the side of the screen?
Fix: a mobile-first layout, designed for the small screen and then stretched for desktop, rather than a desktop site squeezed down.
3. Calling you takes more than one tap
Check: from your home page on a phone, how long does it take to start a call? The number should be at the top of every page, and tapping it should dial.
Fix: a tap-to-call number in the header and a clear call button on every service page. It’s a small change that often brings in more calls than anything else on this list.
4. Your forms go nowhere
Check: fill in your own contact form right now. Did the message arrive? How long did it take? Was it in spam? Who else gets it?
Fix: send form leads somewhere you check every day, test the form every month, and send each customer a quick confirmation so they know you have it. Forms on our sites land in your client portal and your inbox.
5. The browser says “Not secure”
Check: look for the padlock in the address bar, then type your address with http:// at the front and make sure it switches to https:// by itself.
Fix: an SSL certificate. It’s usually free, but someone has to install it and make sure it keeps renewing. A browser warning on a page with a form is enough to make many visitors leave.
6. Customers can’t find you on Google
Check: search for your main service with your city (“roofer Marietta”, “CPA Decatur”) and with “near me”. Are you on the map or the first page? Then search your business name: does your Business Profile show with the right hours, phone and photos?
Fix: local SEO: a complete Google Business Profile, a page for each service, the same name, address and phone everywhere, and a steady flow of reviews. Start with our Google Business Profile checklist.
7. The information is out of date
Check: hours, prices, services, staff, photos, last season’s promotion, and the year in the footer. Would a new customer get the right answer to “do you do this, and when can you come?”
Fix: make updates easy. If changing a price means waiting weeks or paying by the hour, the site will drift out of date again.
8. You can’t update it, or don’t know who can
Check: do you know where the site is hosted, who has the logins, and whose name the domain is registered in? If the person who built it vanished tomorrow, could you still change it?
Fix: get the domain registered to your business and the logins in your hands, then decide who makes changes and how fast. If you own the domain, a new site can always replace the old one.
9. It looks older than your competitors’ sites
Check: search your main service, open the top three competitors on your phone, then open yours. Honestly, which one would you call?
Fix: sometimes new photos, clearer headlines and a tidier layout are enough. If the site also fails checks 1 to 3, a rebuild usually costs less than patching.
Repair or rebuild?
- Repair when one or two signs show up, such as a broken form or old information, and you can still log in and make changes.
- Rebuild when it’s slow, hard to use on a phone and hard to update all at once. Fixing all three on an old site rarely costs less than a new one.
- Leave the site alone and work on local SEO when it passes checks 1 to 5 and the problem is that nobody finds it. Our SEO only plan is built for exactly that.
Wondering about budget? Our guide to what a small business website costs in Atlanta compares builders, freelancers, agencies and monthly plans over three years.
Where Total Stack fits
We build fast, mobile-first sites for Atlanta businesses on monthly plans from $99 a month, with $0 setup on a 12-month plan. Hosting, SSL, updates and change requests are included, and your plan only begins when your site launches. Read more about web design for Atlanta businesses, or let us run the checks for you.