Annual Website Evaluation: Questions to Consider
Today's market has never been more competitive. And nowhere showcases that competition like the web. Your website is your company's digital, marketing, and sales hub. A well-developed website impacts not only the impression you have on current customers but should also draw in prospects and potential leads. Your site may look nice, and be functioning properly on the surface, but how do you know if your site is working for you? Start off by asking yourself some general questions:
• Does your site generate new business?• Does your site build your brand and align with your company's goals?
• How does your site compare with industry standards?
• As a leader, what do you think is missing from your site?
When evaluating your website, it's also important to think about continuous improvement. We suggest reviewing the following areas:
1. Strategy:
• What is the goal of your website?
• What do you need to accomplish to be successful?
• Have pages been added haphazardly over the years?
• Does your site look outdated?
• How old is your latest news?
• Is the focus on you or your customers?
• What is the annual cost of your website? (cost of hosting, domain, internal/external development, and maintenance)
2. ROI:
• Is your site making or losing revenue each year? How do you measure this?
• Do you measure and analyze your web traffic?
• Do you track orders for website inquiries?
• What do customers say about your site? Have you asked them what they think?
3. Security:
• How secure is your site?
• Is your site a gateway to your data?
• Do you know of companies who have fallen victim to hackers?
• How confident are you that this won't happen to you?
4. Programming:
• Is your platform up-to-date?
• Does your site meet all of today's technical requirements?
• How good is your search engine optimization?
• How is your hosting performing? Do you experience a lot of downtime?
• How is your site integrated with blogs, social media, etc.?
5. Content:
• How effective is your copy? Is it organized well?
• Is your site customer-focused?
• Is your site's content formal or conversational?
• How readable is your content?
6. Search:
• Are you following Google's best practices to increase ranking?
• How easy is it to find your site?
• How updated are your meta tags and meta descriptions?
• How long is your page load time?
• What is the quality of your internal linking?
7. Navigation:
• Does your site make it simple for visitors to explore?
• How easy is it to find key information?
• How simple is it to find and fill out your forms?
8. Design:
• How professional is your design?
• You have 4 seconds! Would you stay on the site the first time you visit? Why or maybe more importantly, why not?
• How qualified were your web designers?
• Is your layout simple and organized?
• Are you using high-quality images?
9. Maintenance:
• How well is your site maintained?
• How old is your content? When was the last time it was revised?
• Do you know if your platform is current?
• Do you really understand why maintenance is necessary?
Progress begins with the identification of needs. Incorporate an annual website evaluation into your plans for 2020. Doing so can avoid revenue loss and brand deterioration, which can be the result of website issues.
Does your site need some professional perspective? The web development professionals at Business Builders Marketing are here for you. We care about your company's success. Call us at 309-827-7977 or