Words: Belinda Connolly
A great website is no longer a nice thing to have for brands – it is as vital as any other aspect of your business. Your website serves as the face of your brand and is often the first point of contact for potential customers. If your visitors are greeted with outdated content, slow loading times and broken links, chances are they will bounce quicker than you can say ‘Why are my clickable actions so low?’.
Your website’s design, functionality and content play a pivotal role in attracting and retaining visitors. An outdated or poorly performing website can have a negative impact on your brand’s credibility and customer trust. Conducting a thorough website review allows you to assess its effectiveness, identify shortcomings and implement necessary enhancements.
A website review can help identify areas for improvement and ensure that your site aligns with current industry trends and user expectations. As a general rule, conducting a comprehensive website review at least once a year is recommended. This allows you to assess the website’s performance, identify areas for improvement and address any technical or content-related issues. Conducting more frequent reviews in response to significant updates, changes in business direction or shifts in customer needs and expectations is also a good idea.
Read on to see how to undertake a website review for your brand.
Evaluate user experience and navigation
User experience (UX) determines how visitors engage with your site and makes using the site all about the person visiting. A website review allows you to evaluate UX elements such as site navigation, page load speed, mobile responsiveness and overall usability. A user-friendly interface and intuitive navigation can significantly improve visitor engagement, reduce bounce rates and increase conversion rates.
Analysing user behaviour through website analytics can uncover valuable insights into how visitors interact with your site. By assessing click-through rates, time spent on pages, and conversion funnels allows you to see where visitors may be dropping off or encountering obstacles. Addressing these pain points will enhance the overall user experience and increase the likelihood of converting visitors into customers.
Optimise content for SEO
It is essential to ensure that your website aligns with current best SEO practices. SEO is a way that your site ‘talks’ with search engines to prove the relevance of your site for users and their search queries.
A website review allows you to evaluate your content strategy, keyword optimisation and meta tags to increase visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). By aligning your website’s content with relevant search queries, you can increase organic traffic and improve your chances of ranking higher in search engine rankings.
Content quality and relevance are vital for engaging users. Reviewing your website’s content involves assessing its accuracy, freshness and alignment with your target audience’s needs. Conduct keyword research to identify opportunities for optimising existing content or creating new content that aligns with search trends and user intent. This proactive approach will strengthen your site’s visibility, boost organic traffic and establish your brand as a reliable industry resource.
Analyse CTAs
A website review also involves evaluating your conversion paths and the effectiveness of your call-to-action (CTA) elements. Your website should guide visitors seamlessly towards desired actions, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or contacting your team. Assessing the visibility and placement of your CTAs will ensure they drive conversions and align with your business objectives.
Analyse your website’s conversion funnels, landing pages, and lead generation forms to identify any friction points or areas of improvement. Implement A/B testing to optimise your CTAs, headlines and visuals for maximum impact.
Your website review checklist
Here’s what to assess to ensure your site is fit for purpose:
- Evaluate design and branding: Assess the visual appeal, branding consistency and overall design elements of your site, and ensure that it aligns with your brand identity.
- Review user experience: Test your website’s navigation, responsiveness and loading speed across different devices and browsers. Don’t forget wearables: make sure any buttons can be clicked even on a smartwatch. Analyse user behaviour and identify any areas for improvement.
- Assess content quality and accessibility: Evaluate the relevance, accuracy and readability of your site’s content. Update and optimise outdated content, including images, and check that copy can be read. Don’t go too hard with fonts that may look great but are hard to read, and stick with black font on neutral background. There are also some great plugins that can automatically make your site accessible for users with vision impairments.
- Perform SEO analysis: Analyse keywords, meta tags and on-page optimisation to ensure your site ranks well in search engine results.
- Check technical aspects: Conduct a technical audit to identify and fix any issues such as broken links, slow loading times or coding errors.
- Analyse analytics data: Use website analytics tools to gain insights into visitor behaviour, traffic sources and conversion rates. Identify trends to make data-driven decisions on engaging content formats, subject matter and more.
- Seek user feedback: Ask users for feedback via surveys or forms to understand preferences, pain points and areas that need improvement.
- Monitor and iterate: Regularly monitor the impact of the implemented changes. Track key metrics, analyse user feedback, and make iterative improvements to enhance your website continuously.
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, website reviews are essential to stay competitive, drive conversions and provide an exceptional user experience. Testing and asking your audience for feedback are simple ways to ensure visitors have a positive experience and perform the desired actions on your site.
