On the completion of the design of your website and being published online, one might heave a sigh of relief. The job is done, you can sit back and concentrate on the next task at hand—wait, not so fast. Websites are in a state of constant flux; constantly updating content, looking for ways to improve performance, ensuring your users are having the ultimate customer experience.
Being able to evaluate your website involves asking yourself a series of questions about copy, readability, and functionality. Look at your website from the point of view as a prospective customer.
The first aspect of website you need to assess is the overall appearance.
- Does the website looks professionally designed?
- Is it pleasant to the eye?
- Are the images taken by a professional or have you just provided your designer with point-and-shoot photos you snapped on your phone, without thinking about visual composition?
- Do I scan the copy without stopping to read it properly?
- Are the content details easy to find on the homepage or do I have to go searching for them?
- Is the product or service I am selling obvious?
- Does the website meet the company’s branding guidelines?
- Are the correct logos used?
- Is there a powerful, yet straightforward call to action?
- How does the website look when viewed via different Internet browsers? E.g Safari, Chrome, FireFox
- How does the website look when viewed with a smartphone?
Customer expectations When logging on to a website, as a user there are some functionality you simply expect to happen and if it doesn’t, it can be frustrating and result in a bounce to another website with a better user experience.
- Does the page load quickly or is it image-heavy and seem to download too slowly?
- Do the social media links appear on the homepage and correctly hyperlinked to a social media page which is regularly updated?
- Has the phone numbers throughout the website been turned into direct dial links for easy dialing? (This is especially important for mobile device users)
- Does the subheaders and body text outlining the company’s services link through to internal pages within the website?
- Does my website appear as being secure and trustworthy?
- Are the contact details on the homepage?
Content experience
- Content is exceptionally important to search engine rankings. It must be informative without keyword stuffing to avoid being penalised by Google. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is the content clear and concise, while providing enough words (minimum of 600 words) to be considered a legitimate source of information by Google?
- Are the main keywords used in the first couple of sentences and in the title tags?
- Is the website too text-heavy or too image heavy without enough explanatory content?
- IS the blog regularly updated?
- Does the website use a variety of media (e.g; Videos, audio, infographics?) and downloadable takeaways which aid SEO?
