You built the site. Now you are wondering if it actually works.
You look at your website every day. You know the copy, the layout, the color choices. You have been staring at it for weeks or months. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a question keeps surfacing: is this actually good? Not "does it look nice" good, but "is it doing its job" good. Is it convincing strangers to care about what you sell?
The problem is that you are too close to see it clearly. You know what every section means because you wrote it. You know where the CTA is because you placed it. But your visitors have none of that context. They land on your page cold, scan it for a few seconds, and decide whether to stay or leave based on what they can figure out in that tiny window.
This 10-point self-assessment helps you step outside your own perspective. Each point has a question, what good looks like, what bad looks like, and a scoring scale from 1 to 10. Be honest with yourself. The goal is not to feel good about your site. The goal is to find out where it is losing you customers.
Grab a pen. Open your homepage in a separate tab. Score each point.
1. Headline clarity
The question: If a stranger reads only your headline, can they tell what you sell and who it is for?
What good looks like (8 to 10): "Project management built for construction teams." "Invoice tracking that saves freelancers 5 hours a week." The visitor knows what you do and who you serve within three seconds. No jargon, no abstraction, no cleverness that requires decoding.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): "Welcome to the Future of Work." "Empowering Teams to Do More." "Your Partner in Growth." These headlines could apply to thousands of different companies. They communicate nothing specific to your visitor.
Score yourself: Read your headline out loud to someone who has never seen your site. If they can tell you what you sell, score 7 or above. If they guess wrong or say "I'm not sure," score 4 or below.
2. Value proposition specificity
The question: Does your page clearly explain the specific outcome a customer gets from using your product or service?
What good looks like (8 to 10): "Reduce your support response time from 4 hours to 20 minutes." "Get your invoices paid 3x faster with automated follow-ups." Specific, measurable outcomes that a customer can immediately relate to their own situation.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): "We help businesses grow." "Unlock your potential." "Best-in-class solutions." Vague claims that any competitor could make. No specifics, no numbers, no concrete outcomes.
Score yourself: Look at the claims on your page. For each one, ask: could my competitor say the exact same thing? If yes, that claim scores low on specificity. If most of your claims fail this test, score 4 or below.
3. CTA visibility
The question: Can a visitor see your primary call-to-action button without scrolling, on both desktop and mobile?
What good looks like (8 to 10): One clear, visually distinct button above the fold. It uses a color that nothing else on the page uses. The text describes a specific action: "Start Your Free Trial," "See Pricing," "Get Your Audit." The button is repeated after key sections throughout the page.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): No button visible without scrolling. A small text link that blends into the page. Multiple competing buttons of equal size and color creating confusion. Ghost buttons (transparent with thin borders) that disappear against the background. Button text that says "Submit" or "Learn More."
Score yourself: Open your site on your phone. Without scrolling, can you spot a button? Is it obvious what happens when you tap it? If both answers are yes, score 7 or above. If you have to hunt for it, score 4 or below.
4. Trust signals
The question: Does your page give visitors concrete reasons to believe your claims?
What good looks like (8 to 10): Specific testimonials with real names, company names, and measurable results. Client logos placed prominently near the top of the page. Review scores from third-party platforms. Case study snippets with before-and-after numbers. A clear guarantee near the CTA.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): No testimonials anywhere. Anonymous reviews like "Great product!" with no attribution. Logos buried at the very bottom of the page. No guarantee, no risk reversal, no evidence that anyone has used and benefited from your product.
Score yourself: Count the specific trust signals on your page. Named testimonials with results count for 2 points each. Anonymous or generic ones count for 0.5. Logos count for 1. A guarantee counts for 2. If your total is above 6, score 7 or above on this point. Below 3, score 4 or below.
5. Mobile experience
The question: Does your site work as well on a phone as it does on a desktop, particularly for conversion?
What good looks like (8 to 10): Headline is immediately readable without zooming. CTA is visible within the first screen. Text is at least 16px. Touch targets are large enough to tap comfortably without accidentally hitting adjacent elements. The page loads in under 3 seconds on a mobile connection.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): Headline is tiny or gets cut off. CTA is buried multiple screens down. Text requires pinching to read. Buttons are too small or too close together. Hero images dominate the screen and push content below the fold. Page takes 5+ seconds to load.
Score yourself: Open your site on your actual phone right now. Not a browser resize, your real phone. Check the three things above. Each failure drops your score by 2 to 3 points.
6. Page speed
The question: Does your page load quickly enough that visitors see content before they lose patience?
What good looks like (8 to 10): Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) under 2.5 seconds. Page loads feel instant. Images are compressed and served in modern formats. No noticeable layout shifts during loading.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): LCP above 4 seconds. Visible layout shifts as elements load in. Large uncompressed images. Render-blocking JavaScript that delays content display. A loading spinner or blank screen that lasts more than 2 seconds.
