How good is your website? Grade it yourself

Martin Huntbach — Sat, 20 May 2017 07:57:21 +0000

How good or bad is your website?

It’s not always easy to answer this question. If you’re not a designer or a techie, then how would you know where to start?

You might like the colours and images, or the general layout and design but a website is so much more than that.

Friends and family could offer feedback and tell you what they like and don’t like, but with so many conflicting views, who should you listen to?

In most cases, you’re going to trust that your web designer has delivered a high-quality website, or that the software you’ve used to build your site is good enough.

But what if it isn’t?

What if you’re missing out on enquiries or what if your design is turning people off?

What makes a website great?

From experience, it’s not enough to simply HAVE a website. A website should deliver you results, and if it’s not, then something is wrong.

I’ve created a website self-assessment tool. You can use it to grade your own website and get immediate feedback on what you can do to improve.

How does it work?

Having reviewed so many websites over the years, I realised that most businesses make very similar mistakes.

I’ve put together a list of the 30 questions that you can answer about your website. The answers will give an indication of how well your website is performing.

Each topic has three scenarios. All you have to do is read through each of them and select which statement is most accurate for you.

Once you’ve done you’ll be given your score.

What do the scores mean?

Score	Grade	What does this mean?
80–90	Grade A	Seriously sexy website
70–79	Grade B	Great job. Well done!
60–69	Grade C	Pretty good but still work to do.
50–59	Grade D	Not good. Lots of work to do.
40–49	Grade E	Back to the drawing board.
30–39	Grade F	Warning! You're losing customers!

Please be as honest as possible when answering the questions. If you need any clarification feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

Let’s get started.

Grade my website

Or…

use the guide below and add up your scores

Q1 – How would you describe your use of taglines?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You have been fluffy or vague with your tagline. It’s not easy for someone to understand what you do by reading it. e.g. We help you prosper, live happy, we help businesses.	1
It’s clear from your tagline what you do. It might not be memorable or descriptive but it’s enough to get your point across. e.g. Accounting services, We help you sell your house.	2
Your tagline is strong. It clearly explains who you help and what you help them to do. It’s memorable and includes a benefit or it differentiates the business. e.g. “A safe place for all your files” - Google Drive “There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard” - Mastercard.	3

Q2 – How accessible are your contact details?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your contact details are hard to find. You don’t make it easy for people to find your contact number or email on your homepage. People have to click through to another page in order to find key information.	1
You display your contact details on the homepage but it’s not in a prominent position and it could be missed. It might be quite small and placed in the footer area.	2
Your contact details are easy to see, and they are in a prominent position on each page. The contact number is large and clickable from a mobile device. There is a link that redirects to the contact page on your website.	3

Q3 – How does your logo look on your website?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your logo isn’t clear. It might look pixelated and some of the elements within your logo are difficult to read. It doesn’t look right if it’s resized.	1
Your logo is easy to see but it’s too big. You take up more space than you need to and this means other information gets moved further down the page.	2
Your logo fits perfectly and it doesn’t take up much space. It looks in proportion with the other elements on the page, and it resizes without losing clarity.	3

Q4 – Do you have a strong call to action?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t have a clear call to action on your site. Your website doesn’t direct people where you want them to go. You haven’t thought about what action you want people to take.	1
You have buttons on your website such as “get in touch” and “find out more” but they are not easy to see at first glance. They might be further down the page and could be missed.	2
You have a strong call to action on your homepage and it’s clear to see at first glance. It’s enticing and inspires some kind of action.	3

Q5 – How would you describe your use of images?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t have many images on your website. Your site looks bland and has blocks of text that make it difficult to digest.	1
Your website has a few images but they are not consistent. They might be free stock photos that you added quickly when you launched, but they don’t add much to make you stand out from the crowd.	2
You use images on your site that ADD to the overall appearance. The images are consistent throughout your website and make your visitors feel welcome. You might use professional photographs or high quality stock images. The images complement the content and make it more readable.	3

Q6 – Are you clear about what services you offer?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
From looking at your homepage, it’s not clear what services you offer. The descriptions are vague and you don’t go into much detail about your products and services.	1
You talk about your services, but it’s difficult to see at first glance. You might have to search or click through to another page to find it.	2
You clearly explain what services you offer and make it easy to understand. The information is easy to find on your website and the services are near the top of the homepage. They might even be included in your main menu items.	3

