Whether your website is big or small, it’s always daunting to begin a content audit. Here are 7 questions to ask when trying to find what’s working and what isn’t….

Do you know your audience?

By knowing your audience, you can assess how well your website is catering to their wants. Look at what information you have about your audiences, then go through your pages and find out which reader group each page is targeted at. If you find that the page has no purpose, it needs to be removed or tweaked. Every page on the site needs a purpose for being there.

Is your site easy to navigate?

You may find your website easy to navigate but it may be because you’re used to it. A good idea is to get someone who has never seen it before to navigate around. If they struggle to find certain areas or are confused by the layout, you need to consider changing things around.

Is your content easy to scan-read?

Giant blocks of text don’t work well on computer screens – we have a tendency to ignore these or just walk away from them. So if any important information is buried in slabs of text, it’s most likely getting lost. Bullet-points and lists are good ways of dividing up big bits of information. Headings, links and buttons – all the signposting content – need to be instantly informative too.

Are you using language your readers are using?

Check what language you’re using on the site. If it’s filled with jargon on internal messaging, it needs to go. Plain, everyday English is preferable in most cases. And using pronouns like ‘we’ and ‘you’ help to personalise your page and direct it towards a real-life reader.

Is your website optimised for search?

Keywords need to be a part of your website. Find out what your readers are searching for and optimise one page in your site for each of these keywords. Also, when including hyperlinks, make sure to use the keyword of the page you’re linking to in the hyperlink copy itself.

Does your website have a tone of voice?

It’s important to have a distinct tone of voice so that you can communicate effortlessly with your readers. A recognisable tone of voice can be one of the most effective marketing tools out there. But you should look out for cases where your tone of voice gets in the way of usability – if a functional page becomes too obscured by a quirky tone of voice, you risk confusing users.

Are you a credible website?

It may sound silly, but you need to look out for basic things that reduce the credibility of your website. That means singling out typos, grammatical errors or bad formatting. Cultural references that are out dated also need to be changed. Basically everything needs to be trustworthy – so avoid any unsubstantiated marketing claims.

Author Bio: JonJon Yeung loves to explore the depths of online digital marketing. He acknowledges importance of quality content and the ways of moving forward within the marketing arena.