January is more than just a fresh calendar, it’s your best opportunity to make sure your website is working as hard as you are.
Whether you run a service business or an online store, your website is your digital storefront. A neglected site can quietly chip away at your credibility, cost you leads, and impact sales. Use this checklist to set your website up for a strong start in 2026.
1. Run a Website Speed Test
Slow websites frustrate users and hurt SEO. Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom to see where you stand.
If your score is poor, check for common speed killers like bloated plugins or unoptimized images.
2. Fix Broken Links and Missing Pages
Broken links erode trust. Run a broken link checker or scan with a tool like Screaming Frog. Prioritize fixing any missing or outdated internal pages. Here’s why it matters.
3. Review Your Contact and Lead Forms
Test every form on your site. Are submissions going through? Are autoresponders working? Make sure call-to-action buttons are clear, strong, and well-placed.
Weak CTAs = missed leads. See how to fix them here.
4. Update or Remove Outdated Content
That blog post from 2022 might still be useful but it could also be hurting your rankings. Look for outdated info, broken references, or old event pages and clean them up. Sometimes a quick refresh of the post can be all that’s needed.
5. Audit Your Website’s Accessibility
If your site isn’t accessible, you could be excluding potential customers and risking legal action. January is a good time to review accessibility basics: alt text, contrast, keyboard navigation, and video captions.
Start with our post on ADA Compliance.
6. Check Your Site on Mobile
More than half of all site traffic now comes from mobile devices. Pull up your site on your phone, are buttons easy to tap? Does it load quickly? Is the layout clean?
7. Review Plugins and Themes
Update what’s necessary and remove anything you don’t use. Old or bloated plugins can slow your site and create security risks. Learn more about bloated plugins here.
8. Test for Caching and Minification
Caching and minification can improve your site’s load time dramatically. If you’re not sure what’s in place, we break it down here.
9. Review Analytics and Goal Tracking
Do you know what pages are converting? Are your analytics tools working? Verify that your Google Analytics 4 and conversion goals are correctly set up and capturing real insights.
10. Refresh Your Homepage and Trust Signals
Does your homepage still reflect your business? Consider refreshing your hero section, adding updated testimonials, and checking for trust signals like secure checkout badges, reviews, and certifications.
More on trust signals here.
Start 2026 Strong
Your website should be an asset, not something holding your business back. This checklist gives you a focused way to identify hidden issues, improve performance, and create a better experience for your visitors.
Wheaton Website Services can help you effectively leverage 2026 Q1 website audits to improve speed, accessibility, lead capture, and more. Are you ready to start leveraging your website for growth? Contact us today to learn how we can help.
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