A few years ago, we let our oldest child stay up late for the first time to ring in the new year. We even poured ginger ale into a wine glass to make it extra fancy for her. After an evening of watching musical acts (most of whom I hadn’t heard of, because… old) on the network countdown show, we were ready to watch the ball drop. She joined us in counting down to the big moment. Then she drank the ginger ale. When that was all over, she said, “That’s it??” She had all these romanticized expectations of how the big ball drop would go, and she was let down. That got me thinking… is that how people feel when they visit our websites? In the spirit of taking stock in the new year, maybe it’s time for a website evaluation.
Why Do A Website Evaluation?
Most people constantly evaluate themselves, whether they realize it or not. Could I be healthier? A better parent? How is my business doing? Does our product meet people’s needs? The list could go on and on.
How many of them factor their websites into that equation?
At GuppyFish Web Design, we believe that your website should be your most valuable employee. It’s the only part of your organization that never gets sick, sleeps, or goes on vacation. In short, it’s always available to represent you to the public. Just like your business grows and moves forward, your website should change with it. For that reason, it’s important to step back occasionally and really look at it through fresh eyes.
What Should You Evaluate?
When you begin a website evaluation, where do you start? You could get all complicated with tons of questions to ask. I think, however, it’s better to keep it simple.
Visual Aspects
First of all, look at your website the way a first time visitor would. How does it look? Does it appeal to the eye, or does the jumbled look give an unorganized effect? You want a clean design that feels inviting to visitors instead of driving them away. Check to see that the colors complement one another and incorporate your brand’s color scheme.
Website User Experience and Navigation
Many business owners think they save money by having either no website or a sloppy one. In fact, the opposite holds true. You want your site visitors to be able to find exactly what they need in just a few clicks. What is the most important thing you want users to DO on your site? That should be the main priority and all roads should lead to that goal.
Lead Generation
Next, you need to evaluate your website’s effectiveness for your marketing. Is your business growing because of it? Does it help generate leads? Do you have any lead magnets that entice users to enter an email address? You could have the most beautiful website in the world, but if it doesn’t help your business grow, it’s just collecting virtual internet dust. It should serve as an integral part of your marketing team.
Update Frequency
How often do you update the content on your website? Google hates a stagnant site. Not only will fresh content keep your visitors better engaged, it helps your search engine rankings, as well. When your site content becomes outdated, you lose credibility.
Traffic and Analytics
This one can seem a bit daunting, but it’s really important to pay attention to your website analytics. That means you track how much traffic your website gets, which pages are most popular, and how people find you. Yes, it can be overwhelming when you get started, but even a beginner can set up Google Analytics and start tracking the simple stuff.
SEO
Finally, where does your site show up in Google searches (or other search engines)? Do you try searching for relevant terms and see whether your site comes up? Ideally, you’d like it to show on the first page of search results.
Free Website Health Checkup
If you’re really serious about performing a website evaluation, we have a free quiz for that. It doesn’t take long at all to fill out, and you’ll get a personalized report about what you should do next.
Many business owners take the fresh start of the new year to evaluate their goals and marketing strategy. You don’t want to leave your website out of the fun! So work on that website evaluation, and keep swimming along!
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