The 15-Minute Website Audit Any Local Business Owner Can Do

Most of the small business owners I talk to have a vague feeling that their website isn't quite working, but no idea what specifically is wrong. Good news: you don't need a technical audit to find the big problems. You need fifteen minutes and your phone.

Do this sitting down, with a timer on. Write down what you find. Don't fix anything yet.

Minute 1–3: Open it on your phone

Not your laptop. Your phone, on cellular data with the wifi turned off.

• How long until you can read the headline? If it's more than three seconds, that's a problem. Most of your visitors are on a phone in a parking lot.
• Can you read the text without pinching and zooming? If you're zooming, so is everyone else — and they're leaving.
• Is there a phone number you can tap to call? This is the single most valuable thing on a local business website and it's missing more often than you'd think.

Minute 4–6: Try to hire yourself

Imagine you're a customer who has never heard of your business. Your only goal is to give you money or book your service.

• Can you tell what you do within five seconds of landing?
• Can you find your prices, or at least a starting range?
• Is there one obvious button to take the next step — book, call, or fill out a form?

If you have to hunt for any of those, your visitors won't hunt either. They'll go back to Google and click the next result.

Minute 7–10: Check the basics

Your website has one job: make it easy for someone who already wants what you sell to say yes.

• Does the contact form actually work? Fill it out and submit it as a test. Then check that the message actually arrived somewhere you'll see it.
• Is the copyright year current? A footer that says 2019 tells visitors nobody's home.
• Are the photos yours? Stock photos of generic handshakes make a local business look like every other listing.
• Do the links work? Tap every menu item. Dead links are the fastest way to lose trust.

Minute 11–15: Read your own words out loud

This is the one people skip, and it matters most.

Read your homepage headline out loud. Does it sound like a human talking to a neighbor, or like a brochure? "Providing innovative solutions since 2004" says nothing. "We fix your AC the same day you call" says everything.

What to do with what you found

Rank your findings by how much they cost you. A broken contact form or a phone number that's hard to tap are urgent. An outdated copyright year is a five-minute fix. A headline that says nothing is worth rewriting this week.

If you'd rather hand the list to someone and have it done, that's exactly the kind of thing the Website Care Plan covers. Send me your list and we'll work through it together.