The small business website checklist: 30 things to check

Most small business websites do not fail because of one big problem. They fail because of twenty small ones: a phone number you cannot tap, a contact form that asks for too much, a page that takes six seconds to load on a phone, a Google listing with the wrong hours.

This is the checklist we run on every site before we quote. Work through it with your own site open on your phone. Every item is something you can check yourself in a minute or two.

Getting found

1. Your site loads on https. A padlock in the address bar, and http redirects to https.
2. Google Search Console is set up. It is free, and it is the only place Google tells you what is wrong.
3. Every page has its own title. Under about 60 characters, naming the service and the place.
4. One page per service you want to rank for. A single "Services" page cannot rank for six different searches.
5. A page for each area you serve, with something genuinely local on it — not the same text with the city name swapped.
6. Your Google Business Profile is complete. Categories, hours, photos, services. See the checklist that works.
7. Your name, address and phone match everywhere. Site, Google, Yelp, Facebook and directories.

Earning trust

1. Real photos of your team, your work or your premises, not stock.
2. Reviews on the site, with names and dates, close to the places people decide.
3. A clear "about" story: who you are, how long you have done this, where you work.
4. Licenses, certifications and guarantees where they apply to your trade.
5. Recent dates. A blog last updated in 2021 or a copyright from 2019 says "closed".
6. Prices, or at least starting prices. Visitors who cannot find a number often leave to find one elsewhere.

Turning visits into calls

1. One clear action above the fold on every page: call, book, or get a quote.
2. A tappable phone number on mobile, in the header.
3. A short contact form. Name, contact, message. Every extra field costs inquiries.
4. A thank-you that sets expectations: when will they hear back, and from whom?
5. Inquiry tracking. Form submissions and calls counted in analytics, so you know what works.
6. No dead ends. Every page ends with a next step, not just a footer.

If traffic is fine but nobody gets in touch, this is usually where the problem is. We go deeper in why visitors leave without inquiring.

Speed

1. Test on PageSpeed Insights, mobile tab, not your office Wi-Fi.
2. Images sized for the screen, in WebP or AVIF. Images are usually the whole problem.
3. No slider on the homepage. They are slow and almost nobody clicks past slide one.
4. Only the scripts you use. Old chat widgets, trackers and plugins all cost load time.

Accessibility

1. Text has enough contrast against its background, especially light gray on white.
2. Everything works with a keyboard. Press Tab through the page and watch the focus.
3. Images have alt text that says what the image shows.
4. Forms have visible labels, not just placeholder text. More in is your website ADA compliant?

Keeping it healthy

1. Automatic backups, stored somewhere other than the server itself.
2. Updates applied monthly, for the CMS, theme and plugins.
3. You own the domain and hosting accounts, in your company's name, with your login.