Think about all the time, money, and energy you’ve invested in your website. Now, let me ask you something important: When someone lands on your homepage, do they immediately understand what you do, or are they left scratching their heads?
While having a beautifully designed website is wonderful (and kudos if you’ve achieved that!), design alone isn’t enough. Your website needs to communicate your message clearly and guide visitors toward taking action. When websites have unclear messaging or confusing navigation, visitors bounce—and often within seconds. On the flip side, websites with clear, purposeful content and intuitive navigation keep visitors engaged and encourage them to connect.
In this article, you’ll learn why website clarity is so important, how to review your current website, and how to make the changes necessary for you to feel proud to share your website with the world.
Why Website Clarity Matters (Like, Really Matters)
Let me paint you a picture that I bet feels familiar. You need to hire a home improvement contractor, so you start browsing local business websites. Now, I appreciate the trade way more than I could ever explain, but if we’re all going to be honest here, their websites are the absolute worst.
I’ll start by saying that this is a complete overgeneralization, and I’m sure there’s a handful of good home contractor websites out there (I tease. I tease. There must be more than that.), but don’t they all look as if they were built in the early 2000s and not updated since then?
But let’s get back to the example, shall we?
You’re clicking through site after site, finding outdated content that makes you wonder if they’re even still in business. When you finally find someone who seems promising, you can’t even figure out how to request a quote! Frustrating, right?
Now flip that scenario. Imagine potential customers having that same experience with your website. Ouch.
In today’s increasingly crowded digital marketplace, website clarity isn’t just nice to have. It’s essential for standing out and converting visitors into clients. Your website should:
- Present information in a way that’s both professional and approachable
- Guide visitors naturally to your services or products
- Make it crystal clear how to contact you (and what to expect after they do)
- Feature an about page that demonstrates you understand their needs
- Include FAQs throughout that actually answer their burning questions
You deserve to be remembered. Let’s set your website up to make your leads remember you positively.
How to Review Your Current Website (A Step-by-Step Guide)
Let’s roll up our sleeves and evaluate your website. While I offer professional website audits (and would love to help if you’re interested!), here’s a comprehensive DIY approach you can take right now.
1. Website Load Time
Does your website load quickly? If not, add “improving site speed” to the very top of your to-do list..
Here’s why: A 2022 survey from Digital found that one in two website viewers will abandon a website if it takes more than 6 seconds to load, and half of website viewers will completely abandon a shopping cart if it takes more than 3 seconds. Let’s stay with three seconds stat for a moment. Additional Google data suggests that the website bounce probability increases by 32% as the page load time goes from one second to three seconds.
Which means you’re aiming for just over a one second load time.
That sentence you just read took longer than one second for you to comprehend. Think your website can process quicker than your brain?
If you’re not sure how to find out how fast (or slow) your site’s load time is, click on over to GTmetrix or Google’s PageSpeed Insights and input your URL. While you’re there, consider their recommendations on improving your page speed time and work through them until your page load speed decreases and your audience can view your content as quickly as possible.
2. Mobile Optimization
With mobile traffic accounting for over 60% of website visits in 2024, mobile optimization isn’t optional—it’s essential. Your website should:
- Respond smoothly to different screen sizes
- Have easily clickable buttons and forms on mobile
- Display readable text without zooming
- Load quickly on mobile networks
- Have properly spaced touch targets
To make sure your website clarity isn’t affected by mobile changes, it’s important to test your site on multiple devices, like your phone or tablet.
Recently, Google retired their Mobile-Friendly Test tool. I previously recommended this for quick DIY assessments, but I haven’t quite found a replacement I like as much. However, if you use SEO tools, like Ahrefs, Semrush, or even Google Search Console, you should have access to mobile-specific data that can help you make decisions on what needs to be optimized on your site.
3. Website Design
The next easiest step to take as you review your website is to consider design. That being said, I don’t want you to spend all your time here. Simply click through the pages and ask yourself if your website is visually appealing.
Consider these elements and make notes as you go:
Colors & Branding:
- Maintain consistent brand colors throughout
- Ensure sufficient color contrast for accessibility
- Use color purposefully to guide attention
Typography:
- Stick to 2-3 fonts maximum
- Choose readable fonts for body text
- Save those beautiful script fonts for occasional headings, if necessary
- Maintain consistent sizing hierarchy
White Space:
And finally, let’s talk spacing. YOU NEED MORE WHITE SPACE ON THE PAGE. White space isn’t empty space – it’s a powerful design element that:
- Improves readability
- Reduces cognitive load
- Helps visitors focus on important elements
- Makes your content more digestible
If everything is smooshed together, or if your content is just paragraph after paragraph and not broken up by things like images, headers, subheadings, bolding, lists, quotes, and more, people will scan and not absorb what it is you’re presenting to them.
