If you might be wondering, a website audit is nothing like a financial audit. In fact, it is far from it. A website audit is conducted to analyze the different features of the website which make it better than the rest. It is done in order to validate the proper functioning of the website; to see whether the website is getting the desired amount of traffic, which content is being viewed the most by the visitors and whether the website has a healthy conversion rate or not.
At the end of the day, “Content is King”. A website which does not properly engage the audience or is not optimized to appear higher in search engine results will lose out in terms of the number of visitors. After all, no one wants to visit a website which has boring and poor content.
By performing a website audit, you will be able to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of your website and take the necessary action to make it better than ever before.
What Do you Need to Perform it?
Performing a website audit is not an easy task, especially when the website has a ton of content on it. Different types of content such as blog posts, vlogs, articles, images, videos, product descriptions and a whole host of other stuff can make an audit more taxing on the person performing it.
However, with the right set of tools and resources at your disposal, performing a network audit can prove to be a breeze. Here are some essentials to perform such an audit;
- Time:
Performing a website audit typically takes 1-2 hours to conduct considering the average size and type of content found on a normal website. However, when dealing with bigger sites having many webpages, the audit may even take several days to perform.
- Tools:
Google Analytics and a Spreadsheet (both Microsoft Excel or Google Drive Spreadsheet) can work.
- Skill Level:
The person(s) performing the audit should know the basics of computing in order to perform the audit. If you are not well versed in the intricacies of these tools, the just follow the step-by-step guide which will be discussed in the following section. It will help you perform the audit with ease.
- Human Resources:
One person is enough to perform the website audit. However, as mentioned above, the larger and more complex the website, the more people will be required to perform it.
Things to Check in a Website Audit
Here is a list of different features of the website which should be analyzed when performing a website audit;
- Speed
- Security
- Usability
- Design
- Quality of Content
- Search Engine Ranking
Best Practices
Keep the following things in mind in order to make sure that your website performs best at all times;
- Perform a website audit at least once a year.
- While performing the audit, make notes either manually on a piece of paper or on the computer.
- Use the right software to carry out the audit efficiently and effectively.