Q7 – How much content do you have?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You have very little content. You may have less than 300 words on each page making it difficult for search engines to class your website as valuable or helpful. It’s not easy for potential customers to find out much information about you using your website.	1
You have between 300-400 words of content on each page. This is the minimum recommended word count and search engines will consider this when ranking your pages. The content is quite helpful but could easily be improved with a little time and effort.	2
You have more than 400 words on each page. You go into detail about your services and focus on the questions and concerns of your target market. You are seen as knowledgeable and search engines will rank you highly because of this.	3

Q8 – Is your website customer focused?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your website is mainly about you and your company. You talk a lot about how good you are and how long you’ve been in business, but you don’t talk about your customers' problems and how you can help fix them.	1
Half of your content is about your company and half is about the problems your customers face and how your product solves that problem. You may include features and benefits of your products and services but you could go into a lot more detail.	2
Most of the content on your website is directed at your target audience and you speak a lot about the problems they face. Your customers are at the heart of the content you produce. It allows them to understand more about your services and how you can help them solve their problems.	3

Q9 – Do you use jargon on your website?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You use industry Jargon without explaining what the terminology means. For instance, abbreviations like SEO, CRO and CMS can be difficult for people to understand and it can make your visitors feel confused, like they’re out of their depth.	1
You use some Jargon but try to explain as much as possible using brackets. e.g. SEO (search engine optimisation) This allows your users to understand more whilst they browse your website.	2
You use very little jargon on your website and when you do, you write a sentence or two to explain what it means e.g. You can make changes to your website to improve visibility in search results. This is known as search engine optimisation (SEO for short).	3

Q10 – Do you capture your customer’s email address?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t have an email signup form on your website and you’re not building your contact list. This means when people visit your website, you aren’t capturing their contact information.	1
You may have an email signup form on your website but don’t have a free giveaway to entice people. It may say something generic like “signup for updates” or “join our newsletter”.	2
You have an email signup form on your website and you offer an enticing free gift in exchange for their email e.g. free video, ebook or email course. This means you have more chance of capturing their email address.	3

Q11 – How useful is your blog?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t have a blog on your website and you don’t update your website with fresh content on a regular basis. If you do, it’s mainly industry news and updates about your company.	1
You have a blog but you don’t update it regularly. It has some interesting content but it mainly consists of list posts. Your blog posts could be more focused on helping your customers learn more and make an informed buying decision.	2
Your blog is a valuable resource for your website visitors. It’s helpful and answers questions that your prospective customers might have. You update it regularly (1-2 twice per month min) and each post contains either helpful advice, entertaining content or a new insight. It’s clear from your blog that you are an expert in your space.	3

Q12 – How would you describe your menu/navigation?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your main menu or navigation bar is difficult to use. It might not be visible at first glance, and it might not look like a standard menu i.e. Horizontal or vertical. Some important pages are hidden and cannot be accessed by using the menu.	1
Your main menu is clear and it’s easy to see, but it’s not entirely obvious what you do at a first glance. Your visitor may have to click through to another page to work out what you do to find out more.	2
You have a clear, useful navigation area. It’s easy to use and it’s obvious what services you offer from looking at the menu items. You avoid wasted space and each page on your website is accessible within three clicks of the mouse.	3

Q13 – How would you describe your use of colours?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You have chosen your website colours at random and no real thought has gone into it. You don’t have a style that matches your brand. It’s inconsistent with your social media profiles and doesn’t look very appealing.	1
You have have used a very basic colour scheme on your website (1-2 colours). You might use a main colour but you haven’t considered why you use it and how you might improve the look and feel with more variety. The sections you want to highlight don’t stand out on the page because of the lack of colour variation.	2
You have chosen a specific colour scheme for your website, and you’ve used 3-5 colours throughout the design. You may have used colour swatches or online tools to come up with the ideas and the colours are consistent with your brand style and social media profiles. Your colour scheme keeps people engaged and allows you to highlight call to action buttons throughout your website.	3

