Website Review: why you need it and what is included!
A website review is a process of evaluating your website’s performance and identifying areas for improvement. It can help you improve your website’s search engine ranking, user experience, and overall effectiveness.
It is no news that our attention spans have decreased significantly over the past few years. With the entire world going online, exponentially increased digital content, multidevice usage, all amplified by pandemic fatigue; having a website that performs is now more crucial than ever.
Why do you need it?
- To improve your website’s search engine ranking: A website audit can help you identify and fix any issues that are preventing your website from ranking well in search engines. This can help you attract more visitors to your website.
- To improve your website’s user experience: A website audit can help you identify and fix any issues that are making it difficult for users to find what they’re looking for on your website. This can help you improve your website’s conversion rate.
- To identify areas for improvement: A website audit can help you identify areas where your website can be improved, such as its content, design, or functionality. This can help you make your website more effective and user-friendly.
- To stay ahead of the competition: A website audit can help you identify areas where your website is falling behind the competition. This can help you make changes to your website to improve its performance and attract more visitors.
- To ensure your website is secure: A website audit can help you identify and fix any security vulnerabilities on your website. This can help protect your website from hackers and other malicious attacks.
2. What is included?
The specific areas that are covered in a website audit will vary depending on the specific needs of the website. For example, a website that is focused on e-commerce may need to focus more on technical SEO and security, while a website that is focused on lead generation may need to focus more on user experience and content.
A website review can cover a wide range of areas, but some of the most common areas include:
- Technical SEO: This includes checking the website’s code, structure, and performance. This is important for ensuring that the website is properly indexed by search engines and that it loads quickly for users.
- On-page SEO: This includes optimizing the website’s content, keywords, and title tags. This is important for ensuring that the website ranks well in search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Off-page SEO: This includes building backlinks and improving the website’s reputation. This is important for improving the website’s overall ranking in SERPs.
- User experience: This includes evaluating the website’s design, navigation, and usability. This is important for ensuring that users have a positive experience on the website.
- Content: This includes checking the website’s content for quality, relevance, and freshness. This is important for ensuring that the website’s content is valuable and up-to-date.
- Security: This includes checking the website for security vulnerabilities. This is important for protecting the website from hackers and other malicious attacks.
3. Search Engine Optimization
Understanding how Google reads websites and how search engines work can help guide you in organizing your website’s structure and content. Mechanics and software play a big role in your website’s efficacy. Have you submitted your website to Google, created a sitemap, had Google crawl your website pages? Are your pages titled appropriately with descriptions, content, and images for support? Although many DYI website platforms (Godaddy, Squarespace, Wix) work well in helping you build a digital website brochure, getting your website found online and attracting traffic will require a bit more research or help from a professional.
4. Social Media
Social media can be the biggest driver for website traffic. If you are posting on one platform – with so many cost-effective automation tools available – there is no reason to miss out on all the others. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all bring valuable opportunities for visibility, growth, engagement, and search engine optimization. An active blog can help your website rank for keywords, provide content for social media, and facilitate additional referrals to your website. For local search, Google My Business is your website’s most visible asset. This important platform can also be automated for an active and up-to-date presence.
5. Know your audience
Who is your ideal client? Who do you enjoy working with the most? This is your target audience. Get to know this demographic well. Show them your value. Speak their language, cater to their style, show them what they want to see, answer their questions before they ask, expand on their joy, get them excited about working with you. After all, your website is really for them.
Yelena Wells
Yelena Wells is a Marketing Strategist at Elite One Media. She holds Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees in Piano Performance and serves as the Marketing & Communications Chair for Michigan MTA.
This article was written for the MTNA Business Digest April 2022 • Volume 1, Issue 3.