How Do You Know if Your Website is Working for You?

January 5, 2010

Just about every business around the world now has a website.  You probably spent a significant amount of time, effort, and of course money getting it up and running.  But how do you know if it’s working?

When your phone rings do you know if the person on the other end got your phone number from your website?  When you receive an email where did it originate from?  How long do people stay on your website and do they make an effort to contact you or buy a product from you?  How easy is it for them to find you?  If they don’t make a contact/purchase right away how do you know they will come back to you later?  So many unanswered questions.

When we talk to prospective clients we conduct a detailed analysis of their website, how it is working, how it can be improved, and how it compares to what their competition is doing.  Most of the time the prospective client already knows most of the problems but not how to fix them.  Sometimes they are very surprised to see how badly their site is performing and how much better their competition is in commanding a presence on the Internet.

This is what we do:

• Firstly, we predetermine if the client is serious about investing in Internet Marketing and if they would be a good match for our company.
• We research their major competitors and pull reports that show how and where they appear on the Internet.  We compare these results with the prospect.
• We determine which keywords Internet users are searching for in relation to the prospect’s business.
• We look to see how the prospect ranks for these keywords over all major search engines.
• Using keywords specific to the prospect, we see how they appear in both natural rankings and PPC ads.  We also note if their competition is ranking higher or lower than them.
• We perform an extensive competitor analysis comparison based on best practice Internet Marketing techniques.
• We perform a thorough analysis of the structure of the website of the prospect and the major competitors to highlight strengths and weaknesses.
• We put together a checklist of what is working and not working on the prospect’s website.
• We scrutinize the website for its ability to convert visitors.
• If analytic data is available, we review how the site has been performing and what changes need to be made to improve this.
• Depending on the exact nature of the prospect’s business, further analysis may also be performed.

Although the procedure is similar for each prospect, a great deal of research is conducted to fine-tune the variances between different industries, target markets, customer habits, and expected website performance.

Once we have all the research information, we present this to the prospect.  If necessary, we also explain the intricate nuances of a successful Internet Marketing Strategy.

So to answer the questions I posed at the beginning –

• You know if the person calling you got your number from your website because we can use a specific number and track who calls it.
• The same applies to an email.  You can either have an email specific to your website or an inline form that the visitor completes while on your site.
• Analytics show us how long people stay on your website, if they click through to other pages, if they download a white paper or sign up for your newsletter.  Detailed analysis allows us to constantly improve the performance of your site.
• Based on keywords appropriate to your business and products, we can improve your rankings in both natural searches and PPC campaigns.
• With a strategic email marketing campaign we can keep your warm leads warm and your existing customers informed of changes within your industry.