5 Website Audit Tips for the New Year and Beyond

A beginners guide: Key areas to review on your website audit

Your website gives visitors a first impression of your business. Does it tell your story? Does it clearly state what you do? How does it look on mobile devices? Here are my 5 tips on things to review on your website, at least annually:

1. Be your customer: Review your website from a customer's point of view. Is your website up to date or are you showing old information? Does your website reflect your business and brand? Is it easy to navigate?

2. Check your phone: Review your website on mobile. Should items be rearranged or does the layout need adjustment? Typically, over 50% of visitors view your site on mobile, you don't want to lose a customer from a bad mobile experience.

3. Sometimes less is more: Although it may be cool that you can create all sorts of animation on your website, does it enhance the visitor's experience? There is nothing wrong with a few moving parts to create a mood, but don't make it a distraction so the visitor leaves the site. Video backgrounds come to mind - I get motion sickness, so if there is too much going on in the background, I leave a site immediately.

4. Review your SEO: Your business evolves over time, so should your SEO. Search engines are looking for proper SEO to rank your site in a search. This includes not only proper page titles and page descriptions, but using the correct text tags in your text blocks (H1, H2, etc.), alt text describing your images, and using keywords within your content. What would people search for when they need your services/products? What is your service area? Are these items described properly on your website?

5. Copyright Year: Make sure you update your copyright year in the footer (bottom of your site). Although it would generally be hard to know if someone copies your information, having an old copyright may make visitors think you are no longer in business or your website is showing old information. FYI, create a Copyright symbol by pressing and holding the Alt key and typing 0169 which should show as ©

I am scheduling free quick audits during the month of January to help businesses start the new year on the right track. Contact me if you would like to schedule a free quick audit for your website!

Happy New Year!

Jayne