The Website Audit: A Simple Method for Updating Your Website

Today, I’m pulling back the curtain on our latest project: a complete audit and refresh of the Chamber’s website. Why, you ask? Because even websites deserve a spa day now and then.

The Context: It's Been a While...

Like many websites, the Chamber's has been chugging around with nothing breaking, and so it has been easy to do the routine updates and add a blog now and again, but now with some major staff changes, it's a good time for us to really dig in and freshen our message and our photography, etc.

But where to begin? I like to start with data, aka "metrics." That's where the website audit comes in.

What Is a Website Audit?

A website audit is like giving your website a full-body check-up. It's about diving into every corner of your site to see what’s working great, what might need a little TLC, and where you can add some extra sparkle. Whether it’s freshening up content, tweaking the design, or making sure everything’s easy to find, the goal is to make your website the best it can be—so visitors get what they need, and your business gets what it needs from visitors. For purposes of our website audit, we used the "Site Content" report from Google Analytics under the "All Pages" section. This report provides detailed information on how individual pages on your website are performing, including metrics like pageviews, unique pageviews, average time on page, and bounce rate. For the Chamber's website, I pulled this report to rank pages year-to-date (YTD) and categorized them to help assess which pages are performing well, which might need improvements, and to assess our navigation levels.

Why Start with a Website Audit?

Let’s face it: our website is our digital front door, and like any good host, we want to make sure it’s not stuck in the ‘90s with dial-up speeds and a photo of staff members you fired ten years ago. The first step in our journey to a fresh, user-friendly site was to conduct a website audit using our trusty sidekick, Google Analytics. Think of it as giving the website a thorough check-up, but with fewer awkward conversations about flossing. Our goal (and yours should be too) is to have a website that’s easy to navigate and filled with relevant content. It helps your customers find what they need quickly and effortlessly, which means more happy customers and, ultimately, more business for you. And who doesn’t want that?

Step One: Analyzing the Data (a.k.a. Staring at Spreadsheets)

The first thing I did was dive into the treasure trove of data that is Google Analytics. I pulled the Site Content report that ranked our website’s pages by traffic count, bounce rate, and other nerdy metrics that made my Creative Writing degree weep just a little bit. Unless you love spreadsheets this might sound like a snooze fest, but stick with me.

Here’s the deal: this data gave us a bird’s-eye view of how visitors interact with our site. Which pages are they flocking to? Which ones are they fleeing from like they just saw a ghost? This kind of intel is golden because it tells us what’s working and what’s not.

Over the course of my marketing career, lo these many years, I have been asked to create web pages for the sake of having a web page that someone within an organization thought was important, but that no one outside of the building cared one iota about. During this audit, those pages might show low traffic and high bounce rates, meaning that the two people in North Korea who did visit those pages hated them. The metrics prove that these low-traffic pages don't merit surviving on their own - or that they require serious reworking - and they don't merit being represented in the navigation.

(Your new mantra: Keep the navigation clean, keep the navigation clean, keep the navigation clean.)

For example, if a page has a high bounce rate, it’s basically the website’s way of saying, “This page needs some love!” Maybe the content isn’t engaging, or the page takes too long to load. Or maybe it’s just not what visitors are looking for. Whatever the reason, we can use this information to make improvements.

Step Two: Categorizing the Pages (a.k.a. The Sorting Hat Has Nothing on Me)

Next, I channeled my inner librarian (minus the shushing) and categorized the pages into types: blog posts, member directory listings, Chamber information (like the riveting “About Us” page), event pages, job listings, and Business Spotlights. Why? Because not all pages are created equal. Some are like the MVPs of our site, while others are more like the benchwarmers. But even benchwarmers have potential, right?

By sorting the pages, I could see patterns emerge. Certain types of pages were consistently pulling in traffic (looking at you, Business Directory), while others were more hit or miss. This categorization helped us prioritize which pages to keep, tweak, or—cue dramatic music—cut.