13 Point Checklist for the Perfect Website Redesign

I rarely encounter a business that simply doesn’t yet have a website. Regardless of the bizarre reports that still contend 50% of all small business owners don’t have a website. (See Inc)

Now, what I do encounter most of the time is a small business that needs a total site makeover or redesign. It’s not that they were just awful in the first place, (well, some were) it’s that every site, just like every business, needs to evolve. That means if your current site design is around two years old it needs some attention.

But, before you rush out and give a designer the keys to your site, take steps to ensure you don’t unknowingly undue all the good you’ve accomplished with your previous site.

Eager designers don’t mean harm when they create a new design, they just need more information, and that’s where you come in. Before you even visit a WordPress theme designer arm yourself with some information that can help them make good decisions about what stays and what goes in your current configuration or take the risk of losing all that hard earned search traffic.

Now, I’m not suggesting you simply hang on to SEO gains over things like better navigation, visitor usability, and conversion, but don’t throw everything out just for something that looks more modern.

Use this checklist as you embark on a site redesign as a way to capture all existing elements and consider content needs, edits and issues before the project starts.

1. Do you have access to Google Analytics? – I know, weird question, but you might be surprised how many sites have analytics installed the owners have no idea how to access the data.
2. Do you have access to Google Search Console (formerly webmaster tools) – I frequently find site owners who have never bothered to connect their sites here and use this invaluable resource
3. Have you evaluated domain suitability and value and checked expiration? – Carefully and I mean carefully consider if your current domain is even right for your business. Certainly this is a good time to check and make sure your desired domain isn’t set to expire anytime soon. (Quick check WhoIS)
4. Have you cataloged all pages and current issues? – Use Screaming Frog to create a spreadsheet of all of your pages and any currently broken links or crawl errors.
5. Have you added Google Analytics data for pageviews, bounce rate and time on page to a spreadsheet to help make assessment on content to keep? By adding this kind of data to your spreadsheet you might learn about some pages that are receiving a surprising amount of traffic or links.
6. Have you ranked your spreadsheet content? A= keep no edit, B=keep edits needed, C= drastic rewrite or dump? This step involves your overall business and marketing strategy so you’ll need to consider how you want to position your business and your editorial calendar moving forward to make some of this decisions.
7. Have you audited any lead capture/landing pages/forms? If you’re capturing email addresses for a newsletter, ebook or webinar series you’ll want to make sure you take note of these for the redesign. It’s easy to lose track of landing pages because they are often buried away from the main navigation.
8. Have you audited SEO for ranking pages? Screaming Frog can give you information about pages that already rank for desired terms. If these terms are still relevant, you’ll want to think long and hard about how to keeps these pages intact.
9. Have you audited permalink structure? A site redesign might be the time to analyze whether you want those ugly numbered URLs for your blog posts or the default date added. Most sites today are moving to keyword-rich URLs for all content (Don’t worry, I’m headed there in a month or two myself.)
10. Have you analyzed current backlinks? Use a tool like ahrefs to see if any sites are sending significant traffic to pages. You’ll want to use some of this information to make determinations about leaving pages as is or even permanently redirecting the pages to eliminate creating too many broken links. (You might also consider some links that need pruning too.)
11. Have you designed a 301 permanent redirect strategy if needed? If you’re making any dramatic URL changes, you’ll want to tell the search engines that your blog posts still exist they’re just at a new address. Make sure you work this through and test it thoroughly before you launch. The Yoast SEO Plugin can help with 301s
12. Have you evaluated current plugins for use? A redesign is a great time to reconsider your current plugin use. Plugins are a big resource drag and a security hole – less is better.
13. Have you evaluated needed integrations (CRM, ESP, Shopping cart, etc.) Finally, if you currently have some integration with other 3rd party tools or client portals, you’ll want to note the need for these and make sure you can share this information with your designer.

The steps above may seem like a lot of work, but it will save you a ton of work, worry, and headache in the end. In fact, if you start working with a designer and they don’t ask you for this information up front, you should be concerned.

