Practical tools to test your website’s performance (and spy on your competitors)
As companies compete for target audiences in the ever-expanding digital space, poor performance simply won’t cut it anymore. Consumers look to the web to research products and solutions, answer questions, and they determine a company’s trustworthiness. It is more important than ever to optimize and continually review your company website for broken links, mobile-friendliness, and more.
Some business owners and marketing teams may be asking, “How can we tell if our digital marketing efforts are paying off?”
Follow these four steps to assess the state of your online presence.
Some business owners and marketing teams may be asking, “How can we tell if our digital marketing efforts are paying off?”
Follow these four steps to assess the state of your online presence.
1. Run your website through Google’s mobile-friendly test
There’s no question that websites today have to be mobile-friendly. In fact, Americans spend up to five hours per day on mobile devices (TechCrunch).Google launched a free tool to test how responsive your website is back in 2014. Use it to test your website in a matter of seconds to get a status showing how mobile-friendly your website is.
2. Test your site with a broken link checker
If you have an older website, or a site with lots informational pages on it, it’s possible you have more than a few broken links on the website. It’s a good idea to fix broken links on your website to improve user experience. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding exactly what you’re looking for in a search results only to find yourself on a broken page.
3. See what your competitors are up to
Use a tool like SpyFu to see real data about which keywords your competitors are paying for (and ranking for). As you’re building your marketing budget, this competitor research can be very useful when determining which markets and keywords to include your strategy.
4. Get inspiration from award winners
As technology moves at the speed of light, designs, strategies, and techniques to offer the best user experience and best design are also changing. Before you launch into a redesign of your website, spend some time with some great websites to determine which features and styles you like best. One of our team’s favorite sources for inspiration is the Webby Awards website.
5. Request a website audit
While it is a good idea to do your own research and have ideas about how to improve your website, nothing beats a professional, experienced eye giving critical feedback about how to make your website better. Scheduling a free consultation and learning more about professional services is an excellent way to stay ahead of the game when it comes to digital marketing.
Whether your website is six months old or six years old, it is always prudent to stay on top of current technologies and design trends. Analyzing your site performance with tools like those listed here can help with goal setting and business success online. Ultimately your website is your 24/7 digital storefront, and it pays to keep it current, clean, and user-friendly.
How we can help you get more from your marketing in 2018? Let’s talk
This post was written December 12, 2017.
About the author TBH Creative
TBH Creative is an award-winning marketing company specializing in web design/development, digital strategy, inbound marketing, and reporting. Since 2004, we’ve built multi-dimensional digital marketing campaigns and complex, enterprise-level websites for clients in a wide range of industries.
We believe in communicating clearly, delivering excellence, and beating deadlines. But beyond those ideals, what really drives the heart of our business is your business—helping our clients achieve more with comprehensive digital marketing and web design.
