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| Audit Your Website |
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Once a year, we're forced to dig out our receipts and balance the books. But we can put a website online without stopping to figure out whether we've got a high return on investment and whether our website is delivering the dividends it promised when we started out.
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| Online, All the Time |
Your website is your online office. It's open for business 24/7 and acts as receptionist, salesperson, public relations group, customer service department, tech support, and human resources all rolled into one. As with any office, it's worthwhile to conduct a periodic review of the "departments" on your website.
When auditing your website, it's important to look at it from the point of view of your users, regardless of whether they are customers, suppliers, potential investors, potential employees, current employees, or the media.
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| |  | Are you meeting all their needs?
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| | | Is the information up to date and relevant?
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| | | What features, functions, or services should you provide that are not currently available on the site?
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| | | Does your site convey the correct image about your company and its products and services?
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The Top 10 Web Audit Questions
- Is your website meeting your goals?
- Does your website meet your users needs?
- Does the site design build your brand?
- Is the site easy to navigate?
- Is the content up-to-date and relevant?
- Does the site clearly differentiate you from your competition?
- Are there any functions you should add to the site?
- What is the call to action?
- Do you obtain detailed site statistics?
- Do you have a detailed site maintenance plan?
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To get an overall picture, compile a profile of your typical user — age, occupation, buying habits, and how much time they spend online. Draw up a list of tasks that the user might perform on your site — looking for product information, purchasing a product, becoming a distributor, receiving your newsletter, getting company press releases, comparing your product with the competition's. Define the features and functions the user will need in order to complete those tasks and then consider incorporating them on your site.
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| Moving the Goalposts |
When your site first went online, you had very definite goals for what you expected your website to achieve. Have these goals been met? If your business model has changed, is the current website structure and content still relevant? Does the website reflect your most up-to-date product and service offering? Is it clear what your company has to offer versus the competition? Do you know why the user coming to your site will choose your products or services (are they cost, service, or value-driven)?
As you scrutinize your site you will begin to have a clear idea of the content (or functionality) you need to change, add, or remove from your site.
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| Reading between the Lines |
Site statistics can often be quite helpful in telling you how many visitors came to your site and the specific pages they visited. However, be wary of jumping to instant conclusions. If a certain page on your site receives little or no hits, it might be because the page is of limited interest to the users. On the other hand, it might point to a flaw in your navigation scheme.
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| Update or Redesign? |
Conducting a section by section, page by page review of your website is a lengthy process, but it should be a revealing one. By the end of the audit, you should have a good idea of what parts of the site you want to retain, delete, or update. You will know if your navigational structure is sound, or if it needs restructuring. You might also be able to tell which areas of the site to expand, or reduce.
Depending on the scope of the planned update, you may well be able to change content, graphics, and other images without having to redesign the entire site or restructure the navigation around the site. However, major changes in your business strategy or your brand identity may well dictate a full site redesign. An outdated site is worse than no site at all.
Remember, users judge your company by your website. If your website is outdated, slow to respond, or doesn't meet their needs, they are going to assume your company is a reflection of your website. Start your website audit now.
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The Trendletter team welcomes your comments.
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