Is your site working? 7 website evaluation questions to ask

This post is part of our ‘FAQ’ series – a closer look at the frequently asked questions of digital media.

Question one: how much do you know about maintaining a quality website? Chances are, if your website knowledge is lacking, your site’s quality could be suffering as a result. While each business’ site serves an individual purpose, understanding the fundamentals of a strong website will help ensure your own is top notch.

We’re covering the frequently asked questions (FAQ) of website evaluation so you can discover what goes into a good website. If your website expertise needs improvement, your site probably could use some upgrades, too.

7 crucial website evaluation questions:

1. Is my website too old? Before anything else, you need to ensure that your website is updated. If your site was built in 2009, it’s probably past its prime, performance wise. Once you’re up to date, you’ll need to examine your site’s metrics (data collected on the performance of your website). When deciding what’s working and what isn’t, metrics will provide you with the cold, hard facts.
2. Which metrics are important? Metrics can be overwhelming. When in doubt, look to actionable metrics like conversion rates (the rate at which visitors complete actions that help your business, like watch your video or download your whitepaper). As Kissmetrics says, “When you focus on data that helps you make decisions, everything else in your business gets easier.”
3. Which metrics are misleading? “Vanity metrics” are metrics that seem impressive, but are unlikely to help you take action. For example, pageviews record the number of visitors to your site, but when looked at alone, they don’t tell you if these visitors stuck around, bailed, or if they completed any helpful actions while visiting. If you want to get a clear picture of your website’s performance, vanity metrics need to be examined alongside actionable metrics.
4. Should my site be mobile friendly? Mobile traffic is on the rise. Make sure you’re meeting the needs of all your visitors by optimizing your site for mobile. This will help you increase your conversion rate and improve your visitors’ overall experience. Kissmetrics adds, “A mobile-optimized site is able to generate almost twice the average traffic per user than sites without mobile optimization.”
5. How can I make my conversion points more effective? If you want to reach your business’ objectives, you’ve got to ensure that your conversion points are accessible and appealing. A/B testing allows you to compare multiple versions of your site for comparison purposes. Set yourself up for success by selecting the version with the higher conversion rating.
6. Why do I need SEO? SEO, or search engine optimization, is a method for ranking higher on Google’s search results page. When people search on Google, they often only look at the first two results pages (if that). You could miss out on a lot of visitors if you don’t rank on the first page. Along with ensuring that your site is well-structured and easy to use, continuously adding fresh content to it (like blog posts) will help increase your ranking.
7. Is all website traffic good traffic? Not all traffic is equal. It’s important that your site appeals specifically to your target audience. Connect with them by creating a social media community on the platforms popular with your target audience. By using social media content to reach out to audience members, you can draw them back to your site, where they’ll hopefully increase your conversion rate.

 

Once you understand the basic components of a great website, it becomes so much easier for you to make judgement calls on your own site’s performance. Now that you’re familiar with these components, HubSpot’s website grader can also help you discover areas of strength and weakness in your site.

If we’ve missed any of your website evaluation questions, please leave us a comment and we’ll be happy to get back to you!