Q14 – How readable is your content?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your text is very small. You use a font size 10 pts or smaller which makes it difficult to read for most people. The colour is fairly light on a white background and the headlines don’t stand out. This means people will find it more difficult to read.	1
You use a font size of 12-14 pts and it’s relatively easy to read your content. Your headlines are clear but the colours are similar which means it might not be as readable as it could be.	2
A majority of the text on your website is font size 14-18pts This means it will be extremely clear and easy to read on desktops and mobile devices. You use a variety of bold headings and bullet points to break up the content and you may use some colour to make certain sections stand out.	3

Q15 – How would you describe your choice of fonts?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You use more than 3 font styles on your website and no real considerations has gone into why. You may have included non-standard fonts like Lobster and Comic Sans that bring down the quality of your website.	1
You use basic fonts that are easy to read. You might have chosen your fonts quickly when you launched your website and have kept them the same ever since. The site might be lacking some personality.	2
You have chosen your fonts carefully. You use 2 main fonts and the style is consistent on each page of your website. It’s in-keeping with your brand and adds personality to your website. The font choices look good together and make it easy to read.	3

Q16 – How do you use internal links to your advantage?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You have no links to other pages on your website. You may even have some broken links that lead to 404 error pages. This makes for a bad user experience and will impact your Bounce rate in Google Analytics.	1
You have some internal links throughout your website but generally use hyperlinks like “click here” or “visit this page”.	2
You have links on every page of your website that allow your visitors to click through to your other content. You use your Keywords as the hyperlinks e.g. Web Design or Website Critique Service rather than “Click here”	3

Q17 – How quickly does your website load?

(Note. You can check your page load speed using GT Metrix)

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your website takes longer than 5 seconds to load. It feels sluggish and this means it’s a bad experience for your website visitor. This may also affect your rankings.	1
Your pages take between 3–5 seconds to load. This is within Google’s recommended speed which means it won’t affect your rankings but it could still be improved. There are still things slowing down your website and this could cause your website to slow down in the future.	2
You page load speed is under 3 seconds and your page size is under 2MB. This means your users get to see your website quicker and are more likely to stick around.	3

Q18 – Is your website mobile friendly?

(Note. You can check if your website is responsive by using the mobile friendly tool)

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your website is not mobile friendly, It doesn’t look neat and tidy when viewed on a smartphone or tablet. It may require dragging and pinching to view the whole page.	1
You have a website that looks ok on mobile device. No dragging and pinching. It passes the mobile friendly test but you don’t have a dedicated mobile design. Some key information is harder to find when your site is viewed on a mobile device.	2
Your website has been built with mobile devices in mind. It’s more than “responsive”. It’s been designed to be efficient on smaller screens rather than just accessible. The call to actions are still visible and the contact information is easy to access.	3

Q19 – Do you use a variety of media throughout your website?

E.g. video and audio podcasts

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t use videos or audio on your website. You only use text and images to communicate with your visitors.	1
You use one or two videos but they are used to explain what you do. But you don’t use it to help, educate or entertain your website visitors.	2
You include videos within your pages and/or blog posts to enhance the user experience. You may use a video on your homepage to explain more about your products and services. You may even include video testimonials from your clients. You use videos and or audio to help, educate or entertain your website visitors	3

Q20 – How do you use social media within your website?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t include any reference to social media or have any social sharing facilities on your website that increase your authority in Google	1
You have links to social media but you don’t really have a strategy on how you can use social media within your website to increase exposure.	2
Social media plays a big part of your content strategy. You use social media throughout your website to make sharing easier.	3

Q21 – Do you use testimonials on your website?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t have any testimonials from previous clients. There is no proof that your services have impacted anyone in a positive way.	1
You have some customer feedback on your website but there isn’t any in-depth details about the project and the journey that lead to the testimonial.	2
You have authentic testimonials from your clients. They go beyond “would highly recommend” and they talk about where they were before working with you and where they are today. They are relatable to prospective clients and they help people imagine themselves having the same transition.	3

Q22 – Do you use case studies on your website?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t have any case studies on your website. There is no way that your website visitors can see the journey of your previous clients.	1
You may have 2-3 case studies on your website but you focus mainly on the project and what you did. You’ll talk about analytics and results and you don’t really focus on the client and their story.	2
You have produced a number of case studies from previous projects. You tell the story of your client rather than stats about the project. You walk through the transition honestly including the ups and downs.	3

Q23 – How unique is your content?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You have used the same or similar content on numerous pages. You may have copied and pasted some text on each page to increase your word count.	1
You have used different content on each page but it may be very similar. You may have used snippets from other pages.	2
Each page on your website has completely unique content. It has been written as an individual page and offers valuable information.	3

Q24 – Do you use added software on your website?

