Want to Improve Your Website to Generate More Sales?

Evaluate Your Website with These 10 Questions

You've likely been contemplating website updates for a while now. Just as your business is constantly growing and evolving, your website should be improving constantly too. Websites are a significant investment of time, money, and resources. You’ve probably told yourself, “my website is fine, there are things I would change but it’s okay for now”. We’ve all been there. However, now it is more important than ever to have your website performing at its best. There are more consumers online than ever before. The features of your website can attract consumers and encourage them to do business with you, or it can send them to the arms of your competitors. The design, functionality, and features of your website can determine your business’s success going forward.

If you'd like to evaluate your website right now and see where you could improve, ask yourself the following questions:

 

Do you have a target conversion for your website and is it successful?

Every business should know what the ultimate goal of their website is. Is it to have users fill out a contact form, call your business, make a purchase, or something else? It’s important to analyze what you are wanting consumers to do on your website and make sure it is optimized for this action. All pages of your website should align with this goal and guide your customers to the target conversion you are looking for.

Is your website secure?

Website security is important not only for SEO purposes, but for earning the trust of your current and potential customers. A “Not Secure” notification in the address bar of your visitor's browser can cast doubt about the integrity of your business immediately. Not to mention, search engines like Google take SSL (or Secure Sockets Layer) certificates into consideration when choosing which websites should show up for a user’s query.

Is your website's content up to date?

When is the last time you updated the content on your website? You may have dated information, old images, or company accreditations and “years in business” claims that need to be updated. Also, it is recommended to continually keep your information on your website fresh. Search engine algorithms take into consideration when a page was last updated for rankings.

Is your site mobile friendly?

With an increase in mobile web traffic, you must make sure your website is optimized for mobile, desktop, and tablets. Have you tried pulling up your website on different devices to make sure it performs well on the different screen sizes? Sometimes, the buttons, menus, and features on your website simply just don't transfer correctly from desktop to mobile. In some cases, you may even want a different design entirely on mobile devices to truly accentuate your brand and your products. Spend some time on your website on different devices and look for possible areas to improve.

Is your website easy to navigate?

You want your page titles and topics to be clear, your toolbar easy to navigate, and search functionality when someone is looking for something very specific. Your website should have a clear structure that makes it user friendly so that users don’t just give up when the information they are looking for isn’t readily available.

Does your website load quickly and correctly?

Page speed matters because consumer attention spans are short. We live in a digital era where users expect fast, reliable results at the tips of their fingers. Any delay in loading on your website, or components loading incorrectly, can cost you. Users are highly likely to abandon a website that loads slowly or doesn’t function correctly.

Are your web pages optimized for specific keywords?

Keyword strategy is the key to search engine optimization. Every page on your website should have a target keyword and be optimized to provide the best information possible about said keyword. You can’t simply use all the words that apply to your business on every page of your website. Keyword usage and web pages must be strategic, thoughtful, and focused to be able to produce results.

Do you have analytics integration and are you using it to track results?

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. If you don’t have analytics set up on your website you don’t have any insights about your traffic, audience, conversions, and other information that is crucial for the success of your business. For instance, if you make improvements to your website and this results in more traffic and more conversions, you’ll want to know! You can also assess which pages of your website are the most popular and target more ads related to those subjects. Analytics is crucial for a holistic marketing strategy to tie in all aspects of your digital presence.

Is your website branding dated?

Your logo, colors, font, and brand voice are all important aspects of your overall brand presence. You want to be reliable and consistent with how you are delivering your message and showing your brand to consumers. Once you develop your brand image, you will still need to make updates as time goes on. Colors and logos can become dated as the years go on. Stay modern by making calculated adjustments to your brand while still sticking to your company’s core identity. And, if you make any changes to your brand, keep them consistent by sticking to a branding guide across all platforms so that it is cohesive. Checkout our official brand guide and learn what all it entails.

Are there features you could benefit from that you don’t have at this time?

There are constant technological advances happening that can streamline digital processes. Websites can integrate with your POS system, payment processor, social media, email marketing, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Azure, Salesforce and other custom systems that are integral to your operations. Your website is a tool for your business so you should make it work for you. Consider any integration you would benefit from and don’t settle for just “good enough” when it comes to the features of your website. Your website can be your most successful salesperson if you do it right.

Thoroughly Evaluate Your Website and Make an Update Plan

All of the considerations above related to updating a website can be quite daunting to business owners who don’t have the time to become web experts as well. However, no one knows your business better than you. You should take the time to really sit down and evaluate your website, your digital strategy, and your overall business goals and make sure your digital efforts are aligning with the former. Find a trustworthy partner to help you make these evaluations, build a strategy, and implement the updates and changes. Website updates are critical to your business and future opportunities. However, you aren't in this alone!

Choose a Website Design & Development Professional to Help Implement Your Goals

Pen Publishing Interactive has been in business for over 25 years helping connect businesses with the digital solutions they need to succeed. From domains, email, hosting, and website design and updates, we have a dedicated and responsive team that is here to support your business every step of the way. You’ll get the customer support and care you’d expect from a small business, backed by vast industry knowledge and skill demonstrated through our Google and Microsoft partnerships. Whether you want a full re-design of your website, or you’d just like some small updates, we’re here to help.