Critique Your Website as You Would an Employee

Have you given your website a performance review? Your website is your first, and sometimes only, storefront for your business. A good site will attract new customers and lead them through the buying journey. In some cases, the website is your top-performing sales executive. In many cases, your website is an extension of your sales team.

Have you ever written a job description for your website? Well, maybe it’s time! With your website’s critical role for your business, I recommend treating it as a sales executive. Make a list of the expectations and deliverables you expect from your website, then evaluate your current one to see if it matches up.

At a minimum, your site should keep your customers informed on new products and services and enhance your business’s visibility on search engine results pages.

• You should refresh your website:
  • When your website no longer reflects your business’s offerings or culture
    • Your website should change as your business does.
    • All your offerings should be displayed and detailed on your website.
  • When your messaging needs updating
    • As your customers’ needs change, your website should change.
      • Tip: Keep track of the questions you receive from your customers. If you are receiving the same questions frequently, it’s time to clarify your messaging. Consider an FAQ page.
    • When your website is no longer contemporary
      • Web visitors “judge a website by its cover”.
      • Visitors assume that companies with modern websites offer modern solutions/ products, so your website’s aesthetic is directly related to its effectiveness.
        • Tip: Save time by using a template.
      • If your website is not mobile-friendly
        • Websites that are not mobile-friendly offer a poor user experience and increase the chance a visitor will bounce from the website.
        • 55% of all internet traffic is mobile, and you don’t want to miss out on this traffic!
        • Google uses mobile-friendly sites as a ranking factor. Having a mobile-friendly website may mean ranking above your competitors.
      • When your load speed is poor
        • Updating your website to speed it up will increase the chance users will stay on the site.
        • Several reasons could cause slow loading speed: heavy, unoptimized images, underpowered hosting, and even an old, poorly performing theme.
          • Tip: Aim for a loading time under 3 seconds. Use tools like Pingdomor GTmetrix to check how long it takes your site to load.
        • When you want to overtake your competitor
          • A new website could mean ranking above your competitor in Google.
        • When your organic traffic is dipping
          • Google rewards websites that publish content regularly
          • Fresh content ranks better than outdated content
            • Tip: Don’t feel like you need to do an entire website overhaul. Start small by updating blogs.
          • If your backend coding is more than five years old
            • At this point, likely, the code is no longer supported and suspectable to hackers or even breakdowns.
            • Usability and tech have evolved tremendously since your last website – and the costs have come down.

Bottom line – invest in your website the same way you would invest in your people. And with a clearly written job description and regular reviews, you will receive much higher performance.

Sources:

https://learn.g2.com/how-often-should-you-update-your-website

https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/mobile-internet-traffic