The Problem:

A client suspected that there might be some issues with the recently developed e-commerce functionality on their website. For instance, they could be making more online sales. However, they lacked the expertise to identify the exact problem, let alone make the changes necessary to achieve the results they were looking for.

The Answer:

A Web Health Check is exclusively tailored as an answer to this problem. In general, a Web Health Check is designed for clients with existing websites who may feel that it’s not operating at peak performance and want to take improvement measures.

How can this help you?

The main aim of this service is to thoroughly examine your site and provide a detailed report across key areas to help you understand ways in which your customers might experience frustration with your site, or issues that could cost you if not fixed. It highlights issues in the security and performance of the site, how well it has been optimised for search engines, find areas to lift your SEO – all to help drive traffic to your site and keep users engaged with your website longer.

What do we look at?

On a higher level, the Web Health Check covers:

1. Performance

This explores how your site is coded and the improvements that can be made. For example, using the right size and kind of images impacts how your site loads. Further, it looks into how optimising JavaScript and CSS can improve your site’s overall performance and loading speed.

Page loading speed is a big factor for both user experience and search engine rankings. Calculating page speed loading to evaluate website performance is a little tricky though. According to a 2019 study by Backlinko, the average time to fully load a page is more than 10 seconds on a computer and more than 27 seconds on mobile. This seems like a lot, but the page might be usable and interactive for your customer long before this.

Why should you care about how long it takes for a page to load?

If your site takes too long to load, users are likely to ‘bounce’.

A higher bounce rate means a possible loss of customers as well as revenue. For example, a change in the loading time from just 1 to 6 seconds increases the bounce rate by 106%.
The investigation into the client’s website showed that it was suffering from both and hence, getting poor conversion. For our client, page load speed became key as they wanted to increase their online sales. In short, page speed loading metrics are crucial to get right. At the same time, they are also nuanced. In fact, Google uses several metrics within its Core Web Vitals to measure page speed and rank pages and performance. This provides lots of opportunities for continuous improvement and great results when done right.

2. Security

Improving and maintaining security can be as simple as keeping plugins and other software up to date, using SSL and HTTPS, and changing the default CMS settings. Further security hardening can be achieved by limiting administrative access to your website, and by choosing a secure web host.

Trust and reputation are essential for doing business. If your customers cannot trust you to keep their information safe, then they are likely to not do business with you. For example, our client using their website for e-commerce meant they were handling sensitive customer data. The Web Health Check discovered some minor security holes in their website that could be hardened to mitigate impact to their users in the event of a cyber-attack.

A secure site means building a creditable repute which is good for business and customers’ trust, while meeting Google’s standards and better rankings.

3. Accessibility

In this digital age, accessibility is essential functionality for websites. This means a website needs to cater to and be accessible by all users, regardless of the device, operating systems, or ability and is part of creating an inclusive society.

Our client’s website turned out to be inaccessible to people with screen readers, which are one example of assistive technologies that allow people with vision limitation to access digital content. By making a website accessible, a business can not only tap into a bigger market but also be recognised as an organisation that truly is user centred.

4. SEO

The right SEO is still vital for an effective website. While our client was following all the best practices for SEO, there is always room for improvement. This is especially important as Google continuously changes and updates its algorithms. The Web Health Check evaluation provided suggestions for changes and tweaks in this area as well. For example, is all the metadata that has been included relevant? Is the alternate text appropriate? How often is the content reviewed for relevancy?

5. User Experience

The Web Health Check also looks at the overall user experience of the website. User-centred design is a critical aspect of an optimally performing website. With our client, we discovered there were plenty of opportunities for them to polish the UX and design of their website. This would provide a simpler and seamless shopping experience for their end-users.

In other words, the user experience of your website needs to deliver a balance between what your customers want and need. Content has its own place in augmenting search rankings by increasing time spent on a site and lowering the page bounce rate. But if your website is not easy to navigate or does not provide the information customers expect, they won’t stick around to make a purchase or interact with your business.

What is the offer?

We understand that websites are your digital shop fronts and a key driver for sales. To this end, our Web Health Check packages are divided into three categories because we understand that all businesses have different needs.

Improving and updating a website usually means investing in new software, writing new code, and using new tools to help with performance. After a web health check, you will have a clear idea of your website’s issues as well as a framework to begin addressing these problems. As a result, you can make efficient and informed decisions, and be sure that the measures you take will help you improve your website performance and achieve your strategic business objectives.

Ready to make your website work for you?

We can help take your website and CMS above and beyond.