Is your website attracting the attention you have been anticipating? One way to find out is to take advantage of this quick and easy website assessment. This free website needs assessment checklist is a simple way to see if your site has what it needs to be successful, or if you even need one anyway!
First of all, if your website is not achieving the desired awareness for your venture, a complete website redesign may be in order. Whether the change is due to rebranding, moving onto a new Content Management System (CMS), or maybe your site is receiving boring results, everyone needs a little refreshing now and then. A new design can be a great way to catch the viewers’ attention. Just keep this in mind: when you revamp your website, something that could make or break your redesign is how well it promotes your overall marketing efforts. This not only includes your design, but the effect your site has on other marketing opportunities such as social media, lead generation, brand awareness, and sales strategies. Just make sure you have a goal set.
The first thing to do when remodeling your website is to find out what it already has. Keeping a record of the number of visits and visitors is an easy way to see the amount of traffic flowing through your site, as well as the bounce rate, and the time of each visit. The number of leads/form submissions and total amount of sales generated are also useful to see if your site is accumulating new business, to see if it’s moving in a profitable direction.
Next is to determine why you’re redesigning your site. Keep in mind, it’s not only about how your site looks, but more importantly how it works, and set goals accordingly. What are the things you hope to improve on your site? What results are you looking for?
Another way to find out what is working for you and what you need to change is by keeping track of which channels are bringing in the most customers/leads. One way to do this is by using HubSpot to keep track of traffic on your site in terms of visits, leads, and customer acquisition. You can also focus on how much of your business results from social media, search engines, as well as where your serious leads are stemming from.
While redesigning your site can be a focus on new content, don’t dismiss the great assets from your old design. Before you make major changes, take note to things such as most viewed and shared content, most trafficked pages, best performing keywords you rank for and associated pages, etc. These are things that have already helped you create success; there’s no need to dismiss them.
While it’s not healthy to obsess over your competitors, it is still wise to pay attention to how to you compare. Sites such as Marketing Grader can help you get an idea of of how your website is performing as well as your competitors’. From here you can gauge both strengths and weaknesses as well as take things you like from your competitors’ sites and not copy, but use to figure out ways to improve your own site.
Another way to attract new customers is for your site to be very clear on who you are and what you do. Their questions should easily answered right away, so they can easily understand why you have the solution to their problem. A tip for doing this is to keep your content easy to understand; the best way to achieve this is to use lingo your targeted audience can comprehend. For example, do not use a complicated, high-tech description of something unless your targeted audience is a group of computer whizzes. This step defines how the world communicates with your website, and can dramatically affect your bounce rates and conversion rates. If people cannot understand what you’re trying to tell them, they will simply leave and find someone else who can explain it better. Don’t skip this step!
Along with using the correct lingo to speak to your viewers, you must also take into consideration the buyer personas. This will also help you figure out the kind of lingo you need to use on your site. A buyer persona is when you categorize your visitors into different groups to focus on selling points. They are fictional representatives of your ideal customers using real data about customer demographics and online behavior. Using these personas, you are able to predict your viewers needs and figure out ways to help them.
One of the most important ways to improve the success of your website is to make sure people are finding it in search engines. It will help if you have a few words for each page to be associated with, making it easier to search for. Document your most search-valued pages for better search engine optimization (SEO) Also if you’re redesigning your site, it is very helpful to create the correct 301 redirects so you don’t lose any of your rankings or links. There are even sites such as Hubspot to help figure out what keywords to use for your searches.
Another important tip is to have some sort of call-to-action on your website. Yes, you want the viewer to see all that you have to offer, but it helps keep the viewer interested if you are engaging them in some way. The more involved they are, the better. This can mean anything from a newsletter subscription to a free download, or even a simple “contact us” section they can fill out themselves; anything to keep the viewer’s attention. If you’re having trouble coming up with these ideas, HubSpot can help you easily create different engaging pages.
Ok, let’s say your site is up and going, everything looks great, and you’re getting a lot of new views. How do you keep people coming back? The best way to do this is to continue adding content. The more there is to look at, the longer viewers will be on your site. The best way to do this is to keep adding a continuous flow of information over time. There are several ways to do this. One of the best ways is to start a blog. If you keep your blog updated often, people will keep checking back on your site for new information. Companies that keep a blog actually have 55% more website visitors and 88% more leads than those who do not. Another way to keep up content flow is to simply do include some PR; regularly posting what’s new it your venture is always exciting for viewers to see. As success keeps everyone busy, we know it’s difficult to regularly update your site, and keep new fresh ideas flowing. In this case you can look at content marketplace services such as Zerys, which provides a variety of authors ready to help you with your updates, as well as take advantage of downloads such as Hubspot’s 100 Inbound Content Ideas ebook. There are plenty of ways to get the juices flowing for your site’s content flow.
Speaking of the content of your site, don’t forget to add a little something extra. Yes, every page has a basic home page, product page, contact page layout, but it’s your job to expand your website. One way, as state above, is to create a blog, giving that frequent update of information. Another way is to include landing pages and calls-to-action, as well as RSS subscription, allowing viewers to constantly be engaged in your site. Another great way, thanks to today’s social media, is to make your content shareable. Link social media buttons to all your pages, giving viewers an easy way to share content with their friends, clients, and business partners. The more ways to spread information, the better.
Last, but not least, make sure you’re reporting your success! After setting your beginning goals, and going through all this hard work to make your new and improved website look and perform so well, you should celebrate your success. Figure out a great way to organize your numbers, and show them off at the end of your campaign. People want to see your success; it’s all apart of showing your worth!
