Welcome to a standing appointment: every month, one real Chicagoland business website gets a public teardown. Not to embarrass anyone — names get blurred unless the owner opts in — but because the fastest way to learn what works online is to watch someone fix what doesn't.
Each edition follows the same five checks I run in a paid audit. One: the three-second test — can a stranger tell what you do, where you do it, and what to click within three seconds? Two: speed on a phone, because that's where your customers are and where most local sites fall apart. Three: the call path — how many taps from landing to actually contacting you (the answer should be one). Four: proof — reviews, photos of real work, real faces; templated stock imagery reads as invisible. Five: what Google sees — titles, schema, and whether the site answers the searches customers actually make.
Because the pattern is always the same: local businesses don't lose customers to better competitors — they lose them to better websites. The gap is rarely budget; it's knowing which five things matter. Twelve teardowns a year builds a free education that most agencies would charge for, and it keeps me honest — every recommendation is published where anyone can check whether it works.
Want your own site torn down (privately or publicly, your call)? Want a competitor's category examined? Text (847) 387-0244 with the URL. Owners who volunteer their own site get the fix list free — and first crack at having me implement it.
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