Score yourself: Run your URL through pagespeed.web.dev. If your mobile LCP is under 2.5 seconds, score 8 or above. Between 2.5 and 4 seconds, score 5 to 7. Above 4 seconds, score 3 or below.
7. Copy readability
The question: Can a visitor scan your page and understand the key points without reading every word?
What good looks like (8 to 10): Short paragraphs (2 to 3 sentences max). Clear subheadings that communicate value on their own. Bullet points for lists. Bold text highlighting key phrases. Generous whitespace between sections. Language written at a conversational level, not an academic one.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): Long, dense paragraphs. No subheadings or subheadings that say nothing ("Our Approach," "Features," "About Us"). Technical jargon without explanation. Sentences that require multiple readings. A wall of text with no visual breaks.
Score yourself: Squint at your page until the text blurs. Can you still see distinct sections? Can you read the subheadings and get a rough sense of the page's argument? If yes, score 7 or above. If it looks like one continuous block, score 4 or below.
8. Objection handling
The question: Does your page address the reasons a visitor might hesitate to take action?
What good looks like (8 to 10): Common objections addressed directly on the page. A FAQ section that tackles real concerns (pricing, commitment, results timeline, implementation effort). A guarantee or risk-reversal statement near the CTA. Pricing information visible or at least contextualized.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): No mention of pricing, commitment level, or what happens after signup. No FAQ section. No guarantee. Visitors are left alone with their doubts, which means most of them will default to "not right now" and leave.
Score yourself: Write down the three biggest reasons someone would hesitate to buy from you. Now check your page. Does it address any of them? All three addressed: score 8+. Two addressed: score 6. One or none: score 3 or below.
9. Differentiation
The question: Can a visitor tell what makes you different from your competitors?
What good looks like (8 to 10): Your page explicitly states what makes you different. "Unlike [category], we [specific difference]." Your claims are specific enough that a competitor could not copy-paste them onto their own site. Your approach, methodology, or focus is clear and distinct.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): Your page sounds like every other company in your category. "We are passionate about helping businesses succeed." "Our team of experts delivers results." Claims that are true of any company are claims that differentiate you from no one.
Score yourself: Open your site and a competitor's site side by side. If you swapped the logos, would visitors notice the difference in messaging? If the answer is no, score 3 or below. If your messaging is clearly distinct, score 7 or above.
10. Above-the-fold content
The question: Does the first screen of your page (before any scrolling) contain everything a visitor needs to decide whether to keep reading?
What good looks like (8 to 10): A clear headline. A supporting subheadline or short description. A visible CTA button. Some form of trust signal (logo bar, testimonial snippet, customer count). All of this is visible without scrolling on both desktop and mobile.
What bad looks like (1 to 3): The above-the-fold area is dominated by a large hero image or background video that communicates nothing. The headline is vague or hidden behind a visual element. The CTA is not visible. There is no trust signal. The visitor has to scroll to find any reason to stay.
Score yourself: Take a screenshot of your homepage at the default viewport size without scrolling. Does the screenshot alone make a compelling case to a stranger? If yes, score 8 or above. If the screenshot could belong to any company in your industry, score 4 or below.
Add up your score
Maximum possible: 100. Here is how to read your total.
80 to 100: Your site is strong. The fundamentals are solid, and improvements will be incremental refinements. Focus on the one or two areas where you scored lowest.
60 to 79: Good foundation with clear areas for improvement. You likely have two or three points dragging your total down. Fixing those specific areas will produce the biggest improvement in conversion performance.
40 to 59: Significant room for improvement. Your site probably has one or two things it does well, but multiple areas are underperforming. The good news: fixing the weakest points at this level often produces dramatic results because you are addressing the biggest gaps.
Below 40: Your site needs serious attention. Visitors are likely confused about what you sell, cannot find a clear next step, and see no reason to trust your claims. Start with the basics: clarify your headline, make your CTA visible, and add at least one specific trust signal.
What this checklist cannot tell you
This self-assessment gives you a rough benchmark. It helps you identify the weakest points on your page. But it has a built-in limitation: you are the one scoring it. And as the person who built the site, you carry biases that are nearly impossible to eliminate. You know what your headline means, so you score it higher than a stranger would. You know where the CTA is, so you underestimate how hard it is to find.
A professional audit removes that bias. It evaluates your site the way a first-time visitor experiences it, using structured methodology rather than gut feeling.
If you want a more detailed checklist you can work through point by point, see our 25-point website audit checklist. And for a deeper look at what professional audits measure that self-assessments cannot, read what a professional audit actually reveals.
Scored below 60? That means your site has significant room for improvement. A TeardownHQ audit will show you exactly where those points went and how to get them back.