Any good business owner reviews their business frequently.
Whether its checking the finances and comparing that to past data or future goals. Perhaps its reviewing the average status of customer reviews. Or even spot checking products to ensure that they meet the standards required by your customers.
All areas of a business should be reviewed, even the website and its online offering. Something that many businesses forget to do or neglect for a prolonged period of time.
Whilst its very easy to become blind to something you look at frequently, and we are all guilty of sticking to our habits, just what should you be looking at and checking when reviewing our website.
Check #1: Does your website work?
Sounds simple enough but this is THE most important check that you should be performing.
Check your website and keep a close eye on…
- how long the website takes to load
- whether images are slow to load
- whether there are pages with content that seem to go on for ever and a day
There are websites out there that will give you a more accurate estimate of how fast/slow your website is to load – after all your own internet speed will skew the results either way. Examples include GT Metrix and Google’s own Page Speed Insights.
If there are images that are slow to load then get in touch with your website developer and ensure that you do something about it.
If you notice that you have pages with a never ending trail of content, then make a note to go through this page and ensure that its all relevant and interesting. If the content can be broken up into multiple paragraphs or other pages then do so.
Check #2: Does the ‘Look’ Reflect your Business and Brand?
If your website does not have the right look for your business and brand then this is the time to start thinking about a re-brand to ensure that your website looks the part.
Whether it’s a few tweaks, a new logo, a new home page structure, or even a complete re-design, making sure the website reflects your business is key.
Check #3: Is the Content Unique, Relevant and Interesting?
When conducting your review its important to check on your website’s content, especially if you have multiple people updating the website. Uniformity when it comes to the way information is written and images are styled are key for your online brand.
Spend some time looking for gaps in your content – Are there any sections where a FAQs guide might help? Are there products/services that would be better explained with additional images? Are you promoting your main or most profitable product/services throughout your website?
Spending time checking this content will help you improve this content and ensure that your website remains fresh, updated and useful for your website visitors and customers.
Last but not least,
Check #3: Don’t Forget Other Users!
When businesses look at their website to review them they often look at it from their preferred device.
For example, those business owners that tend to work in an office or fixed location, tend to look at their website and how it functions using a desktop or laptop.
Those business owners that tend to work on the go, from mixed locations and who aren’t tied to their computer for the product/service that they offer, tend to look at their website and its performance from a tablet or mobile.
This gives them an often one sided view of how their website looks, performs and is used by website visitors, customers and potential customers.
Generally speaking, the split between desktop and mobile use is 40/60. The use of mobiles for accessing websites are riding high and have steadily increased since the launch of mainstream smart phones back in 2009.
This is reflected in Google’s growing preference for mobile first indexing.
So, when you are reviewing your website, ensure that you look at your website on both a desktop/laptop AND a mobile device.
Don’t forget a single user and their experience of your website.
If you want a second opinion on your website and whether it is fit for purpose, contact the team here at Digital Nachos for a website review.
Published: 22nd May 2019