The guide · plain English
If smoke comes out, stop.
That's the whole philosophy, borrowed from engineers who plugged in new circuit boards and watched for smoke. A website smoke test asks one modest question — does anything critical fail when a real person tries to use this? — and answers it in about ten minutes. Most broken websites were broken for weeks before anyone asked.
What it is
The fastest question in software.
A smoke test is not an audit, a review, or a strategy session. It is a short, ruthless walk through the handful of things your website absolutely must do: load, take a message, ring the phone, take the money. You test them the way a customer would — on a phone, from outside your office — and you either see smoke or you don’t.
The habit matters because websites fail politely. A contact form that lost its email connection still thanks the visitor for their message. A checkout with a broken payment key still shows the products beautifully. Nothing looks wrong; the leads simply stop. We’ve repaired forms that had been swallowing inquiries for months — the owner thought business was slow. Business was fine. The plumbing was broken.
Ten minutes, after every change and once a month regardless. That’s the entire discipline. Here’s the checklist we use.
The checklist
Six checks. Ten minutes. No excuses.
The site loads
Homepage, on your phone and off wifi. Not 'it worked last month.' Now.
The forms deliver
Submit your own contact form. If the email doesn't arrive, neither do the leads — and forms fail silently more than anything else on the web.
The phone number dials
Tap it on a phone. A wrong or unlinked number is a lead thrown away at the last possible second.
The checkout takes money
Add to cart, get to the payment screen. Stores can look perfect while the one page that earns money is broken.
Google still sees you
Search your business name. If your own site isn't first, something changed — and not in your favor.
The padlock holds
No 'Not Secure' warning, no certificate errors. Browsers say it louder than you'd like.
Or let the robot do the first pass.
Our free health check runs thirteen automated checks against your site right now — speed, SEO plumbing, mobile, security — and grades it A through F with the findings in plain English.
The benefits, priced honestly
Why ten minutes beats ten weeks.
You find it before your customers do. Every visitor who hits a broken form is a lead you paid for — through ads, SEO, or reputation — walking back out the door. The smoke test converts “weeks of silent loss” into “caught it Tuesday.”
It makes updates safe to run. The reason small-business sites rot is that owners fear updating them — something might break. With a ten-minute check after every update, something might break and you’ll know, which means you can update fearlessly. Sites that update regularly get hacked dramatically less.
It turns repairs from emergencies into errands. A broken thing found today is a flat-priced fix. The same thing found during your busy season, after your ad budget spent a month sending traffic to it, is a crisis with a bill attached.
Questions we hear a lot.
What exactly is a smoke test?
The term comes from hardware: plug the new board in, and if smoke comes out, stop. For websites it's the same discipline — a fast pass over the handful of things that must work (loading, forms, phone links, checkout) to confirm nothing is actively on fire. It is not a deep audit; it's the difference between checking a patient's pulse and running a full physical.
How is a smoke test different from a full website audit?
Depth and frequency. An audit inspects everything — performance, SEO, security, accessibility — and might happen twice a year. A smoke test checks only the critical path and should happen after every change: plugin update, content edit, DNS tweak, new form, theme update. Audits find opportunities; smoke tests catch disasters early.
Why do sites break without anyone noticing?
Because websites fail politely. A form that stopped delivering still shows 'Thanks for your message.' An expired certificate still renders the page behind a warning most owners never see because they never visit their own site. The only symptom is silence — fewer calls, fewer leads — and silence takes weeks to notice. That's the argument for a scheduled ten-minute check.
When should I run one?
After anything changes, and on a schedule even when nothing did: WordPress core or plugin updates, adding or editing forms, switching email providers, DNS or hosting changes, certificate renewals. Monthly at minimum for a site you don't touch; same-day for a site you just changed.
Can you just do this for me?
Yes. Our free health check runs thirteen automated checks right now, and our repair shop fixes anything a smoke test turns up — flat-priced from $229, refunded in full if we look and can't fix it. If you'd rather never think about it, ask about scheduled monitoring when we talk.
Smoke detected? This way.
Everything a smoke test can turn up has a page — and a price — here.
Want eyes on it that aren't yours?
Send the address. We'll run the checks, tell you what's smoking, and quote any fix flat and in writing. Or call (480) 525-7582 — you'll get the developer.