Don't panic - not a tax audit... a website audit.
There are so-o-o many websites now. Apparently around 1.8 billion for the last 3 years. Do we have enough now? It could be stabilising. But that's still 1 website to every 3 people on the planet. That's a lot of websites screaming for the attention of YOUR customers and clients.
First thing to realise is that your site is in competition against all of the websites and web content that your customers come across. Obviously, you have direct competitors trying to take those customers away, but the bigger picture is that we all have limited funds, limited time, limited focus. Busy, busy, busy....
Now, if you operate a website, it either matters to your organisation or it doesn't.
If you don't regularly (say, every month or two) update, add or change your website, it doesn't matter to your organisation. If you aren't making sure your website is being kept secure, operational, and software-updated, it doesn't matter to your organisation. Above all, if you aren't driving people to the one place where you can put whatever info you like, where you can actively try to convert visitors into customers, where you can grab people and get them to know all about you - if you aren't doing this, your website doesn't matter to your organisation.
A tired, saggy, faded poster in the window of a shop does them no favours. Likewise, an outdated, inactive, boring website does your organisation no favours. For a website to boost what you are trying to achieve, you'll need to work at it. Regularly, and for ever. No pain, no gain! :)
But what to do? In what priority?
Well, as always, there are going to be quick fixes and long-haul builders. Writing blogs (like this one) is long-haul. Optimising for search engines is long-haul. Making sure you reference your website in ALL your other marketing efforts is quick-fix, for example;
- in your email signature
- in your printed ads
- in your radio/TV ads
- in your promo leaflets
- in your business card
- in your vehicle signage
It is a LOT easier to remember a website than to remember a phone number if you see it passing by. So put it everywhere.
Before you do that, though, make sure that the website is something you actually want people to see. What will THEY want to know? What do YOU want them to do when they get there and like what they see? Eg. phone you, fill in a form, buy something then and there, get a quote etc. etc.
Which leads on to a website audit. Whether your website is brand new or a few years old, a website audit aims to review your website from a number of different perspectives - design & layout, helpfulness, search engine, security, mobile responsiveness, readability and more.
An audit presents a report showing what's good and what could be improved and what needs fixing. It's a great starting point for prioritising how to turn a website into a marketing machine.
An audit will let you work out what's easy to do, what will require a bit of time, effort and money, what can be done right now, and what needs to be a longer-term aim. It gives you a roadmap. And we all like to know where we're going!
A website audit is a powerful start to revitalising your website. The website is there for a reason - make sure that the website isn't being setup to fail by getting a website audit done, even if you only deal with the quick fixes. There are around 1.8 billion reasons to do so.
