Many new customers come to us with complaints about their previous web-design firm. After looking at their website we find out that the person who designed their website strictly paid attention to web-development aesthetics and ignored the principles of Search Engine Optimization, or vice versa. If your website is not ranking well, or if you think it is not well designed you might be in need of a Detailed Website Audit. Some people think if you build a website the visitors will show up automatically, but it doesn’t work that way. After a website has been built online traffic needs to be directed to the site. Before building a website it is a good idea to do some research and find the right keyword strategy that fits your business and industry. Another important step is to follow web development and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices. The objective is to design a website that will rank well in search results, while looking pleasing to the potential customer’s view. Our Audit includes an evaluation of all of the following areas.
Homepage
The homepage of a website is just like your store front. You need to make it look appealing to the visitor. Also, there are a set of industry best practices that would help if followed.
Task Orientation
Task Orientation is very important. Usually, your customers go on your website to accomplish specific tasks. Keeping task orientation in mind when designing a website helps minimize the time it takes for your customers to accomplish their task on your website and helps you operate more efficiently.
Functionality
Your website has to be functional and serve its purpose. If you have a beautifully designed website but it doesn’t function properly, then you have wasted your resources and not achieved the results you were looking for.
Navigation
A website needs to have a well-designed navigation structure, so the visitor can have a general idea of where things are on the website and a way to reach them with the fewest amount of clicks.
Information Architecture
This is a crucial element in any website design. For larger and complex websites, the concept of information architecture becomes more important. Simply put, this concept helps web designer layout the information in a logical manner such as grouping similar items together, overall layout, and labeling the groups with the right names.
Forms & Data Entry
If you have forms and data entry fields on your website make sure your forms are asking the right questions and make sure the questions are clear and concise. This makes it easier for the customer to submit the form and increases your chance of successful submissions. You can also develop two versions of the form and do A/B testing to see which one performs better and after the trial run is over you can decide to go with the form that performs better. You should make it as easy as possible for your visitors to enter data on forms.
Trust and Credibility
Trust and credibility play a big role in any business relationship. One of my favorite quotes from Warren Buffet says, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” The same Philosophy applies to your website and business. If you want your business to prosper you need to build a website that shows the organization behind it. You can do this by making sure your content is always up-to-date, listing your business address, sharing your vision and mission statement, and avoiding any pop up advertising.
Writing and Content Quality
Well written quality content for your website is just common sense. If your site is full of grammatical errors, this results in diminished trust and credibility. The visitor thinks you didn’t care enough about your own business to proof read your website content. Make sure your website is free of any spelling or grammatical errors. Also, make sure everything is labeled clearly and the text is concise so there is no confusion.
Page Layout & Visual Design
The layout for each page has to be a little different so the customer doesn’t mistake one page for another. The layout of the homepage has to be different from all your other pages to easily be distinguished from other pages of the website. The overall color scheme and design of the website has to be uniform, so the visitor knows they are still on your website. The site also needs to be visually appealing to the eye, but not overwhelming with flashy visuals and too much information.
Search
The search feature on a website is a simple and useful tool. Many websites are designed lacking this useful feature. The search feature of your website needs to be intuitive and useful, so the visitor can find what they are searching for. Ranking items by relevance also helps the customer find what they are looking for easily.
Help, Feedback and Error Tolerance
Finally, make sure your website has an FAQ and help section so you can answer your customers’ most common questions. Make sure your answers and help instructions are brief, clear and concise. As for error tolerance make sure your site uses a customized 404-error page. Make sure all your error messages have clear instructions on what to do next so the customer isn’t confused.
Our Detailed Website Audit is a report we manually generate. We have experts that will go through your website and share the results with you in a detailed report. Our experts will find all errors and give you recommendations on how to make your website perform more efficiently and create better results for your business. If you are interested in a Detailed Website Audit for more information.