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The Paid Advertising Metrics You Absolutely Need to Know

Running a paid advertising campaign for your business can be exciting and rewarding. It can also be complicated and costly. You could spend your whole day wading waist deep through Excel spreadsheets, or you could save yourself some time and keep an eye on these paid advertising KPIs:

1. Quality Score

This is number one for a reason. Think of Quality Score as Google pulling out its big red pen and marking up your campaign. Google wants to reward advertisers who are employing best practices in their campaigns. Is this really that important though? After all, C’s earn degrees, right? Not in this case. A good Quality Score can benefit your campaign and a poor one can really hurt it.

Quality Score is graded on the following items:

• Your ad's expected CTR
• Your display URL's past CTR
• The quality of your landing page
• Your ad/search relevance
• Geographic performance
• Your targeted devices

Quality Score often determines the position of your ad placement, which can lead to more clicks.

What are some of the positive effects of a campaign with a high Quality Score? First, and probably most important, a higher Quality Score can reduce your cost-per-click (CPC). Yes, you read that right. As a reminder, pay-per-click advertising charges you every time your ad is clicked. With a higher Quality Score, those clicks just got cheaper.

The second major benefit of having a higher Quality Score is that it can lead to higher ad positions. This means your ads have the chance to be displayed higher on the SERP page, leading to a higher likelihood that they’re clicked.

We can’t emphasize the benefits of a higher Quality Score enough – better ad placement and cheaper clicks is huge for your business. This is how Google evens the playing field. It allows small businesses to compete with the big box stores who can outbid for premium clicks. If you’re interested in learning more, check out what Google has to say about Quality Score.

2. Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

Your click-through-rate is the heart beat of your campaign. Not only is it a key factor when determining Quality Score, but it tells you if searchers like what they see. To calculate CTR, divide your clicks by your impressions, then multiply by 100 (CTR = (clicks/impressions) x 100).

When creating a new campaign, start slow. Set your sights on achieving a 1-2 percent CTR and try moving up from there. There is no recommended “baseline” CTR, but the general consensus is that higher is better (your industry also plays a huge factor in average CTR). In order to increase your CTR, you’ll need both time and data to make the appropriate changes to your campaign. Here are a few examples to increase CTR:

• Long Tail Keywords: Give these a try. They are typically more targeted and your ad will be more relevant to the searcher, increasing your CTR. An example of this would be “pillow top queen mattress set” versus “queen mattress set.”

• Negative Keywords: These will keep your ads in front of only the most important searchers. In the automotive industry, “body shops” is a popular keyword, but you don't want your ad to show in a search for “body piercing shops.” In this example, “piercing” may be a good negative keyword to consider. 

• Call To Action (CTA): Tell the searcher what you want them to do. Make it specific to your product or service.  For example, “Browse our inventory, today!”

CTR is also important when testing your ad and keyword performance. For example, if you’re running a test ad and find that on weekends your ad's CTR is 3 percent better, you have the opportunity to alter your campaign schedule to take advantage of this increased click percentage.

Be wary though, CTR percentage change doesn’t always indicate a problem or an opportunity. If you’re interested in how you can further optimize your CTR, give us a call, we have a few ideas.

Always keep an eye on click-through-rate, cost-per-click, conversion rate and Quality Score.

3. Conversions Rate

Conversions are the reason you’re spending money on paid advertising. Whether it’s a phone call, a form submission or even a product purchase, conversions are one of main ways you’ll be able justify your advertising spend.

Outside of tracking your total conversions, Google also provides an extremely helpful calculation in its cost-per-conversion (CPC) reporting. This section will tell you exactly how much you're spending to get one conversion. While factors like conversion type and customer lifetime value come into play, your CPC can be very telling.

For example, if you’re selling shoes that retail at $50 and your average CPC is $90, you may want to re-evaluate your strategy. To the same effect, if you’re selling jewelry that retails for $1,500 and your average CPC is $250, you're probably rolling in it.

Does it work?

All of this sounds great in writing, but does it actually work? In short, yes, but don’t take my word for it. As reported by Google, marketers paid over $59 billion (yes, with a B) to Google in 2014 for paid advertising. Check out thissuccess story from Happy Hounds. As owner/operator Suzanne Golter reports, "Google AdWords generates 90 percent of our business."

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