A "great website" is not one principle. It is twenty small things done well, each compounding on the last. Below is the working checklist we use on every Devon small business build at Shout Websites — short on each, but every item earns its place.
Strategy
1. Define your audience. Before any design starts, you need to know who is visiting. A Newton Abbot trade business serves a different audience to an Exeter B2B consultancy. Your design, copy and conversion paths flow from that.
2. Set clear goals. What does success look like — phone calls, online bookings, ecommerce orders, mailing list signups? A site optimised for one outcome outperforms a site that pretends to want all of them.
We are ready to talk things through!
Contact Here3. Map the customer journey. What does a visitor see first, second, third? Where do they convert? Where do they drop off? Sketch the path before building the pages.
Design
4. Use a clear, consistent colour scheme. Two or three brand colours used systematically across buttons, headings and CTAs. Not eight colours used once each.
5. Pick legible typography. Two fonts maximum — one for headings, one for body. Generous line height. Body text no smaller than 16px.
6. Make navigation obvious. Five to seven main menu items. Plain English labels. The navigation should not require explanation.
7. Use real photography where possible. Stock photos of generic offices look generic. Photos of your actual Newton Abbot premises, your team, your work, build trust faster than anything else.
Content
8. Write compelling, specific copy. "Roofing for Devon homes — flat, pitched and emergency repairs, 25-year guarantee" beats "Welcome to our website" every time.
9. Use clear, descriptive headings. Each page should communicate its purpose in its H1. Subheadings should let a visitor scan and find what they need.
10. Use bullet points and short paragraphs. Walls of text get skipped. Scannable content gets read.
11. Internal link liberally. Linking from one page to another keeps visitors on the site longer and helps Google understand your structure.
12. Link out to credible sources. Where it adds value, link to authoritative external sources. It signals confidence.
Conversion
13. Make it easy to contact you. Phone, WhatsApp, email and form. Visible on every page. Click-to-call on mobile. No friction.
14. Use clear, prominent calls to action. One primary action per page. Strong verbs. Specific outcomes — "Get a free quote in 24 hours" beats "Submit".
15. Include genuine social proof. Real customer reviews from real customers. Photos of completed work. Logos of clients you have served. Never fabricate.
Technical
16. Optimise for mobile. 60–70% of Devon small business traffic is now mobile. The mobile experience is the experience.
17. Make sure the website loads quickly. Aim for 95+ on Google PageSpeed Insights. Slow sites lose customers and rankings.
18. Use proper heading structure. One H1 per page. Logical H2/H3 hierarchy. Helps both screen readers and search engines.
19. Optimise for search engines. Page titles, meta descriptions, schema markup, alt tags on images. The technical SEO foundation is what makes the rest of the work pay.
After launch
20. Test and iterate. A/B test hero sections, CTAs and forms. Watch your analytics. The website you launch should not be the website you have a year from now — it should be a better version, refined by what the data tells you.
Putting it together
Get all twenty right and you have a website that performs. Get half of them right and you have an average site. Most of the Devon business websites we audit are scoring on six or seven of these — usually missing performance, mobile, conversion paths and proper SEO foundations.
If you want a candid read on where your current site stands against this list, send your URL to 07887 988780. We will run through the twenty points and tell you which three would have the biggest impact for your business. Starter rebuilds begin at £250.