A 30-Minute Website Check Any Bedford Business Owner Can Do
Jarrett Owens · Founder, White River Media
October 5, 2026 · 4 min read
Start on your phone, not your desk
Most owners look at their website on a laptop, where everything tends to look fine. Many of your customers will see it on a phone while standing in a parking lot or sitting on the couch. Open your site on your own phone, on mobile data rather than your Wi-Fi.
Notice whether the text is readable without zooming, whether buttons are easy to tap, and whether anything is cut off. If you have to pinch and scroll sideways, a lot of visitors will simply leave.
Run the five-second test
Ask someone who has never seen your site to look at the homepage for five seconds, then close it. Have them tell you what you do, where you do it, and what they would do next. If they can't answer, the page is asking too much of a visitor.
Your homepage should say plainly what the business does and who it serves. Save the clever taglines for later. A person in Bedford searching for help wants to know quickly whether you can do the job.
Find the way to contact you
Try to reach out as if you were a new customer. Is your phone number tappable on a phone? Is there a form or a clear next step? Is it obvious on every page, or do you have to hunt for it?
Then actually use it. Send a test message through your contact form and confirm it lands where you expect. Forms that quietly fail are more common than you would think, and you would never know about the customers who tried.
Your website is only working if a stranger can find what they need in a few seconds.
Check the speed and the basics
Google offers a free tool called PageSpeed Insights. Paste in your address and it will show how quickly your page loads on a phone and flag common problems, such as oversized images. You don't need to understand every line of the report. Look for anything marked as a serious problem and note it down.
While you're there, check that your address begins with https and that your business name, phone number, and address match what appears on your Google listing. Small mismatches make it harder for customers, and for search engines, to trust the details.
Turn what you found into a short list
Write down everything you noticed, then mark each item as quick, medium, or big. Quick fixes, like updating an old phone number or fixing a broken form, can often happen this week. Bigger items, like a site that doesn't work on phones, may be a reason to rebuild rather than patch.
Keep the list. Checking again every few months takes half an hour and catches problems before customers do.
Quick Answers
Frequently asked
How often should I check my website?
A quick pass every few months is enough for most small businesses. Check again after any change to your hours, services, phone number, or address.
What if I find a lot of problems?
Sort them by how likely they are to cost you a customer. A broken contact form or a site that doesn't work on phones matters far more than a slightly slow image.
Do I need a professional to fix what I find?
Many of the smaller items you can handle yourself. Speed problems, mobile layout issues, and anything involving how the site is built usually need someone who works on websites every day.
Free Tool — Website SEO Audit
Want a second opinion? Run your site through the free audit and see how it scores on the basics.
Found more problems than you expected?
Send us your list. We'll tell you which fixes matter most and which can wait.
