The 10-minute online checkup

Most owners have never looked at their own business the way a stranger does. That's the whole exercise. Ten checks, ten minutes, your phone.

Read this first, or the checkup lies to you

Do this from a private browser window, not signed in as the owner, and not on your shop's wifi. In Chrome, tap the three dots and choose New Incognito Tab. In Safari, tap the two squares and choose Private.

Here's why that matters. Google already knows it's you, so it shows the owner a version of the listing nobody else sees. And your own phone has already saved your website, so it opens instantly for you and slowly for everyone else. Skip this step and you'll pass a test you're actually failing.

The checks

1. Search your business name and your city, misspellings and all, and look at the first screen without scrolling. Fail if you're not on it, or what shows up is wrong.

2. Tap the phone number that comes up. Let it actually start dialing, then hang up. Fail if it doesn't dial, or dials a number you stopped using.

3. Check your hours and address, especially today's hours and what it says for a Sunday. Fail if anything is out of date or Google says you're closed when you're open.

4. Be honest: do you have a website, or just a page? A Facebook page is not a website. A booking link is not a website. Those belong to somebody else. Fail if you don't have a site with your own name on it.

5. Open your site on your phone and try to read it without pinching or zooming. Fail if you had to, or anything runs off the side of the screen.

6. Close your site, reopen it, and count to five out loud. Fail if it's still loading. People don't wait, they go back and tap the next result.

7. Look at your photos like you've never been there. Real photos of your place and your actual work, not stock images or one blurry shot from years ago. Fail if you have fewer than five real, recent photos anywhere a customer can see them.

8. Count your reviews, then find the last one you answered. Replies are public and people read them to see what kind of owner you are. Fail if you have under ten reviews, or have never replied to one.

9. Can a stranger reach you without scrolling? First screen of your site: call, book, text, or message, one tap, no hunting. Fail if they have to go looking for it.

10. Now search what you do, not who you are. Your customers don't know your name yet. They type things like "barber austell ga." Type yours that way. Fail if you're nowhere on that first page.

Score it

0 to 2 fails: you're in good shape. Fix what you found this week and get back to work.
3 to 5 fails: you're losing calls, quietly. Nothing here is on fire, which is exactly why it stays broken.
6 or more: a stranger looking for what you sell isn't finding you. Not because you're bad at what you do. Because the front door is hard to find.

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