What I look for in a website review
I use a 100-point checklist to review your website and compare it with others in your market. It covers what people need to know, how they find you and how easy it is to get in touch. The emphasis can change a little to suit your industry.
Social proof & reputation
Review counts and ratings surfaced on-site, testimonials, awards, press features.
Reviews, testimonials and relevant experience help someone feel comfortable contacting a business they haven’t used before.
SEO & discoverability
Rankings for the searches that actually convert, city and service landing pages, title tags and metadata that do real work.
I check how clearly the site explains its services and location, and whether it has pages that answer useful local searches.
Getting in touch or booking
CTA placement, booking mechanism, pricing strategy, lead capture, contact friction.
I look at what a visitor can do next, and whether calling, booking or asking a question is straightforward.
Brand & visual design
Positioning clarity, a cohesive identity, portfolio or work presented with intent.
The words, images and design should give people a consistent picture of the business and what it offers.
Answering customers’ questions
Process pages, FAQs, what-to-expect guides, about-page depth.
Useful information about price, timings and what to expect can make getting in touch feel much easier.
How the website works
Mobile experience, speed signals, navigation, absence of broken or leftover elements.
I check for broken links, leftover placeholders and small details that can make a site feel unfinished.
An example from a photography review
For a recent client engagement in the photography industry, this matrix was run against 13 sites studied in depth — 5 global category leaders and a full Southwest Florida market map, 42 businesses surveyed in total. The gap between the top and bottom of that field averaged 58 points, and it came almost entirely from social proof, local SEO architecture, and conversion path — not from portfolio quality.
Lily Hayes Photography
Dallas, TX
"5.0★ from 230 Google Reviews" runs as a page headline, linked straight to Google. Niche keyword subdomains, each with its own blog of objection-handling posts. A $35 retainer collapses booking friction to almost nothing.
Helen Bartlett Photography
London, UK
Full published pricing, framed as a value ("I believe in transparency") rather than an omission, paired with the deepest local-SEO page network in the field.
Lola Melani Photography
Miami, FL
No prices anywhere — a strategy, not a gap. A four-step consultation journey sells the experience instead, with the strongest objection-handling FAQ surveyed.
Bubbles & Bluebells
Essex, UK
Proof the playbook works at boutique scale: one photographer, programmatic local pages per town, and a first-year booking ladder that turns one client into six visits.
Ana Brandt Photography
Orange County, CA
Authority as a business model — 27 years, workshops in 47 countries, a résumé carried in the hero copy rather than buried on an about page.
The weakest sites studied in the same local market scored between 18 and 36 out of 100 — undone by the same handful of things every time: no pricing and no stated reason for hiding it, phone-only booking with no online path, stock favicons and template residue live in production, and real credentials sitting in a paragraph nobody reads instead of a headline.
What stood out in that review
Make reviews and experience easy to find
The stronger sites made their reviews and experience easy to see. Some used a review count near the top of the page; others linked to coverage or showed relevant credentials.
Give each service and location useful information
Dedicated pages helped these businesses explain the services and areas they covered in more detail.
Make booking straightforward
Clear booking links and online scheduling gave interested visitors a practical next step.
Help people understand pricing
Some sites published prices. Others explained how a consultation and quote would work. Both approaches gave visitors useful information about what to expect.
Explain what it’s like to work together
A clear process and useful FAQs helped visitors understand the timings, costs and practical details before asking for a booking.
Take care of the small details
Working links, current information and consistent branding made the sites feel looked after.
Would a review of your website help?
Send me your website address and a little about your business. We can start by looking at what’s working and what needs attention.