Optimize or Start Fresh? What a Web Grader Will Tell You

Your website is often the first contact a new customer has with your business. Making it effective takes work, analysis, and constant testing. Often companies that have some level of success take the ?if it?s not broke, don?t fix it approach.? Traffic has been steady, conversion rates are acceptable, and you?re generating leads but are you driving traffic and reaching the maximum audience? Are they the right people? Is your content effective or are you losing them after a couple of clicks?

The topic of optimization, or starting over comes up a lot at Marketing Matters Inbound. How do you make the decision whether to tweak your existing site or undergo a full redesign? The answer lies in a tool that can analyze your site?s current user experience and effectiveness. It?s called Web Grader, and it takes an objective look at your site, and your analytics to tell you exactly what?s working, and more importantly, what isn?t.

First, A Few Questions

• Are you satisfied with your existing design? Is it dated, unattractive or difficult to navigate?
• Is your current site designed for your customers, does it meet their needs?
• Does it convert well?
• Is your site optimized for easy SEO?

If you can answer yes to most of these questions, then a top to bottom redesign is probably not necessary. If you?re not sure, it may be time to rebuild.

Enter Web Grader

Marketing Matters Inbound goes deeper into your performance numbers with our free Inbound Marketing Assessment. We ask a series of questions about your site?s performance in four key areas, Attraction, Nurture, Conversion, and Analytics. Then, using Web Grader, we break down the data and award a score of from 0 -100. This score?is a representation of your site’s effectiveness in each of these key areas. Web Grader examines key data points including:

• On and off-page SEO
• Links (internal and incoming)
• Responsive design (does your site translate for mobile)
• Page rank
• Metadata
• Conversions

It then presents this information in an easy to understand format and offers recommended improvements for each data point. In the end, this information can help you determine whether to optimize your existing site or rebuild.

Here are some sample results that can help you?determine the best solution for your site.

• Low Conversions Not Generating Leads ? This is a solvable problem and points towards optimization
• Security Issues ? If you?re experiencing a lot of spam, malware or virus issues, you need to optimize your site?s security.
• Your Site Less Than A Year Old ? You may just need to give it time to work. Your numbers may be small, but that doesn?t mean you need to start over.
• Customer?s Are Complaining ? This one?s easy, unhappy customers who are taking the time to complain, usually means rebuild!
• The site is 5 Years or Older ? Websites have evolved tremendously in the past five years. From optimization to the way visitors engage has changed. If you still love how it looks, you may still want to examine and rebuild the underlying code.
• Mobile Compatibility ? Customers are accessing sites on phones and tablets, and if your site doesn?t work on them, it may be cause for a major change.

A web grader tells you understand where your site is currently, and can help you make an informed decision whether to optimize or rebuild. Take the Marketing Matters Inbound free Inbound Marketing Assessment and get your site?s grade today! Then let us show you how to turn your site into a lead generating machine!

Marketing Matters Inbound?is an inbound marketing firm specializing in online conversions, content?strategy, call-to-action mapping and traditional media placement. Our experience in?B2B digital?marketing?and traditional media allows us to deliver results through a strategic media mix. We believe in?aligning and merging marketing and sales/operations for optimal return on your marketing investment.