The pink and green audit: a professional website audit small businesses can trust

If you’ve stepped into a primary classroom in the last decade, you’ll know that the red pen has mostly been retired. It was seen as too aggressive—a tool for catching people out rather than helping them move forward.

In modern schools, we moved to something much more constructive: Think Pink and Green for Growth.

We use a pink pen to highlight areas that need a rethink or a correction and green for the "good stuff" that shows progress. It’s a way of being honest about what isn't working while keeping the focus on how to make it better.

As a founder, you are often too close to your own work to see where the errors are. You’ve lived with your website for so long that you’ve become blind to the quick-fixes and temporary decisions that have started to pile up.

Maybe it’s time for a professional website audit small businesses can trust. Here is how to look at your digital home through a teacher’s eye, without the jargon.

Think pink: where you need a rethink

These are the friction points, the signs that your business has outgrown its current setup.

1. You hesitate before sending your URL

This is the most honest diagnostic tool I have. When someone asks for your link, do you send it with pride or do you find yourself apologising for it? If you have to tell people to "ignore the home page" or explain that it "looks better on desktop," you are forcing your clients to work through your own lack of confidence before they even see your value.

2. A lack of consistency across your pages

Most DIY websites grow in layers. You add a button one month, a new testimonial the next and a temporary page for a specific launch. Eventually, you end up with a patchwork of different fonts, colours and styles. If your site doesn't feel cohesive, it suggests a lack of intentionality in your business, too.

3. Over-complicating what you do

Expertise is usually expressed through simplicity. If your website is hidden behind a wall of industry jargon or complex explanations, it usually means the core message hasn't been distilled yet. If a visitor can’t understand exactly how you help them within a few seconds, they won't stay.

4. Relying on a single-page layout

Many businesses start with a "one-pager." It’s like a digital flyer. One long scroll that tries to cover everything. But as you grow, this becomes a ceiling for your search engine rankings. Google wants to see depth; it wants dedicated pages for your different services. If you’re forcing everything onto one page, you’re making it much harder for people to find you.

5. A faceless brand

Websites are based on making a connection. If your website feels like a dry textbook rather than a conversation with an expert, you are making it hard for people to trust you. Your clients want to see the person behind the expertise. If you're hiding behind stock photos, your brand is missing its most important pillar.

6. A broken experience on mobile

We often build our sites on big screens, but your clients are likely seeing you for the first time on a phone while they’re on the move. If your layout falls apart - text overlapping or menus that don't work - you are essentially locking the front door to your business.

Green for growth: what happens when it clicks

When we clear away the friction, we create space for the business to actually move forward. This is what happens when your brand matches your level of expertise:

• Natural confidence: You stop making excuses for your link and start sharing your work properly.

• Better flow: Your website stops being a flyer and starts being an engine that guides people from curiosity to a booking.

• Search authority: By giving your services their own space, you finally give search engines something to index and rank.

  
  

Need a second pair of eyes?

Marking your own work is notoriously difficult. We are all biased toward our own first drafts.

If you recognise more than a couple of those "pink pen" moments, it’s a sign that your business has moved on, but your website is still stuck in the past.

I’m currently offering a limited number of Pink and Green Audits. This is a 30-minute Google Meet where we can walk through your current site together. We can take a look at what's working and I can give you clear, actionable steps to fix what isn't.

Ready to move from a first draft to a final version? Let’s grab a coffee in Bristol or arrange a video call and take a look at the foundations together.