Don’t overlook the little things that make great websites.
Your business website is your virtual shop window, showcasing your products and services 24 hours a day. It is the most important piece of your marketing collateral and the one thing that all your marketing activity points back to.
So often though, businesses underestimate this and miss the little things that make the difference between a good website and a great website that works. It only takes one small mistake or omission in your website to hamper search visibility or to turn a potential client off.
In the next two blogs I'll be looking at 12 critical factors to ensure maximum website performance which highlights 12 of the key things you should regularly monitor. Some are relatively minor others have greater impact. The key point to remember is that the web and its users are continually evolving. The ‘if it ain’t fixed’ mentality doesn’t apply online, you need to continually monitor and adapt your website to not only fulfill the criteria below but also exceed them. Remember the goal of your website is to engage and delight potential customers, with curb appeal to draw them in and great content to keep them browsing.
Handy Checklist
With so many factors to take into account we have also designed a handy checklist for you to keep and refer back to. Download a free copy, print it off and stick it on the wall in your office. Refer to it regularly to ensure you are getting maximum website performance.
The main areas you will need to check are:
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Website Content
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Design
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Responsive website design; Mobile/device Optimisation
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Analytics
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Monitoring
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Performance
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Security
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Usability
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SEO
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Accessibility
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Social Media
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Behaviour
Your website needs to look good, educate, entice and sell
When a visitor opens your website it is very much like a person visiting a store. They glance around each page, click on anything that catches their eye or interests them and scans over parts of the content. Most people are looking for something useful, informative and that will make their lives easier, less expensive and that will free up their time. In the majority of cases users are seeking a solution to a problem they have and they want to find that solution from someone who they can trust and that can provide the answer for them. Your website design needs to be welcoming, easy to navigate and a pleasure to use.
Your website content is more important than design
If a visitor to your site doesn't like what they see in a very short space of time (in fact 3 secs according to 'Akamai') they will click back to their browser and onto another companies site faster that you can say "please don't go, we have more content for you to see..". This is called a bounce. To prevent bounces, put engaging content near the top of your web page to draw visitors into your site. Content is also the only thing Google see’s, so make sure every page of your site has at least 250 words of text.
We’re all on the move.
According to Google 25% of all web browsing is done on mobile devices, which is one in every four visitors to your site. Make sure that your website performance is maximised and gives users on mobiles the best possible experience. Make it easy for them to find and access information quickly. Consider the size of your font and how much text you have on a page. Remember mobile users are used to reading in short sharp bursts of activity, so make your mobile content easy to digest quickly.
Analyse learn and adapt
If you’ve got Google Analytics installed on your website, great. If not open a free account with Google and start observing what your users are doing. It sounds a bit ‘Big Brother’ but the only way to have an effective website that works is to learn and adapt to the behaviour of those who use it. This neatly leads on to monitoring. When you change content or create a new page on your site, look at how visitor behaviour changes as a result of your changes. Did visitor numbers go up? Did visitor numbers go down? Did you start to get less or more inquiries as a result of the change. Monitoring factors like this can help inform what changes you should make and when.
Is everything under the bonnet tuned up?
Like a car, website performance is hugely important. Is your website fast to load? Google factors website speed into it’s search algorithms, so a slow website isn’t going to be found as easily as a fast one. Also when you consider that one in four of your users are viewing your site on mobile and that mobile data is expensive, it’s essential that you provide a nippy experience. Test your site with Google’s page speed test to see how it does.
What's next - part 2
In part two of this article which will be published on Thursday, I'll be covering
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Security
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Usability
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SEO
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Accessibility
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Social Media
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Behaviour
While you're waiting for that, don't forget to download our supporting website healthcheck, and start working through the checklist. You'll be surprised what a difference correcting one small mistake or omission will make to your conversions. Also remember to keep revisiting it.
If you discover an item on this list that you can't implement or need advice on, please reach out to us in the comment panel below. One of our HubSpot website developers will help explain why it's important and what you need to do to put a fix in place if needs be. Ensure your business has a website that works.
