Your website is working if it brings in leads, inquiries, or sales, and if real people are finding it. But whether it can do that depends on far more than the website itself.
I've designed Squarespace websites for small businesses at The Design Wonder Studio for the last 10 years. Most of my clients are either brand new and figuring out branding, strategy, and SEO for the first time, or they DIYed their first site and are ready to invest in a professional one. Almost all of them eventually ask me the same question: "How do I know if my website is actually working?"
What "working" actually means
A beautiful website that nobody visits isn't working. Neither is a busy website that never turns a visitor into a client. When I say a site "works," I mean two things:
It brings in business: inquiries, consultation requests, bookings, or sales.
It gets found: real people are visiting, and traffic is growing over time.
Notice what's not on that list: how much your friends love it, how many compliments you got at launch, or whether it looks like your competitor's. Good design matters, because it builds trust and guides people to take action. But design is the vehicle, not the destination.
The biggest myth: launch it and they will come
The most common misunderstanding I see is about how a website works for you. Many business owners expect to hit "publish" and watch the inquiries roll in. That's not how it works.
Your website is a tool, not a marketing plan. You still have to put yourself out there: networking, showing up on social media and LinkedIn, talking about your work, and sending people to your site. The website's job is to catch that interest and turn it into a lead.
What about SEO, AEO, and AI?
Clients hear these terms constantly and often aren't sure what they do. Here's the short version:
SEO (search engine optimization) helps your site show up when people search on Google for what you offer.
AEO (answer engine optimization) helps your business show up when people ask AI tools and answer engines for recommendations.
AI is changing how people search, but it still relies on clear, well-structured, trustworthy content on your site.
The key thing to understand: SEO is a long game. It is not an immediate return on investment. A well-optimized site builds visibility over months and years, not days. If you expect a flood of leads in your first few weeks, you'll likely be disappointed, and you might give up right before it starts paying off.
A real story: the website that "didn't work"
A client hired me to create a brand and website with one clear goal: land more speaking and conference opportunities. Speaking was a secondary role for him, alongside his main work.
We built him a brand and a site designed to position him as a speaker. Then nothing else happened. He didn't talk about this area of his work on LinkedIn or engage there. He didn't network at events for it. He didn't write blog posts or share his expertise anywhere. He expected the website, on its own, to bring in speaking leads.
We talked about this more than once. But after two years, he asked me to take the site down because it "wasn't doing what he wanted it to."
Here's the lesson: the website wasn't the problem. Event organizers book speakers they've seen, heard about, or been referred to. Nobody knew to look for him, so nobody found the site. A website can support your reputation, but it can't build one from scratch while you stay silent.
How to actually check if your website is working
When a client asks me whether their site is working, these are the places I look. You can check most of them yourself in about 15 minutes a month.
Visitors and traffic trends (Squarespace Analytics): Are people finding you, and is that number growing over time?
Traffic sources (Squarespace Analytics): Are visitors coming from Google, social media, referrals, or typing in your URL directly?
Most-visited pages (Squarespace Analytics): Which services or content do people care about most?
Search terms and impressions (Google Search Console): What are people searching to find you, and is Google showing your site in results?
Form submissions and inquiries (your Squarespace forms or inbox): Are visitors actually taking action?
"How did you find me?" (your intake form or first call): What real-world path led each new client to you?
Good signs your website is working
Traffic is slowly climbing month over month.
More of your visitors are coming from search.
New clients mention they found you on Google or through your site.
Red flags to watch for
Steady traffic but zero inquiries. This usually points to a messaging or call-to-action problem.
Almost no traffic at all. This is a visibility or marketing problem, not a design problem.
No one ever says they found you online.
That last check is my favorite because it's so simple. Ask every new client how they found you, and write it down. Over time, you'll see exactly which efforts are paying off.
Why there's no magic number
People often want a benchmark: "How many visitors should I have?" or "How many inquiries is normal?" I don't give one, because it's different for every business. Your industry, location, and competition change everything.
Here's a recent example. One of my clients works in a field with growing demand and not many service providers. Within just a few months of launching, she was found and listed in publications as one of the top five providers in her area. She hadn't done any marketing at all. The SEO built into her site was enough, because there was demand and very little competition for it.
Compare that to my speaker client, or to anyone in a crowded market or a very specialized niche. Those businesses need to do much more marketing to get the same traction, because their website is competing with dozens of others, or there are fewer people searching for what they offer.
Same quality of website. Very different results. The difference was the market, and what each business did around the site.
My advice: know which puzzle pieces your business needs
If you take one thing from this post, let it be this: understand which pieces of the puzzle will bring you success in your specific field.
For some businesses, a well-built, well-optimized website is most of the puzzle. For others, the website is one piece, alongside networking, social media, speaking, referrals, and content. Neither is better. What matters is knowing which one you are, and planning for it.
So ask yourself:
How much demand is there for what I offer in my area?
How many other businesses are competing for those same clients?
Where do my ideal clients actually look when they need someone like me?
What am I doing, beyond my website, to show up in those places?
Your answers will tell you more about where you need to put in the extra effort.
Not sure which puzzle pieces your business needs? That's exactly the kind of strategy I walk through with clients at The Design Wonder Studio. Get in touch, and let's talk about what success looks like for you.
