Let’s assume you own an online store that sells personalized t-shirts. Every day, thousands of users visit your website in search of the best t-shirts to buy. They look over the available options, add their favorite items to the cart, proceed to the checkout page, but then abandon the cart.
You begin to wonder why.
Is there anything that is missing or unclear? You’re unsure whether your website requires any minor updates or a complete overhaul.
Every website owner, sooner or later, thinks about conversion rate optimization and other metrics. However, the question is how to determine what needs to be optimized.
Homepage. Pricing Page. Blog. Landing Pages.
What should you focus on when there are so many elements on-site?
Today’s online shoppers are savvy, demanding, and always looking for the simplest, most direct way to get what they need. According to one e-commerce report, 90 percent of customers abandon their purchases due to slow websites.
For small and emerging business owners, this could be a setback.
Fortunately, there is a quick and simple way to keep customers from leaving your site. You can help drive sales by scheduling a website audit or user experience audit (UX Audit). This keeps customers engaged and impressed with your offerings.
Most importantly, this will help prevent them from abandoning your website and purchasing from your competitors.
But What is a Website Audit?
A website audit is a process in which a specialist thoroughly evaluates your website and provides you with feedback on key design and development elements.
Sometimes also known as a “UX audit” or a “Website Teardown,” is performed to ensure that your website runs smoothly and quickly.
The audit typically consists of three key processes:
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Examining your customer-facing website for design flaws in UI UX and problems with user flows, information architecture, and hierarchy that may interfere with browsing or purchasing.
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Examining the technical side of things to see how your code, applications, and apps/plugins affect the speed and functionality of your site.
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Reporting on strengths and weaknesses, as well as specific web design and development recommendations.
Identifying inefficiencies and providing next-step solutions is critical to assisting a brand in ensuring its website provides an excellent user experience while also generating more revenue.
A website audit, when done right, will improve your customers’ ability to engage with and navigate your site.
And How does it help?
With a website audit, factors affecting your website’s visibility in various search engines become clear. A website audit can help you determine whether your website is optimized for quality and consistent traffic.
An audit provides you with solid solutions for improving the quality of your website’s content in order to increase traffic and website performance.
When reviewing your website, a website audit will identify the following key aspects:
Technical Issues
A website audit can determine whether there are any technical issues that are affecting the usability or speed of your website.
Some of the most important ranking factors for search engine optimization are page load speed and usability. If your website has technical issues that affect site speed, your rankings will suffer as a result.
Fortunately, a website audit can quickly identify these issues and provide solutions to resolve them.
Website Authority
Backlinks are important for a website’s ranking. A website audit can help you determine if your website lacks the authority it needs to rank well on search engine results pages.
If this is the case, you can devise a strategy to assist you in obtaining more backlinks. More backlinks can boost your website’s authority and, as a result, its search engine rankings.
Discrepancies
A website audit can assist in identifying issues on a website that may result in Google penalties. Google penalties can have a significant and negative impact on the rankings of a website.
Security
Website audits also evaluate the security of a website and its vulnerability to potential breaches.
A website audit can assist you in increasing traffic and online visibility.
A website health check can help you identify design flaws in your website and improve your traffic and online presence. If you’ve tried everything to increase traffic but still aren’t seeing results, it might be time to consider an audit.
Improve Traffic and Increase revenue
The goal of a website audit is to improve your website’s performance, which will increase your overall visibility in search engines. After completing a website audit, you can use the results to create a plan of action to improve your website and online presence.
A Website audit can help identify what is going wrong, which then can be solved. This ensures that your website is running at peak performance adhering to Google’s best practices.
They aid in the improvement of efficiencies, visibility, and website traffic, giving you the opportunity for online growth.
For an emerging business, every penny matters and this is why it’s important to understand why to invest in a UX audit for eliminating problems on your website. The reason is pretty simple: To increase revenue and prevent your customers from leaving your site due to poor user experience.
The cost of a Website Audit
The cost of a UX audit is heavily influenced by the scope and complexity of the work, who you work with (expert agency or individual freelancer), and the duration of the UX audit.
If you want to outsource it and hire freelancers, expect to spend at least $1,000-$3,000 on a usability audit.
Established agencies may charge between $7,000 and $12,000 for a thorough usability audit that lasts 2-4 weeks.
Need help with a Website Audit or UX Audit?
If you want to conduct a comprehensive audit of your product, identify usability issues, and improve its performance, then we’re offering a free website audit worth $1000!
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