E.g. drag and drop software that may slow your website down.

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your website is entirely built using drag and drop software. This can cause your website to load slower and be less accessible to search engines.	1
You use a standard content management system like WordPress but you use additional software to make changes e.g. visual composer, Divi or Elementor. This software creates a lot of unnecessary code and it tends to affect your page load speed.	2
You don’t use any extra software on your website. With the exceptions of themes and plugins, your website is managed using standard web design practices and this keeps it running smoothly.	3

Q25 – How many content web pages do you have?

*Not including shopping pages.

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You have less than 10 pages on your website, which shows search engines that you offer very little value to your end user.	1
You have 10–30 web pages. This is a good indication that your content may be of value to your website visitors.	2
You have more than 30 pages on your website. This may consist of regular pages and blog posts. You have a content driven website that acts as a resource to your prospective clients.	3

Q26 – Does the personality of your business shine through?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
Your website is plain. It lacks character and doesn’t fit with your personality or that of your company. This could make it difficult for people to remember.	1
You have considered the look and feel of your website and you’ve tried to make it interesting, but there is room for improvement. There are still things you can add to bring it to life.	2
From looking at your website, it’s clear that you have a strong brand. Your personality shines through and people are likely to have a memorable experience.	3

Q27 – Do you show your staff/team on your website?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t display pictures of yourself or your team on your website. This can feel impersonal and isn’t very transparent.	1
You do include images of yourself and your team but it’s quite basic. You may have standard photos with professional bios.	2
You have an entertaining meet the team page. It’s fun and everybody’s personality shines through. It’s less professional and more honest.	3

Q28 – Do you answer customer questions?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t answer prospect questions on your website. You don’t have an FAQ and you don’t use your blog to answer questions.	1
You may have an FAQ on your website and/or answer questions via your blog but you don’t go into detail. You have 1-2 sentences for each question and it acts as a Q&A.	2
Customers questions drive your content. Most of your web pages will allow prospects to find answers to questions they never knew they had. Your site makes it easy for people to make an informed buying decision.	3

Q29 – Does your website look cluttered?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You have a lot of options on your homepage. It’s difficult to see the important elements because you have too much going on. You may have tried to include as much as possible in an effort to not miss anything out.	1
You have been quite selective about the options you have available on your homepage but there is still room to improve. You could be strict and eliminate more if you wanted to.	2
You have no clutter on your website. Everything earns its place and everything else gets eliminated. You have been extremely strict and only kept the crucial options available. Fewer options are often appealing to your website visitors.	3

Q30 – Do you discuss cost or pricing on your website?

Which statement is most accurate?	Points
You don’t talk about cost and pricing on your website. You avoid giving too much information away in the hopes that the prospect will get in touch. This means you’re holding back information which may frustrate your website visitor.	1
You do have some information about prices on your website. You may have a pricing table or some basic indications, but you don’t go into much detail and explain why you charge what you do.	2
You openly discuss costs and pricing on your website. You provide honest and transparent information and write blog posts to help your prospects make an informed buying decision. This builds trust and will set you aside from your competition.	3

What score did you get? Comment below!

Score	Grade	What does this mean?
80–90	Grade A	Seriously sexy website
70–79	Grade B	Great job. Well done!
60–69	Grade C	Pretty good but still work to do.
50–59	Grade D	Not good. Lots of work to do.
40–49	Grade E	Back to the drawing board.
30–39	Grade F	Warning! You're losing customers!

Summary

Hopefully, you now have a better idea of how good (or bad) your website is. You shouldn’t be disheartened if your score is low, but you will certainly want to look at the questions again and spend some time planning how you’re going to improve it.

If you would like our help, why not book a website critique via the link below. We’ll record a personalised video telling you exactly what you can do to improve it.

Book a website critique

Over to you

How did you get on with the self-assessment? Were you surprised with your grade? I’d love to hear from you so please let me know in the comments below.

Martin Huntbach

Web designer & marketer for small businesses. Martin is an experienced search engine and web design specialist, with over a decade of experience working with large corporations to small businesses.

jammydigital.com

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