You have to give your audience’s brain’s a chance to process the information you’re sharing with them. And speaking about the message you’re sharing with them, let’s talk about website copywriting.
4. Website Copy and Content
The words are so important on your website. I don’t know how much more I could stress that to you, and I think I could write an entire long-form article about the importance of website copy and content and still not tell you everything I think you need to know.
Instead, I’ll share some of the things I consider when I audit my client’s websites. You basically want to review your words to make sure they’re actually making the points you meant them to, and that they’re easy to comprehend for your average website view.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you review the copy on your main website pages and any other type of content you’ve created, like case studies, blog posts, podcast show notes, and more.
- Is the message on my main website pages clear and concise?
- Am I over-explaining anything or leaving any important information out?
- Am I using any industry-specific jargon that my audience would find confusing?
- Am I using phrases that my potential leads would resonate with?
- Do my leads have all the information they need to move forward?
- Do the buttons clearly indicate what will happen if someone clicks on them?
- Does the website design support the important messaging points you’re trying to make?
- Is there any content that’s outdated and needs to be updated?
In addition to those questions, here’s a website clarity checklist to walk you through some of the more important pages on your website.
On your homepage, is there a:
- Clear value proposition above the fold
- Concise explanation of who you help and how
- Clear next steps for visitors to rake
On your Service or Product Pages, is there a:
- Specific benefit(s) and outcome(s)
- Clear pricing structure or a pricing process
- Relevant testimonial(s) from former clients and customers
- Obvious call-to-actions leading them to the sale
On your About Page, is there a :
- Compelling story that showcases a natural connection between your background and how you help clients
- Clear explanation of your expertise and experience
- Demonstration that you understand your audience’s challenges
On your Contact Page, is there:
- Easy-to-find contact information
- Clear expectations about response time
- A simple, user-friendly contact form
- an FAQ section addressing common inquiries
5. Website Navigation
Is it easy to find what you’re looking for? Can you get to any page on the website with just a few clicks? If not, it’s time to simplify your site navigation in order to regain some website clarity.
Two of the most important parts that influence site navigation are the main menu and the website footer. Both need to be simple and easy to navigate.
And a quick reminder: You do not need to list every single page that you’ve created in your main menu. In fact, overstuffing your main menu absolutely leads to confusion for the person viewing your website. Keep the menu simple and conversion focused, and use your footer as a supplementary tour guide for your site.
Main Navigation Best Practices:
- Keep it simple with essential pages only (5-7 items maximum)
- Use clear, conventional labels
- Avoid deep dropdown menus
Footer Navigation Best Practices:
Your footer can include more links than the main menu, but don’t go overboard here either. Consider adding:
- Secondary services
- Resources
- Case studies
- Testimonials
- Legal pages
- Social proof elements
Now that we’ve covered the core elements of website clarity through content and design, let’s tackle an often overlooked but crucial component—the technical foundation of your site. Many website owners focus on messaging and design but forget that technical issues can silently undermine all their hard work.
Technical Website Audit: The Often Overlooked Clarity Killer
Let’s review a few essential technical checks that ensure your website isn’t just clear in theory, but actually works properly for every visitor.
Link and Navigation Testing:
- Click through every single link on your website (yes, every one!)
- Test both internal and external links
- Ensure external links open in new tabs to keep visitors on your site
- Check that menu items lead to the correct pages
- Verify that your logo links back to the homepage
Forms and Interactive Elements:
- Submit test messages through all contact forms
- Check that form confirmation messages display properly
- Verify that form submissions reach the correct place
- Test required fields to ensure they work as intended
- Confirm that error messages are clear and helpful
- Check that any chatbots or widgets load and function properly
Error Pages and Redirects:
- Check for and fix any 404 errors
- Create a helpful custom 404 page
- Verify that old URLs properly redirect to new ones
- Test all redirects to ensure they go to the right pages
- Check for any redirect chains that could slow down your site
Performance Checks:
- Monitor website uptime
- Check loading times across different pages
- Test image loading and compression
- Verify that videos play correctly
- Monitor server response times
Pro tip: Use tools like Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, or Ahrefs to automate some of these technical checks. However, there’s no replacement for manual testing . You need to experience your site just like your visitors do.
Website Clarity Comes from Taking Action Now
Now that you’ve reviewed your website, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed. That’s totally normal! Remember, you don’t have to fix everything at once. Start with the highest-impact items first:
- Fix any technical issues (broken links, slow loading times, etc.)
- Clarify your main message and calls-to-action
- Simplify your navigation
- Improve your content structure
- Enhance your visual design
Need help making these improvements? I’d love to help you transform your website into a clear, conversion-focused asset for your business. Contact me for a professional website audit, or sign up for my newsletter below for weekly website optimization tips.
Main featured image by Nathan Dumlao
