Step 1 of 5 · The WebProud Method
Step 1: Website Health Check, how to audit your own website on Platform and People
A website health check is a structured website audit of how your site is actually performing, scored across two halves: Platform, meaning the tech, speed and search foundations, and People, meaning the impression you make and whether visitors act on it. You cannot fix what you have not diagnosed. Before you change a single thing, you need that honest picture of where your website is quietly costing you, so the work you do next is the work that actually matters.
What the Website Health Check covers
The Health Check looks at your website in two halves, Platform and People. Platform is the online destination you have built and manage. People are the real visitors deciding whether you are worth their time, their budget and their confidence. Most owners obsess over one and forget the other. You need both.
On the Platform side there are three things to check. First, usability. Is the site mobile friendly, does it load quickly, does it work well across different devices. A slow site goes against you, and a homepage that falls apart on a phone loses people before they have read a word. Second, the tech. Speed, the right plugins, optimised images, and structured data so search engines can actually read what each page is about. Third, keywords and content. Are you using the words and questions your customers are searching for, and are you consistent with them across the title, the URL, the description and your headings. When you wrap your content in schema, search engines can categorise it and surface the rich results you see for things like a recipe, with reviews and images pulled in.
On the People side there are three layers. First Impressions, where three complaints come up again and again, hard to use on mobile, text and photos that look dated, and confusing or jargon-heavy navigation. Trust Elements, where under-communication is the real problem, no findable testimonials, photos that look fake, copy that talks about you rather than who you help, no evidence behind your claims, and a site that is all about you. And your Call to Action, which usually means asking one honest question. Does your contact page match the rest of the experience, or does it let people down at the last step.
The mindset underneath all of it is simple. Your website is not a technical project. It is an extension of your customer service, and people reach their verdict on you without ever speaking to anyone.
The tool for this step
The WebProud Score
The artefact for this step is your WebProud Score, a free Website Health Check scorecard. You answer a set of straightforward questions and get a score across the two axes that matter, Platform and People. What you walk away with is not a vague sense that something is off, but a clear read on where your website is strong, where it is weak, and which gaps are worth your attention first. It turns a nagging worry into a diagnosis you can act on. Take the free Website Health Check to get your score.
Where people get stuck
The honest bit
The honest wall is this. Knowing your gaps and fixing them are two different jobs. Once you have your score, you can see the problems clearly, and that is genuinely the hard part done. But most owners then stall, because the fixes touch the tech, the copy, the photos and the structure all at once, and it is hard to know what to do first when you are also running the business. That is normal. The point of the score is to give you a running order, so you take one thing at a time.
When you are ready to start on the fixes, step two shows you how to build trust on your website.
Common questions
What is a website health check?
An honest audit of how well your site is working, split into two halves. Platform covers the tech, speed and search side. People covers first impressions, trust and whether visitors take action.
How do I audit my own website?
Work through it in two passes. First the Platform side: check speed, mobile usability, page titles, internal links and whether search engines can read your pages properly. Then the People side: land on your own home page as a stranger would and ask what you now know, who you would be trusting, and what you are meant to do next. Score each half honestly, then fix the lowest-scoring items first.
What should a website health check include?
Both halves, not just the technical one. On Platform: speed, mobile experience, site structure, page titles and descriptions, internal linking and structured data. On People: how clearly you explain what you do, the evidence that you are real and capable, and whether every page offers one obvious next step. A check that reports only technical scores tells you how the site is built, not why it is not winning you work.
What is the difference between Platform and People?
Platform is the site itself, usability, speed, keywords and structured data. People is the human experience, the impression you make and the next step you offer. A site can be technically fine and still lose visitors on the People side.
How do I know if my website is costing me customers?
First impressions are formed in about 50 milliseconds, and 68% of people say they will stop engaging with content that is poorly designed. A dated, hard-to-use or low-trust site is losing you visitors before they ever get in touch.
Do I need a new website?
Usually not. Most sites do not need rebuilding, they need refining. The Health Check shows you which specific things to improve, so you spend your money on the changes that move the dial.