You’ve got a website to help promote your business, excellent.  Now, when was the last time you looked at it?  When was the last time you looked at it from your customer’s perspective?  During a marketing review meeting this morning, one of our clients admitted that they hadn’t looked at their website since our last meeting, 2 months ago!  After all, they know everything about their business; they don’t need to be looking at their website.  But they do, for lots of reasons.

Have a look at your website then ask yourself these questions:

• Is it clear what is being offered from the home page, within approx. 1 minute of reading the copy?
• Do you trust the information presented?
• Are there typos, broken links or factual errors?
• Are you encouraged to take further action from the home page?
• Would you buy from this site?

It’s actually very difficult to read your own website with an unbiased eye.  You know what you think it should say, so won’t spot typos; you know what your business offers, so won’t be trying to decipher what the message is; you will of course want to buy as you know how good you are.  Will this exercise produce an effective review of your website?  Probably not.

This is why we use our Website Performance Reviews for all our clients on a regular basis.

The reviews include the following:

Site Structure

–          Are there any navigation issues: is the site easy to follow to the desired point (a call to action ideally).

–          Are there any design errors – is your logo present?  Do the colours used represent your branding?  Is the site presented clearly and attractively?

–          Are there any coding bugs?

–          Is the content reflective of branding?  Does it not just include, but focus on the customers pain points?

SEO

–          What keywords or phrases are used in the current Heading tags and Meta descriptions?

–          Are people going to find your site when they search for your services?

We then use this information to make a series of recommendations.  Some are critical so need to be implemented immediately – typos, broken links, calls to action, incorrect information.  Some are nice to have but not urgent – move images on pages, include new images etc.

When we start working with a new client we’ll review their website from the outset, then carry out a review every month to ensure the site is performing to its utmost.  Whilst you’re the expert on your business, you can’t be an expert at reviewing your website.

If you want us to review your website, contact us!