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How to know if your website performance is hitting the mark.
Sept 9, 2019 ~ by Claire newton
How to know if your website performance is hitting the mark.
Nowadays, It's not enough to create an attractive and fully functional website. It's the first point of interaction for your potential customers. It may end up either as a guide or a giant obstacle in the path of conversion.
If you're unsure if your website is working for you, here are 6 criteria to follow. Using these you can identify the good, the bad and the ugly of website optimization.
1. Identify and analyze your audience
There's no point in having a well-designed website if it doesn't capture your users or audience's attention. Your website should be optimized for search platforms but it should also be easy to use for potential customers. This is why you should analyze your visitors using Google Analytics or some other similar analytics tool.
You have to find ways to track the number of visits made and unique visitors you get. You should also have a look at where they spend their time and the number of return visitors you receive every day.
By identifying which of your pages get maximum views and how your visitors reach your website, gives you great insight for retargeting. They could be coming through Google, directory listings, pay-per-click ad, referrals, social media or an email blast. Also find out which keywords lead potential customers to your site. You can use these to boost SEO.
Google Analytics can help you gather all this information. It helps by grouping visitors into categories based on demographics, interests, geography, traffic channel source and much more.
Analyzing all this data helps you to get to know your potential customers better and if you have return customers. This is a positive sign because it indicates people are thinking of your brand and may make a purchase. You can then accordingly improve your marketing techniques based on the data gathered.
2. Search Engine Optimization Audit
An SEO audit is an analysis of your website to ensure its search engine optimization improves your site's search engine ranking page (SERP). This is important because your site cannot perform well if visitors can't reach your website hidden in the big bad world that is the World Wide Web.
There is a lot involved in web page optimization for search engines like keyword choice, web content and search volume. While they can all be improved, you won't know or try to do it without an audit.
This is where you need metrics using the help of tools like Google Analytics. They help find out statistics about SEO strategies like your site's inbound and outbound links and keyword analysis.
The audit also measures the number and quality of inbound and outbound links to your website to determine its popularity. It's based on the results you can decide on the usefulness of your site's overall content and information, and check the various tags and source codes used.
The right links and keywords make a huge difference in your site appearing on the first page for a search engine's results for a particular keyword. This in turn gives better website traffic and higher income through better customer conversions.
You however will never know about your site's weak areas without an audit. It's an SEO audit that helps you make adjustments to improve your site's search engine rankings.
3. Mobile-friendly website
With more than 90% of people using their mobile phones for the internet you must have a mobile-friendly website. Sites which aren't mobile-friendly are difficult to view and use on mobile devices. Users have to zoom in to read the content, which is inconvenient and leads to them leaving the site.
Your web pages should also have the speed and quality to capture these users. There are various resources for checking your mobile processing speed and optimizing your web pages to match Smartphone and tablets.
If your laptop isn't mobile friendly you are missing out on a massive proportion of your audience. Make it quick and make it mobile, you'll be onto a winner!
4. Bounce rate
Your website bounce rate tells you how many visitors leave your site immediately after arriving. It's an important metric that has a large SEO impact. A lower bounce rate means that visitors are sticking around and enjoy your website, and may convert.
Bounce rates differ for different websites like blogs, landing pages and eCommerce stores. This is why you have to use some logic to improve your bounce rate. Remember, while a poor bounce rate indicates website visitors are leaving, it doesn't tell you why they are leaving.
You have to do some research to find out why they leave. However, the common reasons are slow load times, broken websites, poor keywords and bad first impression. By identifying your website problems, you can act on these to improve your website!
5. Analyze your competition
One of the easiest and most effective means of analyzing your website performance is by comparing it with your competitors. It helps you detect your mistakes and missed opportunities.
It also sets a benchmark for your growth and the industrial shifts you should make to stay ahead of them. You can use the insight gathered about your competitor's website technology, content, and backlinks and make the relevant website changes.
You shouldn't aim to be the exact same as your competitors, by doing so may blur the lines between the two companies. You should want to be identifiable and instantly recognizable.
But by following the guidelines to creating good website performance you can be sure you're off to a great start. So be aware of your competitors and take note of any drastic changes or a/b testing. Use this knowledge to combine with your brand!
6. Website design
Most web users expect the website to load in 2 seconds or less. So your website design has a huge effect on your website performance. A few seconds can make a huge difference, which is why you should optimize your site for best performance.
Most important, it should have clear navigation with few clearly labeled page options matching your users' needs. Too many tabs and labels only add to the confusion because you distract visitors from important conversion points.
Even your landing page design should be optimized for absolute website performance. It should have the right content explaining what you have to offer, with the right imagery. You could perhaps make and use a video instead of bulky photos for quicker load time and understanding.
And with content being king, you must have the right content on your website that attracts visitors. Content that doesn't connect well with your brand and offers can affect your conversion rates and lead generation.
While placing CTAs on most pages provide visitors a point of conversion, some pages may contain CTAs promoting irrelevant content. This only leads to poor click-through and conversion rates.
In a nutshell, website monitoring is the secret to find out about your website performance. While you can do it yourself, it's a time-consuming process and better left to a proven industry leader.
Conclusion
Websites are necessary to the world of business but there really isn't much point in having one if it's not working for you. Set up your website by following good guidelines or by using an amazing website provider. Or if your website performance is up and running then using these top tips to make it work for you.
For more information or a free quote contact us today!