When was the last time you audited your website? Did you know that regular, quarterly inspections to your website can help you avoid developing blind spots? Issues can creep up slowly, and you won’t even notice until the problem is severe. Regular site audits help you pinpoint problem areas before they develop into a crisis.
Key Areas to Focus Website Audit On
Outlined below are a few elements for you to consider focusing your site audit on:
- Branding
- Conversion
- Content
- Competition
- Technology
Branding Audit
In a branding audit, you want to test your site to make sure that your visitors are receiving the proper perception of your company throughout their visit to your site. You want to confirm that you have a strong tagline and a description of your unique value. Create a style guide outlining your logo, your colors, and your branding elements, and apply them consistently throughout your website.
Conversion Audit
To perform a conversion audit, you want to analyze the traffic to your website. But traffic alone isn’t a valuable metric. You need to specifically measure the traffic that is generating conversions. This is called CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization). This enables you to organize your site so that your marketing is effectively targeting the segment of your audience most likely to make a purchase.
Content Audit
A content audit involves analyzing all the content on your website. You want to figure out which items are working well so you can optimize them. You also want to figure out which items are not working well so you can either tweak them or get rid of them. Which content items are producing the best results? Is your content useful and informative? Is it unique? Is the content optimized for SEO? What is the structure of your blog content?
Your content should have:
- Bullet points
- Short paragraphs
- Use of bold and italics to create tone
- Use of images to break up the text
- Correct spelling, grammar, and formatting
Competition Audit
You want to periodically evaluate your competitors’ websites to assess their performance. Who is linking to them? Who are they linking to? What keywords are they ranking for? Which of their pages drives the most traffic? What platforms and tools are they using? Is their website user friendly? What tactics are they using? This analysis will give you insight into your competition, and perhaps you will discover some untapped opportunities to take advantage of.
Technology Audit
You should consider periodically testing all the aspects of your website to make sure that everything is in good working order. Is your website built on a platform that is suitable for its purpose? What tools or plugins are you using? Are they the latest versions? Do you regularly back up your website and your data? Are your pages loading fast enough? Is your security up to date?
Scheduled Audits Are Key to Success
Routinely scheduled website audits will allow you to identify any problems that might be developing. If you schedule this maintenance on a quarterly basis, you can proactively address issues before they spiral out of control. The market is constantly fluctuating, and you want to make sure that your website is keeping up with the times.
When was the last time you audited your website? If this task seems overwhelming, give CycleWerx Marketing a call.