How Good is Your Website?

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Back to list 21 Aug2013 Please co nsider sharing A business website always has a purpo se. The times when a website existed with no o ther purpo se than spend yo ur time and surf the pro duct catalo gues is o ver. A website is primarily a business sales channel o nline. Why yo u need a website when yo ur website do esnt bring yo u any sales o r have any o ther CTA-s? Internet is a po tential enviro nment where yo u can intro duce yo ur business, develo p client trust and make sales. Mo st websites can handle the first po int but fall sho rt in seco nd and third po int. Main mistakes why a website o ffers no extra value fo r a business are: Lack o f pro mo tio n so peo ple do nt reach yo ur website Lack o f actio n so visito rs leave yo ur site witho ut a co ntact o r sales

How to make sure that I have a good website?

Every website o wner sho uld set their website a clear purpo se filling in a co ntact fo rm, sales, query etc. This sho uld be the heart o f a website that yo u can value yo ur website effectiveness. Many website o wners ask fro m their friends and acquaintances ho w they feel abo ut their website. The feedback yo u get is very superficial. Regular peo ple who are no t experts in web design and web develo pment have no qualificatio n to judge website effectiveness, especially when they are yo ur friends. Yo u canno t get o bjective feedback fro m yo ur friends. If yo u really want to kno w whether yo ur website wo rks o r no t, yo u need a mo re in-depth analysis o n the design, structure, menu, co ntent, CTA-s, functio ns etc. Then yo u need an audit . The purpo se o f an audit is to ascertain the weaknesses o f the website why the website lacks o f traffic, where are the clients lo o pho les, why the website has lo w co nversio n etc. A co mplete do cument o f yo ur business review is made with step-by-step guidelines to impro ve the site.

Do I need an audit?
As mentio ned previo usly the aim o f an audit is to ascertain the bo ttlenecks o f yo ur website. Yo u really need to co nsider making an audit when: Yo ur website has little traffic Visito rs leave yo ur site witho ut any actio ns Visito rs spend little time o n yo ur site Average pages per visit is 1-2 pages Yo u want to impro ve yo ur website visits and co nversio n Yo uve recently updated yo ur website and wish to check its functio nality Yo ur search po sitio ns have dro pped Yo u want an independent expert feedback ho w to impro ve yo ur website We bsit e audit helps to impro ve yo ur site functio nality, get mo re traffic, impro ve co nversio n and o utrun co mpetito rs.

Improve your site f unctionality

To identify the technical pro blems that affect negatively yo ur website traffic and co nversio n yo u sho uld co nduct a technical audit. Technical audit gives yo u o verview o f: We bsit e use r e xpe rie nce The user experience audit helps to view the page as a first time visito rs experience it. Ho w easily is the info rmatio n fo und and if there are any o bstacles to perfo rm an actio n. An evaluatio n is given to website structure and menu, co ntent quality and length, CTA-s, website speed etc.

structure and menu, co ntent quality and length, CTA-s, website speed etc. We bsit e f unct io nalit y Are there any flaws in reservatio n o r buying systems? This phase helps to figure o ut wheres the leak yo uve go t traffic but they perfo rm no actio ns. The reaso n may be a bro ken sales cart system that has tro uble with changing, adding o r remo ving pro ducts in cart etc. Yo u also get an o verview o f bro ken pages (erro r 404) that o ccur when the website address has been changed witho ut redirectio n (301 redirect). Bro ken pages leave a reckless impressio n o f yo ur business and direct visito rs to wro ng pages. We bsit e visibilit y o n se arch The mo st impo rtant facto r in getting traffic o n yo ur site is yo ur website visibility o n search. There may be many pro blems with search, fo r example when there is no website cano nicalizatio n which means that http://yo urdo main.co m is no t directed to http://www.yo urdo main.co m. In this case the do main value is spread and Go o gle co unts it as a duplicated co ntent. Yo u also need to make sure that the pages are indexable o r they canno t be fo und o n search.

More traf f ic and higher conversion

Website audit is mo re than just an o verview o f yo ur website effectiveness. Yo u also get a full repo rt o f SEO perfo rmance. Ho w visible is yo ur page o n search and whats the o rganic search quality? Audit is a great way to check yo ur SEO service pro vider quality do they use fair metho ds and what are the results? SEO audit gives an o verview o f: On-sit e SEO Ho w well do es the o n-site o ptimizatio n perfo rm? Different o ptimizatio n metho ds like URL addresses, title tags, meta descriptio n, meta keywo rds, headings, internal linking, ancho rs, picture titles, duplicated co ntent etc. are evaluated here. The audit also helps to ascertain what keywo rds bring the mo st visito rs and queries and what pages rank with specific keywo rds o n search. Of f -sit e SEO Off-site o ptimizatio n is mainly linking and so cial activity. Audit identifies the number o f backlinks, what pages are linking back to yo ur site, whats the link value, no fo llo w and do fo llo w links etc. The aim is to figure o ut what links bring yo u real value and what do nt. Yo ur so cial activity is also taken under the micro sco pe what so cial media netwo rks are wo rth yo ur attentio n to impro ve yo ur site value? Ke ywo rd po sit io ns Keywo rd analysis gives insight into yo ur website po sitio ns o n search engines. In-depth analysis helps to find o ut whether the website is o ptimized o n relevant keywo rds that bring real value to yo ur business.

Outrun your competitors

Co mpetito rs audit helps yo u better understand yo ur co mpetito rs strengths and weaknesses. Keywo rd analysis sho ws yo ur search po sitio ns co mpared to co mpetito rs. This helps to see what their co re business is and whether yo u have a chance to o utrun them. Co mpetito rs analysis also gives an o verview o f their market share, helps to identify their client pro files and gives an advantage to learn o thers mistakes.

Conclusion
Website audit is needed to identify yo ur business bo ttlenecks o nline. Internet is a po tential sales channel that can bring yo ur business a co nsiderable amo unt o f extra inco me. Yo u better fix that no n-functio nal website as fast as po ssible and sto p wasting yo ur reso urces! Make yo ur website wo rk fo r yo ur business, o rder an audit and be ready fo r a co mprehensive updates. NB! Website audit sho uld be perfo rmed at least o nce a year. If yo ur website is updated regularly, its reco mmended to make the audit mo re o ften to evaluate the results. Krist jan-Paul Raude www.Yo urDigitalSto ry.co m Back to list