We audit a lot of business websites. Across hundreds of audits over the years, the pattern is remarkably consistent: websites that look polished but convert poorly are almost always missing the same fundamental elements.
This is the complete checklist. Honest and direct — no fluff.
1. A Clear, Jargon-Free Value Proposition Above the Fold
The first thing a visitor sees — before they scroll — must answer three questions in under 5 seconds:
- What do you do?
- Who do you do it for?
- Why should I choose you?
“Empowering businesses to reach their full potential through innovative digital solutions” answers none of these. It’s word salad that applies to every agency on earth.
Compare: “We build high-performance websites for professional service firms in the UK. Average client sees 40% more leads within 90 days.”
That’s specific, credible, and relevant. If your hero section doesn’t pass this test, everything else on the page is working against an uphill battle.
2. Social Proof That Feels Real
Generic testimonials — “Great service, would recommend!” — have almost zero conversion impact. Visitors have been trained to ignore them.
Effective social proof is specific and verifiable:
- Full name and company (not “J.S., Manchester”)
- The specific result achieved (“Went from 3 to 17 leads per month in 8 weeks”)
- Photo of the person — dramatically increases credibility
- Where possible, video testimonials outperform text 3:1
Place testimonials near decision points — not buried in a testimonials page that nobody visits.
3. A Primary CTA That Appears Multiple Times
Every page should have one clear primary call-to-action. Not four different options competing for attention — one.
And it should appear:
- In the hero section (above the fold)
- After your services section
- After testimonials
- In the footer
- Sticky in the navigation on mobile
The research is clear: more exposure to a single CTA increases conversion more than offering multiple CTAs. Reduce friction, reduce choice.
4. Mobile-First Design (Not Mobile-Responsive)
There’s a meaningful difference between a desktop site that reflows on mobile (responsive) and a site designed for mobile first.
For most business websites, 60–70% of traffic arrives on mobile. Yet most business owners review their website on a desktop. The result: mobile experiences that technically work but feel clunky, have tiny tap targets, and load slowly.
Test your site on a real phone, not browser DevTools. Check:
- Does the primary CTA appear without scrolling?
- Are all buttons at least 44px tall?
- Does the navigation work with one thumb?
- Is the font size actually readable at arm’s length?
5. Page Speed Under 3 Seconds
53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Every additional second of load time reduces conversions by approximately 7%.
Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights right now. If you’re scoring below 80 on mobile, your site is actively costing you money.
Common culprits:
- Unoptimised images (use WebP format, lazy loading)
- No caching layer
- Render-blocking JavaScript
- Cheap shared hosting
- Bloated WordPress plugins
6. A Contact Experience That Matches the Ask
The contact form should match the size of the commitment you’re asking for.
If you’re a service business asking someone to start a conversation: first name, email, one open question. That’s it. Every additional field reduces form completion rates by 10–20%.
If you’re qualifying leads for a high-ticket service: a slightly longer form is appropriate — but frame it as a “discovery call application” rather than a contact form. Same information, completely different psychological framing.
Also: if your contact form goes into a black hole with no acknowledgment email, you are losing leads. Every form submission should trigger an immediate automated response.
7. An About Page That Actually Humanises the Business
The About page is consistently one of the top 3 most-visited pages on any business website. Most About pages are wasted.
“We are a passionate team of experts committed to delivering excellence…” — this says nothing and tells your visitor nothing about whether they can trust you.
An effective About page includes:
- The founder’s story and why this business exists
- Real photos of real people (not stock photos)
- Your values, expressed through specific behaviours not abstract words
- How you’re different from the obvious alternatives
- A CTA — the About page is a high-converting place for a consultation offer
8. Clear Service Pages (One Per Service)
A single “Services” page that lists everything you do in bullet points is not a service page. It’s a menu.
Each core service deserves its own page with:
- Who this service is for
- What’s included (process/methodology)
- What results clients can expect
- Relevant social proof specific to that service
- A clear CTA
Individual service pages rank better in SEO, convert better because they’re specific, and allow you to direct the right visitors to the right page.
9. A Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Cookie Notice
Not just for legal compliance — trust signals matter to visitors too. A site with no legal pages reads as unprofessional or amateur to sophisticated buyers.
With GDPR, CCPA, and similar regulations globally, these are also legal requirements for most businesses. Don’t skip them.
10. Analytics That Are Actually Set Up Properly
The most common analytics issue we encounter: Google Analytics is installed but nothing is being tracked beyond pageviews.
At minimum, configure:
- Goal/conversion tracking for every form submission and CTA click
- Event tracking for key engagement actions (video plays, scroll depth, outbound link clicks)
- Source/medium attribution so you know which marketing channels are driving results
- Google Search Console connected and verified
A website without proper analytics is a machine you can’t tune. You don’t know what’s working, what isn’t, or where visitors are dropping off.
Run through this list against your own site honestly. If you’re missing more than three of these, your website is underperforming relative to its potential — and the gap between what it is and what it could be is almost certainly measurable in revenue.
These aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re the baseline.
