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For Your Small Business Young Entrepreneur Council February 13, 2024

How to Know If Your Website Needs an Overhaul

Your website has the potential to massively impact your business growth. Unfortunately, many businesses are sitting on unrealized opportunities because their websites aren't up to snuff.

There isn't a magical solution to transform your website into a lead generator and sales machine. Often, it needs tune-ups in various areas to beat the competition and bring in more revenue. However, you need to know what areas have the biggest impact on your bottom line.

After working on hundreds of websites through my digital marketing agency, I've identified the four most critical key performance indicators for your website. With these KPIs, you can understand whether you just need to improve areas of your site -- or do a major overhaul.

Is Your Website Generating Enough Sales and Leads?

Your website has the ability to create new customers without you lifting a finger. Is it doing its job? To figure this out, look at your website conversion rate for sales and leads using a tool such as Google Analytics or Google Search Console. Conversion rates of less than 5 percent are a clear indicator that your website (or certain pages) needs work.

How can you improve your conversion rate optimization? Some main factors to consider are:

  • UI Design (This includes branding, colors, fonts, etc.)
  • Copywriting (Your messaging and calls to action must be persuasive and compelling.)
  • UX Design (Is it clear to visitors what they should read first and where they should go next?)

You can A/B test variants in the above areas -- such as different calls to action, navigation formats, and more -- to get a clear view of what improves your CRO the most. If you're not able to optimize your entire site, begin with pages specifically intended to convert, such as pay-per-click landing pages.

Is Your Website Performing Well in All Technical Areas?

Also known as "technical SEO," your website's technical performance, site structure, and content structure affect your Google ranking and user perception. To get an overview, run a technical SEO audit on your website using software such as Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, Lighthouse, or PageSpeed Insights.

Are your page load times slow? Is your website easily crawlable by Google? Do you have redirect chains, broken links, broken images, or broken meta tags?

If your website performance and user experience are poor, Google won't rank your site well and your traffic will suffer. Users will also be frustrated and may leave your site, so you'll miss out on gaining business.

Is Your Website Secure?

Website security issues pose a threat to your business, team, and website visitors. A lack of security features can also affect your SEO. By uncovering your website's vulnerabilities, you can take steps to prevent malware, hackers, or spammers from accessing sensitive information or disrupting your website's functioning.

At minimum, your site should have an SSL certificate, which enables you to run hypertext transfer protocol security and encrypt data and communication. Additionally, avoid putting emails and contact information in plain text, as spammers can easily take information in plain text.

If your website deals with personally identifiable information or sensitive personal information, or if you're in an industry requiring advanced security, like health care or finance, certain regulations might be required. You may also need to take advanced actions, like switching to a more secure hosting provider.

Is Your Website Accessible?

Website accessibility refers to the degree to which your site can be used by everyone -- including those with disabilities and varying socio-economic statuses -- and accessed from different search locations, like mobile and desktop.

Website accessibility is both an SEO necessity and a moral one. Equal access to your site ensures that everyone can understand your website's content. It relies on features such as contrasting colors and alternative text in images. Your technical performance audit will capture many factors influencing website accessibility, but a separate audit may need to be run to check for ADA compliance.

After going through these four main areas, small adjustments may be all you need to get on track. However, if you're missing the mark in more than one area or notice that your website is majorly incomplete, you'll need to decide whether to complete the overhaul yourself or enlist outside help. Given that your site can increase your leads and bottom line, you shouldn't make that decision lightly.

 

This article was written by Young Entrepreneur Council from Inc. and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.

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