Free tools · Front door

sageful Free tool · Front door

Check your own site, in 5 minutes.

For owners of local service businesses who aren't sure their website is working for them. Do it on your phone, tonight.

5 minutes for the core check, about 20 more for the full sheet

Your answers save in this browser only.

Why it matters

Most people find a local service business on a phone, often while something is going wrong. If they can't tell what you do, where you work and how to reach you in a few seconds, they hit back and call the next name on the list.

You rarely see this happen. Nobody calls to say your site was confusing. You just get fewer calls than you should, and it's easy to blame the season or the market.

This check doesn't need a web designer. You look at your own site the way a stranger would, write down every 'no', and fix the easy ones this week. Most fixes are words, a photo or a button, not a new website.

How to use it

  1. Use your phone, not your computer. Open your site in a private or incognito browser tab so you see what a stranger sees.
  2. Do the 5-minute check first. Mark each item yes or no. No partial credit.
  3. If you have 20 more minutes, do the next two sections: asking for work and trust.
  4. Search your business name and your main service plus your town. Check what shows up.
  5. Write each 'no' in the fix list with who will fix it and by when. Start with the ones that take under an hour.
  6. Ask one person who has never seen your site to try to request a quote on their phone. Watch, don't help.
  7. Redo the check every quarter, or any time someone changes the site.

The worksheet

The 5-minute check

Asking for work (10 more minutes)

Trust (10 more minutes)

Off your site

Fix list

What's a 'no'The fixWhoBy when
Free from Brian LeSage · Sagefulsageful.app/free/front-door-check
Example: a made-up 5-truck tree service

Rhonda runs the check on her phone after dinner. Her site loads fine and has good photos. But the top of the page just says 'Welcome to Oakline,' the phone number is buried at the bottom and isn't tappable, and the contact form has nine fields.

She fills out her own form. The message goes to an old email address nobody checks. That one stops her cold.

Her fix list has four lines. The email address gets fixed that night. Her nephew, who built the site, changes the top line to 'Tree removal and trimming in Hall and Forsyth counties,' moves the phone number up and makes it tap-to-call, and cuts the form to five fields that weekend. She puts a reminder on her calendar to run the check again in three months.

Common mistakes

  • Checking on a computer. Fix: use your phone, because that's what your customers use.
  • Never testing your own form. Fix: fill it out yourself every quarter and confirm someone gets it.
  • A headline that's about you instead of the customer. Fix: say the service and the area in plain words.
  • Jumping straight to a new website. Fix: do the small fixes first. Words, a button and a photo often go a long way.
  • Promising a callback time you can't keep. Fix: promise what you'll actually do on your busiest week.
  • Fixing it once and forgetting it. Fix: redo the check every quarter, and after any site change.

Make it yours

  • Emergency trades (plumbing, HVAC, restoration)Make after-hours contact the first thing on the page, and pair it with a missed-call text so nobody hits a dead end.
  • Medical and dental practicesAdd: new-patient booking is easy to find, insurance accepted is listed, and forms are online. Keep any patient information off plain web forms unless your system is set up for it.
  • Commercial and B2B servicesSwap 'quote at 9pm' for 'request a site visit or proposal,' and make sure a property manager can find your service area and insurance info fast.
  • Businesses with only a Facebook page or Google listingRun the same checks on that page. It's your front door, so the same rules apply.

Use it with

Paste this into your missed-call auto-text, and keep the caller.Open →Turn a tech's voice notes into a job report, with one prompt.Open →Chase missing documents, in three short touches.Open →

Free to use, copy and share with your team. No sign-up.

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