How healthy is your website? 3 key questions to ask

How healthy is your website? 3 key questions to ask

Do you have a website that you feel is a bit old hat? Perhaps you’re even a little embarrassed by it? Did you launch it 3 or 4 years ago and now you’re not sure if it’s “doing the business” for you?

Have you started thinking about replacing it but just find it all a bit overwhelming?

Well if any of this feels familiar, you might find the following 3 questions useful in judging whether your current site is still fit for purpose or if you need to make some changes.

When I ask these questions of clients, it always kicks off a great discussion. And helps them gain an important degree of clarity before they even begin to think about what pages they need or how those pages will look.

1. What EXACTLY is it that I am offering?

It may sound like an obvious question, but you’d be surprised how many times the answer hasn’t been readily “to hand”.

I work with a lot of people in the service sector such as professionals, consultants and trainers and pinning down their exact niche is often a tricky thing to do. But, unless you are clear in your own mind about what you are offering, how can you expect anyone visiting your site to really understand what you do?

Once you are clear about this then you can start to think about what sections or pages you might need on your site but there are still two more key questions you need to know the answer to before you can begin.

2. Who is my site for, who is my audience?

So, you are now clear in your mind about what it is you offer … but do you know who will want to take you up on that offer?

Being clear about who your site is for is absolutely essential. If your offering is really simple and you do just the one thing for just the one audience type, that’s fairly straightforward. But, if your offering is more complicated, focus on the top three audience types and prioritise them.

Once you have your list you need to do a bit of role playing for each one. Imagine yourself as your potential client.
What are they searching for? And what words do they use to search? This is important – you are clear about what you are offering, but how might your audience describe that offering?

Might it differ from the way you describe it? For example, we offer email marketing to our clients but we are often asked if we can help with ‘sending out an electronic newsletter’. We use email marketing tools to do this but our clients don’t always know that, so they may not be actually searching for the term ‘email marketing’.

If you describe your offering the way your audience searches for that offering, you stand a much better chance of being found.

Another key aspect of understanding your audience is thinking about what they use to look for you online.
Are they on a laptop, on a tablet or are they using their mobile phone? Your site needs to work well on all the device types that your audience is using to find you. If your site is 3 or 4 years old then you may find that it doesn’t work very well on a mobile device, so it’s worth checking that out.

3. What is the purpose of the site? What do you want people to do when they get there?

Now you know what you’re offering and who your audience is. The next question is “What is the purpose of the site?”
Again you might say this is really obvious, but is that purpose truly reflected in your website?

You might say “I want a potential client to choose us” and that’s fair enough. But what are the steps your visitor needs to take to get to the point of choosing you? How does your site persuade them to take that step?

If they are looking to buy a product, is this easy to do on your site? What convincers are there – do you have clear product descriptions, customer reviews, simple terms and conditions, a straightforward returns policy?

If you are offering a service, is it clear what your expertise, experience and credentials are? Can a visitor tell if they will like working with you or if you are you used to working with people like them? Persuasion may take the form of testimonials, an up-to-date blog or some video footage of you talking about the type of clients you work best with.
Do you have clear calls to action on the page? Is your phone number easily visible on all pages? Do you offer a call back service, live chat or provide the option to get the latest updates on new products, read an article, download a free guide, follow you on Twitter, like you on Facebook, connect with you on LinkedIn? If you attend networking events where people can meet you face to face, do you let people know when and where?

People need to receive a message multiple times before they make a commitment, so take every opportunity to get your message across and make it easy for your visitors ensuring there is always something more for them to do, read or see.

So what next?

Having worked through these questions, take a fresh, honest look at your website.

Is it still alive and kicking?

If there are any gaps or the message is unclear, then maybe it is indeed time for a rethink.

Next time I’ll take a look at website structure and what to think about to make sure the end result is a healthy, hard-working asset for your business.