Is your website fit for purpose?

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Simple and practical advice for assessing if your website is fit for purpose...in three steps. It covers purpose and audience, SEO and social web, and web performance.

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Is your website fit for purpose? 3 simple steps Firehoop 8 March 2012

Emily Davis emily.davis@firehoop.com

We will cover...

1. Purpose and audience

2. SEO and the social web

3. Website speed and performance

Why bother?

• A way to measure success

• Supports your business goals

• Ensures your investment is working for you

• And...for your users

1. Purpose and audience

Have you considered...?

• The purpose of your site

• Your target audience

• The tone and language used

• The usability of the site

Bad - Yvette’s Bridal

www.yvettesbridalformal.com

Bad - Merlin’s B&B

www.merlinshill.com

Good - Twitter

Good - E4 homepage

Tools

• How to analyse your target audiences

– What are your key messages?

– Who are they aimed at?

– What’s the tone of voice?

– What methods will you use?

– Who is responsible?

2. SEO and the social web

Have you considered...?

• The keywords you should be known for

• How you will track goals

• How you will stay relevant

• How users will find / share your content

Communications

• Make a 12 month plan

• Make sure you stay on message

• Share it across the right channels

• ALWAYS drive back to your website (think email marketing)

• If you set up any social profile, make it a Google Plus one!

3. Website speed and performance

Have you considered...?

• The page load time of your website

– Over half users abandon after just 3 seconds

– The average Fortune 500 website load time is 7 seconds!

– Slower sites = less sales

– Even more so on a mobile device

Tools

• Google Analytics

– Content > Site speed

• Install Firebug (Firefox addon)

– Open console

– Site speed tab

– Analyse performance tab

– Score out of 100

In Summary

• Audience empathy

• Find a friendly tester

• If you’re relevant, Google will find you!

• Content generation is the new black

Further reading and credits

Page load statistics http://www.slideshare.net/AndyDavies/web-performance-a-whistlestop-tour-10995825 Page speed fixes http://www.seomoz.org/blog/optimizing-page-speed-actionable-tips-for-seos-and-web-developers?utm Using Analytics http://www.seomoz.org/blog/11-google-analytics-tricks-to-use-for-your-website? Search engine optimisation, architecture and code http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=218981494854060 Tips for planning and creating your content http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=187005541384989 Google + and SEO http://intranetfuture.com/seo-by-sharing-to-googleplus

Thank you

Firehoop 8 March 2012

Emily Davis emily.davis@firehoop.com