This is a good list to go through if you are looking at designing a new site, getting a make-over or switching to a content management system.
The Visible Part of Your Website
- Does your home page grab attention?
- Is your navigation simple and intuitive?
- Is the design visually easy to follow?
- Is the site design professional?
- Is the most important information visible above the fold (without scrolling)?
- Does you home page explain the following: who you are, what you do, why you do it, and how to buy or contact you?
- Do the pages open easily (images optimized for easy download, minimal flash)?
- Is there easy navigation to the buy now button (if you have a store)?
- Does your site provide a reason to come back with regular new content?
- Does your site accomplish its goals (i.e., solicit subscribers, submit an inquiry, send to a friend, solicit an order, download information, collect contact information)?
- Does your site have all the features you would like for your customers (i.e., login, online store, RSS feeds, calendar, map)?
- Does your site effectively provide access to promotional materials & tools you have created (i.e., informational videos, podcasts, demos, product images, pdf of brochure, price lists, credit apps)?
- Have you checked your site thoroughly for grammar mistakes and typos?
Is Your Website Working for You?
- Are customers finding you online?
- How does your website rank in comparison to your competitors?
- Do you know your traffic and where it is coming from?
- Do you know how long visitors are staying on your site and if they are returning?
- Is your message clear and concise?
- Is you brand solid and representational?
- Does you site achieve its conversion goals for sales and lead generation?
Behind the Scenes
- Is your site easy to maintain and edit?
- Is your administration panel easy to follow?
- When you create new pages, are the urls taken from the page title that is key word rich?
- Does your created page allow for easy formatting with WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)?
- Are there Content Pages set up for all the types of pages you plan to add?
- Have you thought through where links or summaries of these pages will show up and in what section?
- Do any pages need to have categories added to them for searches?
- Are there metatags, title tags and page descriptions?
- Do you have internal linking throughout the site?
- Do external links open up in a new window?
- Is there a correct short description for your page provided by the title that will show up on your browser?
- Is there a favicon to represent you?
- Is the code clean?
- Have you tested all forms, store and auto emails?
- Have your default email correspondence and messages been approved or re-written to reflect your personal style?
- Are these emails coming from the correct “from” email address?
- Do you have newsletter sign-up options in all your correspondence (i.e., order confirmation, store login, thank-you emails)?
- Have you looked at your site in all the browsers and various mobile devices?
- Do you have administrator access to your own site and your host provider?
- Are your logins for your website and ftp secure?
- Do only people you trust have access?
- Are pages from your old site redirected to your new site if the url changed (301 Redirections)?
We can help you make your new website great. Contact us today for a free basic audit.
