How do you know if your website is up to par?

Published on Monday, June 4th 2018 by Aaron Whiffin

So you think that you have a website that works, it says what you want it to and although it’s a bit dated, it does the job. If it’s working it’s probably not worth the expense or stress of a redesign, but how do you know if it’s any good?

You could of course ask colleagues or friends, but how accurate is their opinion? Or you could ask a web design agency, but surely they’ll just try and sell you a new one?

Well, in this article we’ll give a few tips on some checks that you can do yourself.

Is it mobile friendly?

An easy check here is to look at it on a mobile phone of course, try and complete the forms, navigate the menus and see if you get frustrated. Or you can go to Google, and see what they say: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly . If it’s not mobile friendly it probably should be.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes

This is probably the most important test of all. Try and forget any industry knowledge that you have, and think what your customers always ask you. Is this information easy to find on the website? Does your website tell customers what they want to hear, or what you want to tell them? Is it easy to use?

A good rule of thumb is to imagine you are giving someone a 30 second pitch saying “This is who we are and this is what we do”, is this on your website? Another is to imagine that you need to compress your website in to the bare essentials and put this on an A4 flyer. What information would you include, and is this apparent and clear on your website?

Look at other websites

The best thing to do here is not look at direct competitors because you’ll be biased; but look at similar sectors. So if you’re a solicitor look at accountants’ websites, and criticise them as much as you can. What are these criticisms and do you do the same on your website?

Calls to action

It seems obvious, but is it clear to a potential customer how they can get hold of you? If you have a phone number is it one that will be answered? Does your mail form work? Is your phone number hidden away or right at the point where a customer is likely to be engaged?

SEO

This is an easy one to test. Put your web browser in incognito mode (in Chrome push ctrl-shift-n at the same time), and Google what you think people will search for. Remember not to use your company name, but more of the service that you offer such as “solicitor in South London” or “architect in Croydon”. Where do you appear, and how does your listing look?

And the most important test

Do you get as many emails and phone call enquiries as you want? Only you can answer that, and it’s probably best to trust your gut feeling.