Is your website bringing you enough sales?If not read on about the main mistakes why your website is not offering any value for your business and how to fix them!

1. How Good is Your Website?
yourdigitalstory.com /how-good-is-your-website/
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21 Aug2013
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A business website always has a purpo se. The times when a website existed with no o ther purpo se than
spend yo ur time and surf the pro duct catalo gues is o ver. A website is primarily a business sales channel
o nline. Why yo u need a website when yo ur website do esn’t bring yo u any sales o r have any o ther CTA-s?
Internet is a po tential enviro nment where yo u can intro duce yo ur business, develo p client trust and make
sales. Mo st websites can handle the first po int but fall sho rt in
seco nd and third po int.
Main mistakes why a website o ffers no extra value fo r a business
are:
Lack o f pro mo tio n so peo ple do n’t reach yo ur website
Lack o f actio n so visito rs leave yo ur site witho ut a co ntact o r
sales
How to make sure that I have a good website?
Every website o wner sho uld set their website a clear purpo se – filling
in a co ntact fo rm, sales, query etc. This sho uld be the heart o f a
website that yo u can value yo ur website effectiveness.
Many website o wners ask fro m their friends and acquaintances ho w they feel abo ut their website. The feedback yo u get is very
superficial. Regular peo ple who are no t experts in web design and web develo pment have no qualificatio n to judge website
effectiveness, especially when they are yo ur friends. Yo u canno t get o bjective feedback fro m yo ur friends. If yo u really want to
kno w whether yo ur website wo rks o r no t, yo u need a mo re in-depth analysis o n the design, structure, menu, co ntent, CTA-s,
functio ns etc. Then yo u need an audit .
The purpo se o f an audit is to ascertain the weaknesses o f the website – why the website lacks o f traffic, where are the clients’
lo o pho les, why the website has lo w co nversio n etc. A co mplete do cument o f yo ur business review is made with step-by-step
guidelines to impro ve the site.
Do I need an audit?
As mentio ned previo usly the aim o f an audit is to ascertain the bo ttlenecks o f yo ur website.
Yo u really need to co nsider making an audit when:
Yo ur website has little traffic
Visito rs leave yo ur site witho ut any actio ns
Visito rs spend little time o n yo ur site
Average pages per visit is 1-2 pages
Yo u want to impro ve yo ur website visits and co nversio n
Yo u’ve recently updated yo ur website and wish to check its functio nality
Yo ur search po sitio ns have dro pped
Yo u want an independent expert feedback ho w to impro ve yo ur website
We bsit e audit helps to impro ve yo ur site functio nality, get mo re traffic, impro ve co nversio n and o utrun co mpetito rs.
Improve your site f unctionality
To identify the technical pro blems that affect negatively yo ur website traffic and co nversio n yo u sho uld co nduct a technical
audit. Technical audit gives yo u o verview o f:
We bsit e use r e xpe rie nce – The user experience audit helps to view the page as a first time visito rs experience it. Ho w
easily is the info rmatio n fo und and if there are any o bstacles to perfo rm an actio n. An evaluatio n is given to website
structure and menu, co ntent quality and length, CTA-s, website speed etc.

2. structure and menu, co ntent quality and length, CTA-s, website speed etc.
We bsit e f unct io nalit y – Are there any flaws in reservatio n o r buying systems? This phase helps to figure o ut where’s
the leak – yo u’ve go t traffic but they perfo rm no actio ns. The reaso n may be a bro ken sales cart system that has tro uble
with changing, adding o r remo ving pro ducts in cart etc. Yo u also get an o verview o f bro ken pages (erro r 404) that o ccur
when the website address has been changed witho ut redirectio n (301 redirect). Bro ken pages leave a reckless
impressio n o f yo ur business and direct visito rs to wro ng pages.
We bsit e visibilit y o n se arch – The mo st impo rtant facto r in getting traffic o n yo ur site is yo ur website visibility o n
search. There may be many pro blems with search, fo r example when there is no website cano nicalizatio n which means
that http://yo urdo main.co m is no t directed to http://www.yo urdo main.co m. In this case the do main value is spread and
Go o gle co unts it as a duplicated co ntent. Yo u also need to make sure that the pages are indexable o r they canno t be
fo und o n search.
More traf f ic and higher conversion
Website audit is mo re than just an o verview o f yo ur website effectiveness. Yo u also get a full repo rt o f SEO perfo rmance. Ho w
visible is yo ur page o n search and what’s the o rganic search quality? Audit is a great way to check yo ur SEO service pro vider
quality – do they use fair metho ds and what are the results? SEO audit gives an o verview o f:
On-sit e SEO – Ho w well do es the o n-site o ptimizatio n perfo rm? Different o ptimizatio n metho ds like URL addresses,
title tags, meta descriptio n, meta keywo rds, headings, internal linking, ancho rs, picture titles, duplicated co ntent etc. are
evaluated here. The audit also helps to ascertain what keywo rds bring the mo st visito rs and queries and what pages
rank with specific keywo rds o n search.
Of f -sit e SEO – Off-site o ptimizatio n is mainly linking and so cial activity. Audit identifies the number o f backlinks, what
pages are linking back to yo ur site, what’s the link value, no fo llo w and do fo llo w links etc. The aim is to figure o ut what
links bring yo u real value and what do n’t. Yo ur so cial activity is also taken under the micro sco pe – what so cial media
netwo rks are wo rth yo ur attentio n to impro ve yo ur site value?
Ke ywo rd po sit io ns – Keywo rd analysis gives insight into yo ur website po sitio ns o n search engines. In-depth
analysis helps to find o ut whether the website is o ptimized o n relevant keywo rds that bring real value to yo ur business.
Outrun your competitors
Co mpetito rs audit helps yo u better understand yo ur co mpetito rs’ strengths and weaknesses. Keywo rd analysis sho ws yo ur
search po sitio ns co mpared to co mpetito rs. This helps to see what their co re business is and whether yo u have a chance to
o utrun them. Co mpetito rs’ analysis also gives an o verview o f their market share, helps to identify their client pro files and gives
an advantage to learn o thers mistakes.
Conclusion
Website audit is needed to identify yo ur business bo ttlenecks o nline. Internet is a po tential sales channel that can bring yo ur
business a co nsiderable amo unt o f extra inco me. Yo u better fix that no n-functio nal website as fast as po ssible and sto p
wasting yo ur reso urces! Make yo ur website wo rk fo r yo ur business, o rder an audit and be ready fo r a co mprehensive updates.
NB!
Website audit sho uld be perfo rmed at least o nce a year. If yo ur website is updated regularly, its reco mmended to make the
audit mo re o ften to evaluate the results.
Krist jan-Paul Raude
www.Yo urDigitalSto ry.co m
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