The 15-Minute Website Check-Up: 5 Simple DIY Tests to See If Your Site is Broken
Introduction
If your website feels a bit slow, looks a little dated, or just isn’t bringing in as many leads as it used to, you are probably right to be worried.
Your website is your hardest-working employee. But how do you know if it needs a simple tweak or a total overhaul?
Before you spend money hiring a designer, we at Kennedy Wood Marketing recommend running this super-simple, 15-minute check-up. These five non-technical tests will tell you exactly what’s broken and what needs fixing right now.
Test 1: The "Pocket Test" (Is It Mobile-Friendly?)
This is arguably the most important test you can run. More people view your website on their phones than on a desktop computer. If your site looks terrible on a phone, you are immediately losing over half of your potential customers.
How to Check:
Use Google’s Free Tool: Go to Google and search for the "Google Mobile-Friendly Test."
Enter Your URL: Pop your website address into the tool and hit run.
The Result: Google will tell you instantly if your page is mobile-friendly. If it says "Page is not mobile-friendly," this is a major issue that needs urgent fixing. Even if it passes, scroll through the site on your own phone and look for weird overlaps or tiny text.
Test 2: The "Clarity Test" (Do I Know What to Do Next?)
When a potential customer lands on your homepage, they shouldn't have to hunt for what to do next. You need to give them a very clear instruction—we call this a Call-to-Action (CTA).
How to Check:
Open Your Homepage: Pretend you are a first-time visitor.
The 3-Second Rule: Scroll through the top section of your homepage. Can you clearly see a button within three seconds that says something like "Book a Consultation," "Get a Quote," or "Shop Now?"
The Fix: If the CTA is missing, buried, or hard to read, you need a prominent, brightly coloured button above the fold (the part of the page you see without scrolling). A website without a clear CTA is like a business with a phone but no one to answer it.
Test 3: The "Squint Test" (Is the Text Easy to Read?)
If your text is too small, your background colours are too busy, or your font colour is too similar to the background colour, people will simply stop reading and leave. This is a quick and painful way to lose leads.
How to Check:
Squint: Literally open your website and squint your eyes until the text is slightly blurry.
The Contrast Check: Can you still easily distinguish the text colour from the background colour? For example, grey text on a light blue background is hard to read and fails the test. Black text on a white background is the gold standard for a reason!
The Font Size Check: Check the text on your phone. If you find yourself zooming in to read the main paragraphs, your font is too small. Aim for at least 16pt for body text.
Test 4: The "Slow Mo" Test (How Fast Does it Load?)
Patience is a digital luxury. If your website takes more than 3-4 seconds to load, studies show that over half of your visitors will hit the back button and go straight to your competitor. Slow websites kill sales.
How to Check:
Use Google PageSpeed Insights: This is another essential, free tool from Google. Search for "PageSpeed Insights."
Enter Your URL: Put in your website address and wait for the score (it takes about 30 seconds).
The Result: Look at the score for Mobile performance. Anything below a score of 50 is a serious problem. The main cause is often huge, un-optimized images, meaning your designer uploaded a photo straight from a high-resolution camera without sizing it down.
Test 5: The "Navigation Maze" Test (Can I Find Anything?)
When a customer wants to see your prices or check your opening hours, they should be able to find that information in two clicks or less. If they have to click through three different menus to find your contact details, your navigation is broken.
How to Check:
The Two-Click Challenge: From your homepage, try to find the following essential pages in no more than two clicks:
Contact Page / Enquiry Form
Pricing / Services Page
About Us / Team Page
The Fix: Make sure your main navigation bar (the menu at the top) is clean, simple, and has clear, easy-to-understand labels (e.g., "Services" is better than "What We Do").
Ready for the Next Step?
If you ran these five tests and your site failed more than two of them, you’re not alone! These are the exact issues we fix during a full Digital Audit.
Knowing what’s broken is half the battle. If you want to talk about fixing the issues you just uncovered, we’re happy to help.