Properly optimizing your website for SEO, traffic, visitors and conversions is an ongoing task. It is important to go back and “re-access” your site from time-to-time to uncover new opportunities and fine tuning. Gone are the days of static brochure like websites that never change. Today’s websites are living and ever-evolving. With all this being said, what do you look for when you audit your website?
Below are 6 things you should look at when reviewing your website.
1- Calls-to-Action
One of the best places to start is to review your current calls-to-actions, or in some cases, lack thereof. Why is this one of the best places to start? Well, I’m sure your website is there to make you money right, proper CTA’s are one of the best ways to increase your conversion rate and your overall bottom line. That is of course assuming you get enough traffic.
A couple things to look for are the various ways visitors can contact you. Some best practices are to prominently feature your telephone number and either a form or a graphic that links to a form. Both should be featured on every page of your website. You never know when your visitor will feel compelled to reach out to you. Don’t make them hunt your contact information down because many people will bail instead.
This may sound obvious, but you would be surprised at how many sites I visit where I can’t find the telephone number.
A/B testing works well too. Your CTA could be on the right side of the page and working fine, but how do you know that is the BEST place if you don’t try other positions and test? You might be pleasantly surprised to see the statistics behind trying out different positions. It actually does make a difference in many cases.
2- Copy Enhancements
Web content is often added when the website is designed. Many times it is added with “I’ll go back in later and polish this up.” You may only have a couple paragraphs of content on each page when you know that an extra 400 words would really help out your SEO. We all know search engines love content, so why not go ahead and add some. Be sure to keep your pages keywords in mind when writing as well. By no means am I saying to keyword stuff, but do try to squeeze in your main keyword a few times as long as it reads ok.
Well written sales copy can do wonders for your conversion too. Try not to rush through your content. Either put some solid effort into it or hire a professional to help.
3- Design Improvements
If your website is still sporting the design from 3 years ago, it might be a good time for a makeover. SEO is great and all, but if your site is ugly, don’t expect too much from it.
4- Duplicate Content?
This is a huge issue that many ignore. I have seen many websites become penalized from Google for duplicate content. This could be repeating the same content on several pages on your website as well as having your exact content on other sites. Scan your site to ensure you have original content on each page. Also, do some research to see if your content is out on the web somewhere. There are many tools out there to help you find potential duplicate content. It is a solid preventative maintenance practice to check this every so often.
5- URL Structure
Check how your url’s read. Do your subpage links read like a foreign language? If they do, it’s time for a change. You may have heard the phrase “SEO friendly urls.” Well, they are important and definitely help your cause if you can get some of your keywords in the url structure. Clean urls also help if you have to send a link out.
6- 301 Redirecting
Do you have a http:// and a http://www. version of your site?
If so, you need to 301 redirect one to the other and sync those puppies up. Having two versions is bad for all kind of reasons that I would be better off explaining in another post. Takeaway from this = do the 301!
There are far more than 6 things to look at when auditing your website, but these are some of the things that can have the biggest impact. Get these basics straightened out and you will be well on your way to internet greatness! What are some other ideas you have for folks auditing their website?