By now most businesses and people have websites. The thing that you should be most concerned with is how your site is working for you.
If you’ve wondered if you should redesign your site, the first thing you need to ask yourself is when was the last time you had an inquiry or an order from your site? If it’s been more than a week or two, you’ve got a problem.
The second thing you should consider is if you’ve had any emails or phone calls that went something like this – “I was looking for something on your site and couldn’t find it, so I decided to call.” That’s not a good sign either.
Third, you need to look into how much traffic you’re receiving. Hopefully your hosting service has a website log analyzer like WebTrends, AwStats, Webalizer, Analog or any other software that does the trick. Review it every two weeks to get an understanding of how people are using your site. The key metric that you need to look for is “unique visits”. Don’t waste your time counting “hits” – they’re extremely misleading and don’t give you an accurate picture.
Fourth, ask a colleague who doesn’t work for you or your company to perform some simple tasks on your site. For example, give them 30 seconds to find a data sheet on a particular product. Or ask them to find the email address to your customer support person or team. You may be surprised with the results and even more surprised with the ideas that you get for improving your site.
In summary, these issues will help you understand whether or not your website is contributing to your business. For more details on this, check out our previous article on “Why Should I Have a Website” or give us a call to discuss your situation.
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