Every Staffhand build starts with a digital audit, and the audit decides what gets built. Before you book one, run a rough version yourself. You will find some of the gaps in an afternoon, and you will walk into the audit call knowing what to ask.
This checklist follows the five areas the Staffhand audit scores: website, search presence, reviews, social, and lead handling. See how it works for where the audit sits.
Ground rules for a self-audit
Do it the way a stranger would. Use a phone, sign out of Google, and search by service and town, not by your name. Write down the small things, because the small things are usually what the audit turns up.
Only view pages. Do not submit your own forms or leave yourself reviews. The Staffhand audit works the same way: public pages only, nothing submitted, nothing signed into, every finding labeled by how it was verified.
Website
- Does the main content load in a few seconds on a phone, on cellular data?
- Do your page titles include your city and your service, or just your business name?
- Is there a page for each main service, and for the area you serve?
- Are your prices, or a starting range, anywhere on the site?
- Is there an About or team page with the people customers will meet?
- Does the site show your review rating, or is that only on Google?
- Is there a privacy policy page, especially if your forms collect personal or health information?
- Do the hours on your site match your Google listing?
Scored on: speed and technical health, design and content, and on-page search basics such as titles, headings, canonical tags and structured data.
Search presence
- Search your main service plus your town in Google Maps. Where do you appear, if at all?
- Repeat for each service. A gym that runs bootcamps should check “bootcamp” as well as “gym.”
- Open your Google Business Profile as a customer. Are the categories and hours right? When was the last owner post?
- Check Apple Maps, Bing and your industry’s directories. Same name, address, phone and website everywhere? Any listing unclaimed or pointing at an old domain?
- Is your business email on your own domain?
Scored on: Google Business Profile completeness, listing consistency, and local rankings for the searches that matter to you.
Reviews
- What is your rating and count on Google, and how recent is the newest review?
- Do you reply to reviews, and how quickly?
- What do the other platforms show? A strong Google page next to a review site that has not moved in years looks dormant to anyone who checks.
- Does your website mention your reviews at all?
Scored on: Google reviews and replies, and the state of the other review platforms your customers use.
Social
- Which accounts exist, and which are active? A large following with no recent posts counts against you.
- Does every bio link to your current website?
- Does your website use your social content, or is there a placeholder where a feed should be?
- Is existing video reused across platforms, or does it live in one place?
Scored on: active presence where your customers are, consistent links and names, and whether the content you already make is working for you.
Lead handling
This is the area most owners have never tested from the customer’s side.
- Ask a friend to fill in your contact form from their phone. Did it arrive? Did it keep every field, including the service they chose?
- Does the lead get an instant confirmation?
- Can a customer book a time online, or do they have to call?
- What happens to a call after hours?
- Do forms, calls and messages get credit by source, or does everything land in one inbox?
- Is any analytics or ad tracking installed? If you cannot answer, assume not.
- Do you have an email list and a text list, and did those people actually opt in?
Scored on: form reliability, booking, response handling, analytics and tracking, and your email, text and ad presence.
How the scores are used
The scores are not a grade on your business. They are a priority list. Low scores in areas that touch revenue, such as lead handling and tracking, are built first, because every other decision depends on being able to measure. The audit also runs the same checks on nearby competitors, so you see what the businesses ranking above you do that you do not.
The same five areas produce very different builds: five desks for a gym, 22 for a dealership. The example builds page shows the range.
How to prepare for the audit call
You do not need to fix anything first. You do need a few things ready.
- One set of correct hours, services and prices.
- A list of your accounts and who holds the logins: website host, Google Business Profile, analytics, social, review platforms, booking and messaging tools.
- Your lead sources as you understand them, even if rough.
- Any contact lists, with opt-in status.
- Recent revenue records from your accounting system, point of sale or bank statements. If your build includes a share of revenue above a baseline, that history sets the baseline. See pricing.
Start with a digital audit
Run the checklist, note what surprised you, and bring the list. The Staffhand audit covers the same five areas in more depth, scores each one, and shapes your build from those scores. Start with a digital audit.
