8 Simple Steps to Improve Your Website

Based on over 15 years of experience it has become clear that most websites can be assessed using 8 simple criteria which allows the efficacy of the site to be easily assessed. This is a fairly rudimentary tool and makes a number of assumptions about the purpose of the site; who the customer is etc.

For each of these criteria score your website out of 10:

Findable –

  • Does your site have Search Engine profile?
  • Are there 3rd party links in to it? Is your domain guessable?
  • What’s your Social Media profile like?
  • Do you have content syndicated (Video to YouTube, Vimeo etc; Images to FlckR, Articles? Presentations? etc)
  • Do people know about your business?

Credible –

  • What initial impact does the site make?
  • Does it meet the visitor’s expectations?
  • Does it match what the property is actually like?

Purposeful –

  • Have you made it clear what you want the visitor to do?
  • Contact?
  • Enquire? Book?
  • Does it achieve the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) set for the site?

Accessible –

  • Have you used technologies that make it difficult for screen readers (and search engines!) to access?
  • Do the images have alternative text associated with them?
  • Does the site comply with legal requirements?

Usable –

  • Is the navigation clear?
  • Can the visitor easily get around the site or do you leave them hanging?
  • Have you used mechanisms that make navigating easy?

Useful –

  • Have you used the right words to attract your type of customers?
  • Does the site help them make a decision? Is it generating business?

Valuable –

  • Will site visitors think that the visit has answered their questions?
  • Do you have statistics and do you use them? Was it worth the cost?

Desirable –

  • Do the graphics and words add value?
  • Does the site match all other marketing materials and more importantly the actual business?
  • Thinking as a customer would – do you impress?

Scores

  • 0 – 15:
    Take your site off-line as it’s doing your business more harm than good – “Call us now!”
  • 16 – 30:
    Under performing and serious action needs to be taken – “Call us sometime really soon!”
  • 31 – 45:
    You are losing business but the site is performing to minimum desired levels – “Call us sometime soon!”
  • 46 – 60:
    The site is performing well but there are still opportunities to improve – “Call us sometime!”
  • 61 – 80:
    Excellent! You should be teaching other people how to generate business on-line! – “You must have called us already!”
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