Every week, small business owners spend money on Google Ads, Instagram posts, and networking events — driving people to a website that isn't ready for them. That's like paying to fill a restaurant with customers and then serving cold food.
Before you spend another dollar on marketing, run through this list. Be honest.
The checklist
1. Can a stranger tell what you do in 5 seconds? Load your homepage. Start counting. If the headline is "Welcome to [Your Business]" — that's a fail. A visitor should know your service and who it's for immediately. "Modern dentistry for nervous patients." "Executive coaching for founders who are stuck." Clear.
2. Is your primary CTA visible without scrolling? "Book a visit," "Schedule a call," "Make a reservation" — whatever your main action is, it should be right there when the page loads. Not after three scrolls. Not hidden in a hamburger menu.
3. Do you have at least 3 testimonials or reviews visible? Not on a separate "Testimonials" page nobody visits. On the homepage. On your service pages. Everywhere that matters. If you have 200 Google reviews and none of them appear on your site, you're hiding your best asset.
4. Are you using real photos? Of your office, your team, your food, your work. Stock photos of smiling models are an instant credibility hit. Patients want to see your actual waiting room. Coaching clients want to see your actual face. Restaurant guests want to see your actual food. People can always tell the difference.
5. Does your site load in under 3 seconds on mobile? Test it at Google PageSpeed Insights right now. If it's over 3 seconds, you're losing visitors before they see your content — and Google is ranking you lower because of it.
6. Can someone contact you or book in one click from any page? Not "click Contact, then scroll to a form, then fill out 8 fields, then wait for a reply." One click to book, call, or message. If you're a dentist without online booking in 2026, you're losing patients to the practice that has it.
7. Do you have a page for each service you offer? Not one "Services" page with bullet points. Individual pages with real descriptions, real results, and keywords Google can find. "Cosmetic Dentistry in Mill Valley" is a page. "Vinyasa Yoga Classes in San Rafael" is a page.
8. Is your Google Business Profile claimed, complete, and active? Photos, hours, services, all reviews responded to. For local businesses — dentists, restaurants, studios, consultants — this is often worth more than the website itself. If your competitor has 200 reviews and you have 15, that's a problem this checklist alone won't solve.
9. Does your site work perfectly on mobile? Not "it's technically responsive." Does it actually look good and function well on a phone? Pull it up right now. More than 60% of your visitors are on mobile. If it's clunky, they're leaving.
10. Would you hire yourself based on this site? Be brutal. Compare your site to your top competitor's. If theirs looks more professional, more trustworthy, more current — your prospects see that too. And they're choosing accordingly.
How to score
Most small businesses we talk to score between 3 and 5. The good news? Every one of these items is fixable. The question is whether you fix them one by one over the next six months — or get them all handled at once in two weeks.