Website Checklist (Backed By Evidence)
When a customer lands on your website, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention.
You need to communicate clearly why they should do business with you.
I will go over the main sections of a website and give you checklist for each section.
This will help you identify how your website is losing customers.
If you do these quick checks and make the changes, I’m confident you’ll see an increase in sales and/or conversions.
Contents
Header
The header is the top of your website, this should have the following:
- Logo
- Tagline
- Main navigation links
- Contact information
To gain several minutes of user attention, you must clearly communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds.[1]
If your logo and tagline are on point, it will explain exactly what value you provide in less than 5 seconds.
If you need help your tagline, read my quick tagline framework which I tweeted.
Header Checklist
- Clear tagline that explains the value you provide
- Display telephone number or have a contact button
- Easy navigation to important pages like about, service options
Hero Section
This section hooks your customers in, it’s arguably the most important area.
It should have the following:
- Concise headline
- Call-to-action
- Related image
- Minimal text
Users often leave Web pages in 10–20 seconds, but pages with a clear value proposition can hold people’s attention for much longer.[1:1]
You need clearly explain what you offer, how to get it and what transformation it will give your customer.
Hero Section Checklist
- Clearly communicate what you offer
- Explain how your product or service will transform your customer’s life
- Easy for button for customers to buy
- Use photos displaying the success of your customer
Content
Many brand websites talk about themselves and their achievements.
They are bloated with unnecessary content and don’t focus on how they can help their customers.
Here you should talk about what your potential customers might be missing out on if they don’t do business with you.
It’s also a good opportunity to display testimonials and a short step by step guide on the process of doing business with you.
People don’t read websites, they scan them, so keep be as concise as possible.
This section should have:
- 3 step guide on the process of doing business with you
- List of benefits as a result of engaging with your brand
- Testimonials and logos of others brands you’ve worked with
- Negative consequences of life without your product or service
- Icons/graphic and bold headlines with short text descriptions
less than 20% of the text content is actually read on an average web page.[2]
Content Checklist
- Describe the problems your ideal customers are facing
- Empathize with your customers problems
- Talk about the negative consequences your customer will experience if
they don’t do business with you or buy your product. - Use icons and graphics and clear bold titles with short text descriptions
- Demonstrate your authority (testimonials, logos of brands you’ve
worked with, statistics) - Short and simple 3 step guide on what doing business with you looks like
Footer
The footer (and just above it) is where you can put everything else.
People do scroll, but you want your most important information towards the top.
Here you should have the following:
- Contact information
- Navigation links
- Call-to-action
- Social links
- FAQ’s
51% of people think “thorough contact information” is the most important element missing from many company websites.[3]
Footer Checklist
- Call-to-action
- List style navigation links
- Link to frequently asked questions
- Boring privacy and cookie information
- Links to social media profiles and other places you can be found
Summary
You’ll notice a pattern in each section (if you’ve read it all!) and that’s because there are some basics that just work:
- Focused on one overall idea
- Lots and lots of call-to-actions
- Minimal text and clear headlines
- Talk about pain points and how you help
Full Checklist
Here is the full checklist in one place.
Header Checklist
- Clear tagline that explains the value you provide
- Display telephone number or have a contact button
- Easy navigation to important pages like about, service options
Hero Section Checklist
- Clearly communicate what you offer
- Explain how your product or service will transform your customer’s life
- Easy for button for customers to buy
- Use photos displaying the success of your customer
Content Checklist
- Describe the problems your ideal customers are facing
- Empathize with your customers problems
- Talk about the negative consequences your customer will experience if
they don’t do business with you or buy your product. - Use icons and graphics and clear bold titles with short text descriptions
- Social proof and authority (testimonials, logos of brands you’ve
worked with, statistics) - Short and simple 3 step guide on what doing business with you looks like
Footer Checklist
- Call-to-action
- List style navigation links
- Link to frequently asked questions
- Boring privacy and cookie information
- Links to social media profiles and other places you can be found