With so much to keep track of, we at JobHouse decided to put together a comprehensive guide that eCommerce companies can use to audit their website and make sure everything is up-to-speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to Use this Guide<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
This guide is broken up into four sections. Each highlights a different aspect of your website that you can audit. And they are meant to each stand alone so you can do each audit individually, rather than having to do the entire thing at once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We appreciate how little time you have, so our goal is to make this guide in a way that you can open it, work through one section and then come back later when you have time to continue.\u00a0 But we want each section to provide value in itself so every small step improves your website.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Purpose of this Guide<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
The goal of this guide is to help you do two key things for your eCommerce website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Increase the amount of qualified traffic that comes into your website, and<\/li>
- Increase the conversion of visitors into engaged customers<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
A note about the two bolded words. We want to emphasize that our goal is to get you qualified traffic, not just random visitors who will bounce away and hurt your SEO. There are many \u201chacks\u201d and \u201cshortcuts\u201d that can drive traffic. But in the end they will hurt you more than help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As to engaged customers, we want you to not only make a sale, but to make a sale that will lead to additional sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those two aspects are critical in understanding our guide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With that said, let\u2019s begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Section 1: Mobile-friendly Audit<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
One of the quickest wins for your site is to\u00a0make sure it is mobile-friendly<\/a>.\u00a0 With the vast amount of browsing (and shopping) being done on smartphones, if your site doesn\u2019t work well on mobile, then you are leaving money on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plus, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly makes Google like you more. So mobile design impacts SEO as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With that said, let\u2019s jump in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Related Article: How to Determine if Your Website is Mobile Optimized<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Determine Your Score<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Go to https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enter your website URL and click \u201cANALYZE\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Make sure \u201cMOBILE\u201d is selected, and check your score in the center of your screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your score is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- RED: Then continue with the Mobile-friendly audit, you\u2019ve got some serious issues to tend to<\/li>
- YELLOW: You should probably do the audit, especially if you are below 80.<\/li>
- GREEN: Continue with the audit if you have free time, but it isn\u2019t probably worth your effort if there are other pressing needs.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: Checking Your Weak Points<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
If you scroll down, you will see a list of issues under Opportunities and Diagnostics that are causing your site to run slowly on mobile devices. You can expand any section and click Learn more to get details on how to fix the issues. Speaking of which…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 3: Getting it Fixed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This next step is completely dependent on your website setup. If you are savvy enough to edit your own website, refer to the Learn more links listed above and get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If someone else is responsible for the nuts and bolts of your website, than shoot them this email:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Put the following email template into a callout box. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hi [name of person responsible for your website],<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I just ran our website through Google\u2019s tool at https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few issues popped up when I did it. Could you go to the link above, run the test, and then let me know what you think it would take to resolve the issues?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks,<\/p>\n\n\n\n[YOUR NAME]\n\n\n\n
End callout box<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there you go.\u00a0 Your website is now on the path to the mobile friendliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Section 2: SEO Audit<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
In the world of eCommerce, SEO can make you or break you. Doing a comprehensive SEO audit is a guide in and of itself. This goal of this section is to identify any glaring technical errors on your website that will negatively impact your SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Get SEO Tool\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
We recommend Screaming Frog as it has a free version that can get you started (and the paid version isn\u2019t ridiculously expensive). You can download the tool here: https:\/\/www.screamingfrog.co.uk\/seo-spider\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: Run the Crawl<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Enter your web URL and click START<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note: The free trial only covers up to 500 pages. Which may be good enough if you have a small site or if you just want a quick review. But if you have a larger site just know you\u2019ll have to go with the paid version to get the full utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 3: Check for Errors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The first place to score some quick (and often overlooked) wins is to go to the images tab. Screaming Frog show you which images are too large, missing alt text, or has alt text that is too long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you check your images. We recommend checking the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Meta Keywords<\/li>
- Meta Descriptions<\/li>
- Page Titles <\/li>
- Internal (looks for broken\/dead internal links)<\/li>
- External (looks for broken\/dead external links)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
These are the most accessible things that you can fix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note: You can bulk export all of the issues by using the Bulk Export option at the top. This comes in handy if you want to hand off the work to your web person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 4: Fix The Issues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately there is no magical tool for this. If you have someone responsible for tending to these things, then you can export the list (mentioned above) and hand it to them. Otherwise everything is dependent on your website design and CMS. A quick Google search should yield the results. (Though we hope to create additional guides in the months to come.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
>>Callout Box<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
>>Need help? Sign up here<\/a> to get a free audit on us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Section 3: Internal Search Audit<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
If people have a hard time finding products on your site, they aren\u2019t going to buy. This section is about checking and improving your internal search bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, as an added benefit, you will find out more about what your site visitors are looking for, not just what they are buying.\u00a0 And insights like those can help guide your product offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Ensure Your Search Bar is Mobile-Friendly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In case you skipped section 1 and jumped straight to this section, we need to point out that your search bar needs to be mobile friendly. If it isn\u2019t, grab whoever is in charge of your website design and tell them to get it done. (Unless it is you…in which case buy yourself your preferred caffeinated beverage of choice and get to it!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing to note, it is often advantageous to put the search bar front and center on your site. Unlike other websites, people often immediately look for the search bar for eCommerce sites. The faster they find it, the faster they buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: Make Sure You are Tracking what People are Searching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
No where in the world can you get a better, more convenient source of data about what your customers really want than from looking at the analytics for your website\u2019s internal search feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are going to presume that you are using Google analytics for your website\u2019s analytics. (Because free is hard to beat.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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