You already know what the business does, which makes the homepage surprisingly difficult to judge.
Your eye fills in the missing explanation. You know the photograph is temporary. You know which service matters most even if it’s the third one listed. You understand what “The Deepening” means because you named it.
A new visitor knows none of that.
Give yourself twenty minutes, a private browser window and permission to look at the page as though you’ve never met the business before.
This isn’t a fifty-point fault hunt. You’re looking for one or two changes that would make the biggest difference.
Minutes 0 to 3: say the business aloud
Without looking at the website, say:
What do I offer? Who is it for? What do I most want the right person to do next?
Use ordinary language. If you design WordPress websites, say that before explaining the deeper philosophy of coherence.
Write your three answers down.
Minutes 3 to 7: look at the first screen
Open the homepage on your phone.
Before scrolling, can a stranger understand those same three things?
They don’t need the whole business in one screen. They need enough orientation to know they’re in the right place and want to continue.
Watch for beautiful but empty headlines, introductions that begin too far away from the service and buttons that could lead almost anywhere.
Warmth is lovely. Clarity is part of warmth.
Minutes 7 to 12: try to become a client
Choose the most important action and do it on your phone.
Find the service. Check the price or how to request it. Use the booking or enquiry form. Notice every moment where you have to guess.
Does a button work? Is the form comfortable to complete? Does the booking page feel trustworthy? What happens after you press send?
If the journey leaves your website for another platform, make sure the transition is expected and the business still feels recognisable.
Minutes 12 to 17: look for the cautious person’s questions
The right client may still need reassurance.
Who are you? Have you done this before? What will happen? Is this suitable for me? What does it cost? What if I don’t know exactly what I need?
They don’t require an essay on every question. They need enough proof and practical information to keep moving.
If clients ask the same thing before every booking, check whether the homepage or service page could answer it sooner.
Minutes 17 to 20: choose two priorities
Choose one thing you can improve now and one question that needs another eye.
Now might be fixing a broken button, moving the main service higher, rewriting one vague heading or adding the missing price information.
The second question may be larger: Is the offer itself unclear? Does the visual identity still fit? Is the client journey creating too much work? Does the entire structure belong to an older business?
Stop at two. The point is to leave with direction, not a new dislike of your own website.
Two optional checks, not two new reasons to panic
The W3C’s easy accessibility checks can help you notice basic issues such as page titles, headings, keyboard access and colour contrast.
Google PageSpeed Insights can flag performance problems on mobile and desktop.
Both are useful. Neither score is the whole human experience. Use them to find practical problems, not to chase perfect numbers while the homepage still doesn’t say what you sell.
Borrow a stranger if you can
Give the homepage to somebody kind who doesn’t know the business intimately.
Ask what they think you offer, who it’s for and what they’d do next. Don’t explain while they answer. This is extremely difficult and extremely useful.
If their understanding differs from yours, you’ve found information, not an insult.
And if the twenty-minute check leaves you with one stubborn question, that’s enough to ask for help. You don’t need to turn it into a perfect brief first.