I've been building and fixing business websites since 2003. The ones that work and the ones that don't look much the same from the outside; the difference is almost always in these ten points.
1. It genuinely works on a phone
"Responsive" isn't enough. Open it on a real phone: check the text reads without zooming, the buttons can be hit with a thumb, and nothing gets hidden behind the browser bar. That last one always slips through, because it doesn't show up in the desktop simulator.
2. It loads fast
Past three seconds you start losing people before they read anything. Measure it with PageSpeed Insights and look at the field data, which comes from real users. The usual causes are always the same: uncompressed images, too many external scripts and cheap hosting.
3. What you do is clear in five seconds
Show the homepage to someone who doesn't know your business and ask what you do. If they hesitate, the problem isn't the design, it's the copy. Name, what you do, who for, and what the visitor should do now.
4. It can be navigated without thinking
Short menu, normal words (not "solutions" or "universe"), and always a way back. If someone has to hunt for how to contact you, you've lost.
5. It has a face
A minimal identity (typeface, colours, tone) does more for trust than any premium template. And your own photos, however modest, beat the stock images everyone recognises.
6. Google can understand it
Before thinking about keywords: unique titles and descriptions, one h1 per page, a sitemap, and Search Console connected. It's free and it's the only source that tells you what Google actually sees. On WordPress, Yoast or RankMath handle the mechanical part, but they won't write your copy.
7. There's something to read
A blog isn't compulsory, but something has to be there: cases, answers to the questions clients ask you, explanations of how you work. It's what gets shared, what ranks, and what makes someone write to you already convinced. Four good pieces a year beat twenty fillers.
8. Someone actually visits it
You can have the best site in the world: if nobody sees it, it's useless. Links from where you already are (social, industry directories, local press, clients) and, if you run paid campaigns, make sure they land on a page that delivers exactly what the ad promised.
9. Getting in touch is easy
Visible email, short form, quick reply. If you sell online, make clear what happens after the purchase: timescales, returns, who to write to when something goes wrong. Half the doubts that stop a sale are settled by two well-placed sentences.
10. It stays alive
A website isn't finished, it's maintained. Updates, backups, a valid certificate, content that doesn't still talk about 2023, and a look at the data every few months. What nobody checks, rots.
Want me to take a look at yours?
Write to [email protected] and I'll tell you which of the ten are failing and where I'd start.