How to Audit your Website like a VISITOR
When it comes to your company website, it can be easy to forget sometimes that YOU ARE NOT THE AUDIENCE. And, because of this, we sometimes miss the boat in evaluating whether the website is "getting the job done." By now it's obvious to every marketer how important your website is to the marketing mix. What can be missing is the objective view as to whether your website is being all that it can...and should...be.
We believe EVERY website should undergo a comprehensive website audit at least once a year (if not once a quarter). Whether you hire a third party to conduct the audit (which can reveal some enlightening results) or you do it yourself internally, focus on the following three areas to make sure you're conducting your website audit from the eyes of your visitor:
USABILITY: This is perhaps the biggest area of the audit in terms of the number of things you need to assess (our Website Audit Template includes 15 areas of usability to evaluate). The biggest things to focus on here are navigation, functionality, and performance. Does the navigation clearly and quickly guide the visitor to the areas they want to see? Does the site you've used properly display in the most common browsers and with the various monitor resolutions? How quickly does your site load, and are there technologies used that slow down performance or distract the visitor (Flash, splash entry pages, etc.)?
CONTENT: Audit the content of your site for brand effectiveness and clarity, freshness (is it outdated), and completeness (have you covered all the areas your visitor expects to see). Specifically, does the look of your site accurately reflect your brand and does it use your brand elements (logo, colors, etc.) correctly? Has the site added new content within the last 14 days? Does the site include all the content that would be important to your visitor (company info, product info, customer case studies, educational information such as articles, etc.)?
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO): While this may seem like a no-brainer, MarketingSherpa recently reported that most companies do not focus enough of their marketing resources on SEO. How can this be? Given that most purchases begin with a web search, it is VITAL your site be properly optimized for search engines. There are many SEO items to check your site for, but the biggest SEO areas to focus on in your audit include a review of page titles, link text, and image use (on EVERY page). For a more comprehensive SEO evaluation, download our SEO Checklist.
No matter how good you think your site is, after a complete audit of these three areas, you are likely to find significant ways to improve it. After you've audited your site, create an action plan for how you plan to address any deficiencies you discovered. Depending on what you find in your audit, you may be able to make the changes quickly. Or, you may require a complete site overhaul. Either way, you'll be glad you've removed your "internal" glasses and taken the time to review your site like your visitor sees it.
So what are you waiting for, get started on your own website audit now!
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The Sales and Marketing Toolkits BUNDLED contains:
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Over 60 sales and marketing templates (DOC, XLS, PPT, and PDFs)
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Loads of "how-to" articles and examples
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8 Training sessions (MP3 audio files) for your computer or iPod
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