What do you think of when you first hear the word “audit?”. For most people in the business world, this word conjures up powerful fears because many times audits are not a good thing (if you have ever received a letter from the IRS in the mail, you know exactly what I am talking about… *gulp*).
However, in this case, performing an audit of your website and online brand is a very good thing and essential in developing a solid website and marketing strategy.
Think of it this way – whenever you fine-tune a process at your business, you’re technically auditing it in order to address the issues and improve its performance.
The same idea applies to your website, which if it isn’t already, soon might just be your main source of business.
Benefits of a Website Audit
If you have an internet marketing company audit your website, you can (or should) expect at the bare minimum to evaluate and suggest recommendations to improve the following:
1) Conversion Rates (AKA “Sales”)
Let’s face it; this is what you want any internal audit you perform to do, right? A website audit should examine your top landing pages and their design, content and calls-to-action to ensure they maximize conversions. It’s not a simple process – it can take months of testing and tracking to figure out what really works for your website. However, through strategic planning and implementation, an audit should lead you to increased conversions for a higher ROI on your marketing dollars.
2) Better SEO
SEO has changed drastically in recent years. Google actually makes about 500 changes to its algorithm per year (whoa!). What works now will likely be much different than what works next year, or even next month for that matter. Good SEO always focuses on providing the best user experience first and pleasing the search engines second. Focusing on users first also protects you from constantly analyzing every last detail of your SEO. Just remember, Google wants to serve up the very best websites. If your user experience sucks, your bounce rates and repeat visitors will be low and that is data Google will use against you. A good website audit will evaluate your SEO and how it overlaps with your user experience so you can find a good balance that makes your users AND Google happy.
3) Enhanced Usability
The design and functionality of your website is limited only by your imagination (and the team of experts you hire to execute your ideas). However, an overly complicated design, busy web pages and too much information are actually bad for your site. If your website doesn’t tell your visitors they are in the right place in a clear and concise way, they will leave quickly – and likely never visit again. A website audit can help you nail down the areas of your site that should be simplified, so you can determine what structure, content and function works best for your users.
4) Stronger Content
A technical website audit will check things such as bounce rates, time on site, page views, etc. – which are extremely important areas to improve upon for better search engine indexing. However, people AND search engines come back to your website repeatedly because of the quality of the content you have to offer. Auditing your content helps you understand which types of content they like, as well as how they like to view it (articles, images, video etc…). An audit can help you decide on a solid content strategy for your website and blog that will focus on what your users want specifically – and happy users in turn lead to better organic rankings with the search engines.
5) Improved Organic Search Visibility
In order to increase your search engine rankings you have to first understand what you want to rank for. Good organic search rankings start with a solid keyword strategy. Once you understand your market and competition, you can develop an on-page SEO plan which will integrate your target keywords into specific areas of the content and code of your website. Google and the other search engines determine what your website should rank for based off of the content and on-page optimization of your website. If you don’t tell them what you are an authority for, how will they know what terms to serve you up for? A website audit should include keyword discovery and research which should then be integrated into your on-page SEO and off-site website marketing.
If You Haven’t Had One in a While (or ever) Now is the Time for a Website Audit
If you haven’t had a brand or website SEO audit in the last year, now is the time! Yesterday’s search environment is much different than today’s and even relatively minor changes can have a large impact on your site’s search performance and conversions.
Click here to find out more about the Eminent SEO audit services, or better yet, give us a call at 1.800.871.4130… we are waiting to help you improve your website conversions.
Awesome! I’ve never done an audit of my site
Doing one yourself can be tricky, so if you need help – give us a call!
I just did lol
Around audit is a bad word
I’m way overdue! Did an audit once 3 years ago