Improve your website with these simple steps
Once your website is up and running, it is important to review
and update the web site from time to time. This will ensure that
you keep the content fresh and relevant, and of course can also
make changes to improve the content in the light of feedback and
experience gleamed through running the site.
A professional review will run through various aspects of your
site - here is a brief outline of the areas that should be
examined during a web site review:
Usability This is simply how easy the site is to use. A
formal test may involve the preparation of a script containing
simple and not so simple tasks for the uninitiated and
experienced customer alike to perform. The results are an
excellent measure of how usable your site is. If you find that
all customers just cannot find an important area of your site
for instance, then you can take measures to redress the balance.
Taxonomy Related to usability, the hierarchy and
structure of your site may change in light of feedback received,
learnings and different internal or marketing priorities. The
key is to remember to structure your site to fit external or
customer perceptions and understanding of your company. A common
mistake is to structure a site along internal divisions which is
likely to confuse a customer who is not going to know the
internal structure and politics of a company!
Accessibility A key requirement: can anyone view your
site no matter what web browser or monitor they use? If they are
using a text-to-speech browser for instance, or have images and
JavaScript switched off - can they still effectively move
through and understand your site? Accessibility is key and there
may also be legal obligations, depending which country you are
in, for your site to conform to accessibility standards.
Search engine positioning A review to examine the search
engine ranking of a site for various common searches related to
your business, and to provide recommendations as to what could
be done to improve your search engine presence - and hence drive
more traffic to your site.
Traffic review It is very important to measure traffic to
your site, where it comes from, and whether it is traffic from
the sources you would most expect. You should inspect whether
strategic linkings or partnerships are working for you, and what
searches people are actually performing to reach your site.
Crucially - what can be done to drive even more traffic to your
site?
Content review The content should be reviewed to ensure
that it is clear, to the point and of course up-to-date. As
promotions finish or expire and new ones come along you should
ensure that the dead wood is cut out and replaced with fresh and
relevant content.