What to expect in a website audit

One of my favorite things to do is go over someone’s website and tell them everything that’s wrong with it in a website audit.

I kid! Mostly…

But I do frequently get asked to evaluate websites and give feedback about what, in my professional opinion, the website is doing right and what it’s doing wrong and how to fix it.

So first, what is a website audit?

A website audit is just an evaluation of your website. We figure out who your audience is, and then determine if your website is doing everything it can to give your users what they need. I also say that a business website is first and foremost a tool for the user, not for the site owner. You will get a return on your investment only if you meet the needs of your user. So that’s what we do.

A website audit can include anything including:

• UX review: Can people navigate the site easily?
• SEO review: Are you being found?
• Mobile review: Is it mobile friendly?
• Content review: Is your content meeting the needs of your user?
• Landing page review: Do your landing pages have good sales funnels?
• Technical review: Does your website work? Are there broken  links? Is it slow?

Sometimes, part of my job is telling you bad news, that your website isn’t really doing what it needs to do to bring you new leads. The good news is, that we also tell you how to fix it.

UX Review

UX stands for User Experience. This is critical for any website. Can your target audience use your website? If they can’t find your content then it’s failing. If the navigation is confusing, then it’s failing. If your photos get in the way of users finding your content, it’s failing. So we take a full look at your website and tell you how to make it better.

One of the keys to a UX study though, is knowing who your target audience is. For example, is your target audience Baby Boomers or older? Guess what? You probably need a bigger font. As people get older, vision starts to get worse and tiny little fonts are hard to read.

Do you use mega menus? (I love a good mega menu.) But unfortunately, these are incredibly hard to use for people with mobility disabilities. Also really bad for screen readers for those with visual impairments.

Do you give people what they are looking for? We imagine ourselves perusing your website as your target demographic. The key here is that usually if someone lands on your site, they are there for a reason. Do you give them the answer to their query right away? Sometimes that means rearranging content. It’s nice that your homepage tells about you, but your users probably want to know if you can provide whatever service they are looking for. They can click to your about page for more info on you.

SEO Review

Are you being found? We can evaluate your ranking and you keyword choices. We can look at the inner and outer workings to determine what you’re doing well and what you’re doing wrong. The biggest mistake the DIYer makes when they optimize for websites? Choosing keywords that are either too hard to rank for OR, just as bad, choosing keywords nobody is looking for.

I have had upset clients come to me when they aren’t ranking for a specific keyword they wanted to rank for, but when we researched the keyword, we found that nobody was really looking for it. Why optimize for a keyword no one is looking for? “That’s what I’d type if I was looking for myself?” This is the difference between someone who offers a service and someone who is looking for a service. Your perspective are different, and so your searches are different. Keyword research is important.

Mobile Review

Is your site mobile friendly? It’s 2018. It better be. It needs to pass the Google mobile friendly test. Google has moved to a mobile first mentality, so your mobile content is likely to be indexed before your desktop content. So if you don’t have a mobile-friendly site, you might not rank at all.

But I like to take it a bit further. Not only should your site be mobile-friendly, which is a broad range, it should be mobile-friendly and user-friendly. Just because it passes the mobile friendly test doesn’t mean it’s user friendly. Passing the test means it just resolves properly on a phone. We’ll evaluate your site for UX on mobile.

When it comes to phones, cut the clutter, crop the images, and eliminate the pretty stuff that doesn’t serve a useful purpose other than to look nice. If you can implement AMP, do it.

Content Review

Is your content giving your users what they are looking or? Is there enough content? Is it readable? We’ll read through your pages and let you know what’s good and what needs to change. The most important thing is that your users can find the answers they are looking for. When writing your website content, as the site owner and probably the expert in your services, your mind may work in a different way than the person looking at your site. We’ll give you feedback and help you organize in a better way if needed.

Landing page review

Do you have landing pages? These are specific pages that are set up for your Internet ads that introduce visitors into your sales funnel? We can evaluate these too. We check for leaks, evaluate calls-to-action, and can give you feedback about how to make these better and increase conversions.

Technical review

Does your website work? Is it slow? We can evaluate the site’s technical aspects, give feedback on how to speed it up, fix up broken parts, and just make it work better.

Yes, we can do all that stuff and more. A website audit can really give you a lot of information about your site, but be warned, it’s not for the faint of heart. You might hear things you don’t want to know particularly if you built the site yourself and worked really hard on it.

Need a website audit? Contact us today and we’ll be happy to take a look.