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Free guide
The Comprehensive UX/UI Guide for SMB Homepages
Score your homepage in 30 minutes. 12 checks, 5 dimensions, a score out of 24, and a clear next move at the bottom. Same rubric we run on every paid Activation Audit.
Most SMB founders cannot honestly score their own homepage — bias blind spot is a documented effect, and even people who know about it still exhibit it. This Guide hands you the 12-point UX rubric we run on every Activation Audit, with the test for each check, the threshold for yes / partial / no, and the specific fix for what to do when you score partial or no. 30 minutes of work. Three categories of outcome. No ambiguity about your next move.
What’s inside
- Visual hierarchy: F-pattern flow, one focal element, 60/40 white-space ratio — the 5-minute audit that catches the most common SMB homepage mistake.
- Copy clarity: the 5-second test, the jargon scan, the no-scroll value-prop rule, plus the actual script for running the 5-second test with 5 strangers on a Saturday.
- CTA strength: one primary CTA above the fold, outcome verbs not process verbs, the 20% conversion lift you get for replacing 'Submit' with 'Get my audit'.
- Mobile usability: thumb-reachable CTAs, 44pt tap targets, and the math behind why anything in the top third of a phone is dead space for one-handed users.
- Page speed: LCP under 2.5s on mobile, hero image under 500KB. The only two performance numbers that move conversion. Everything else is a tiebreaker.
- A score-to-action chart at the bottom. Tally your 24 points, look up your bucket, get the prescribed next move.
Frequently asked
How long does it take to actually run this on my site?
30 minutes if you've already opened your homepage on a phone. The 12 checks are designed to score in 2 to 3 minutes each. The slow part isn't the rubric — it's being honest with yourself when a check says you scored a 'no'.
Do I need design or development skills to use this?
No. The audit produces scores, not fixes. About 30 to 40% of the 'no' results have non-technical fixes (copy edits, removing a competing CTA). The other 60% point you toward specific technical work — at which point you either DIY, hand it to your developer, or talk to us.
Is this just the same as a Lighthouse / PageSpeed audit?
No. Lighthouse covers one of the 12 checks (page speed). The other 11 cover audience match, copy clarity, hierarchy, CTA design, mobile reachability — things automated tools can't score. You can run Lighthouse before this Guide if you want; the result feeds into one of the 12 checks.
Will I need to redesign my whole site after this?
Most readers don't. The score-to-action chart at the end specifically separates the 'keep, tweak' bucket (most sites — minor copy + CTA changes) from the 'rewrite' bucket (heroes that fail audience match outright). About 1 in 5 sites scores low enough to warrant a full rewrite.
What's the difference between this Guide and the Comprehensive Hero Design Guide?
This Guide covers the full homepage UX (12 checks across 5 dimensions). The Hero Design Guide goes deep on the hero section specifically (4 dimensions, 8 checks, with worked examples). If your homepage scores well overall but the hero feels off, read the Hero Guide. If you're starting from scratch, read this one first.
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Stop reading. Ship something.
The Audit beats the checklist.
This template covers the hero layer. The Activation Audit walks all four Activation Stack layers and lands a prioritized fix list in your inbox within 72 hours.
