As the year winds down, I have been busy planning out my goals for the upcoming year. My business is a huge focus for me next year and having a strong website is key! It’s the #1 selling tool in my opinion. It’s the first impression your visitors will have of you and your brand. Let me ask you this…

Is your website working for you as best as it possibly can? Is it giving the best first impression and helping your business succeed? Maybe you are not attracting enough of your ideal clients or people are still confused about your services once they land on your site. After designing lots of websites over the years, I’ve broken down my simple 10-step website audit for you to give to your own website!

DEFINED BRANDING

Take a glance over your website, is your branding clearly visible throughout your entire website? Are colors, fonts and logos used consistently? Do you have your main logo and logo elements in use to gain more visibility? If your branding isn’t working for you, maybe it’s time to look into refreshing it.

TARGET YOUR AUDIENCE

Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. If they look at your site, does it fit their age, demographic, style, etc.? Make sure your website reflects your audience and what they would be looking for when visiting a website–and not just your favorite colors and style.

VALUE

How will your product or service provide value to the user? Make sure your website clearly states how you can help them and don’t just list out what you do. Don’t just say, I do a, b and c. Tell the user a story of how a, b and c will help the user do x, y and z! The content you provide gives your potential customer value so you earn their trust and they will eventually choose to work with you. Blogging, opt-ins or email newsletters is also a good way to continuously provide your clients with valuable information.

PERSONALITY

People are coming to your website because of you and the excellent work you do. Make sure you have some personality within your copy to show the user who you are! Include photos of you and your voice so the user knows if you are a good fit for them and their business. Showing the person behind the business will help you gain their trust.

EASY TO READ

Is your website copy easy to read by the viewer or does it use overly complicated language that only you understand? Make sure your copy is compelling, concise and to the point and clearly states what you do and how you can help your audience. If you have too much content, the user might not want to read it all and move on.

EASY TO NAVIGATE

Is your website navigation set up in a way that it leads your customers to where you want them to go? What are your most visited pages? Make sure those particular pages are easily accessible from the home page and more than one way to get there.

CALL TO ACTION

What is the goal of your website? Is it to make more sales? Book a Session? Whatever your end goal is, make sure you clearly ask them to take action somewhere on the home page, as well as most of your other pages. It can be as simple as, let’s work together, or book a session today!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Make sure there is an easy way to contact you on your website, whether that is a contact page or form on the home page. Bonus if you connect your contact form to your CRM such as Dubsado or 17 Hats if you use one. This will eliminate a step if they decide to sign on as a client.

EMAIL SIGNUP

If you don’t have an email newsletter sign up, start one! MailChimp or ConvertKit are both easy solutions to start up an email campaign. Even if you start out with one email newsletter a month, it’s so valuable to start growing and nurturing those lists. Your ideal client will just be an email away next time you have something amazing to offer them.

SEO

You want Google to find you website, don’t you? Make sure you have optimized your website as best as you can so your audience can find you. Make sure you are including key works up top on your pages about what you do, your location, and services. Some websites such as Showit have SEO built into the backend where you can list your page descriptions and meta descriptions right there with easy access. Also sign up for Google Analytics to track when and where you users are visiting your website.

If you aren’t sure if your website is passing the test? Contact me for a website consult and turn your site into a website that converts you visitors to customers.