Nobody plans for their website to get out of date. It just happens, one small change at a time: a new phone number, a service you stopped offering, prices from two years ago.
Once a season, set a timer for 30 minutes and go through the list below. It's one of the easiest ways to make sure your website keeps working for you.
- Check what customers rely on first: phone, hours, address.
- Update services, prices and photos.
- Test your forms and buttons on a phone.
- Do the same on your Google Business Profile.
Minutes 1–10: the essentials
These come first because they're what customers rely on to reach you. A wrong phone number or outdated hours doesn't just look bad, it costs you the call. If you only have ten minutes, spend them here.
If anything here was wrong, fix it before moving on, or send it to whoever updates your website right away. Everything else on this list can wait a day; a wrong phone number can't.
Minutes 10–20: what you offer
Look at it the way a new customer would. If they called about something on your website and you no longer offered it, how would they feel? Every service, price and photo should describe your business as it is today, not as it was when the website was built.
A useful trick is to compare your website with your most recent quote or invoice. If the services and prices you actually sell don't match what the website says, the website is the one that needs to change.
Minutes 20–30: test it like a customer
This is the part most owners skip, because the website "looks fine". But looking fine and working are different things. Ten minutes of testing on a phone tells you whether a customer can actually do what they came to do.
- 1On your phone, open your website as if you'd never seen it.
- 2Send yourself a message through your contact form and check it arrives.
- 3Tap every button on your homepage and make sure it goes somewhere useful.
- 4Search your business on Google and check your profile matches your website.
Write down anything that felt slow, confusing or broken, even if it seems minor. Small annoyances are exactly what makes a hurried visitor give up and call someone else.
Make it a habit
Put four 30-minute "website check" appointments in your calendar, one per season. If you work with a web team, send them everything you found in one message, and let them handle it.
The value isn't in any single check. It's in the habit. Four short checks a year catch small problems before they turn into lost customers, and they keep your website feeling current without ever needing a big, stressful overhaul.
Look at it with fresh eyes
After a while, you stop seeing your own website. Things that look normal to you can be confusing to a first-time visitor. Once a year, it's worth asking someone who doesn't know your business to look at it.
Don't defend the website while they try it. Just watch and take notes. The moments where they hesitate, scroll back or ask "where is…?" are exactly the moments where real customers give up.
- 1Ask a friend or family member to find your website on their phone, without the link.
- 2Ask them to tell you what you do and where, in their own words.
- 3Watch them try to contact you, without helping.
- 4Write down every moment they hesitate or get confused.
What to remove
Spring cleaning isn't only about adding things. Removing what's no longer useful makes a website easier to use.
Removing things often feels harder than adding them, because everything on the website was put there for a reason. But a page that tries to say everything ends up saying nothing clearly. Less, and more current, is almost always better.
Old news and expired offers
A "summer special" in the middle of winter makes a website look abandoned.
Instead: Remove it, or replace it with something current.
Services you no longer offer
They attract calls you'll have to turn down.
Instead: Keep your service list matching what you actually do today.
Social links that go nowhere
A Twitter link to an account you closed years ago looks careless.
Instead: Link only to accounts you actively use.
Outdated team photos
People who left still appearing on the website can confuse customers.
Instead: Update the team section when people join or leave.
Keep a running list
Between your seasonal checks, things will change: a new service, a new phone line, an award. Keep a simple note on your phone called "website updates" and add to it whenever something changes. At your next check, everything is already in one place.
When the list is in one place, the seasonal check becomes simple: open the note, make the changes or send them to your web team, and clear the list. Nothing gets forgotten, and nothing has to be remembered under pressure.
Don't forget your other listings
Your website isn't the only place customers find your details. Directories, review sites and social profiles often show your phone number, hours and address too, and they're easy to forget when something changes.
When you do your seasonal check, take a few extra minutes to search your business name on Google and look at what comes up: your Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook, Nextdoor, local directories. If anything is out of date, update it, or note it down for later. Matching details everywhere help customers, and they help Google trust your information.
