Unit 2 Content Production and Website Planning Notes

Unit 2 **Content Production and Website Planning** Basics of Content Marketing What is content? Content is the information, the idea or the experience you publish online. It is anything that you produce and publish for the purpose of offering it to your audience. The format of the content is most...

Unit 2 **Content Production and Website Planning** Basics of Content Marketing What is content? Content is the information, the idea or the experience you publish online. It is anything that you produce and publish for the purpose of offering it to your audience. The format of the content is most commonly text, but it can also be visual, audio, or video. https://www.emarketinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/02-creativity.jpg In the realm of the digital world, content should be: Useful Easy to consume Shareable Original Relevant Compelling Timely Personalized Authentic Engaging Educational Entertaining Insightful Conveying a story Contextual In terms of business promotion, content is used as a way to directly connect with the target group. Each of these attributes is supposed to increase the quality of the content you present to your potential customers, and the main purpose is to encourage their interest in your business through this content.  Since the content is created with a specific purpose in mind, it has to be well-planned and carefully designed. As much as content creation involves creativity and skillfulness with transferring your thoughts and opinions, using content in content marketing is done with specific goals, and thus it is something you should think through.  What is content marketing? Content marketing is a type of marketing focused on creation and distribution of online materials that directly or indirectly promote a brand. Direct promotion refers to the creation of promotional materials and content used for advertising purposes. This type of content is usually used in paid ads (SEM) or affiliate links (affiliate marketing). On the other hand, content marketing is frequently void of any direct promotion. The purpose of this kind of content is simply to increase interest in your products or services. This way, content marketing indirectly attracts and acquires leads and customers. Looking at online marketing in general, it can be concluded that content marketing is a type that correlates with all other types of marketing because it essentially creates a base for them. In terms of SEO, content helps with keyword placement and website optimization. For email marketing and social media marketing, content is used to encourage interest through these two channels. The same can be said for paid advertising (SEM). Supporting the overall importance of content marketing is the fact that most marketers will be focused on which is why they will work on producing even more content. Nonetheless, quantity does not take precedence of quality. In terms of content marketing, quality is considered to be essential. There is so much stuff online. So much, that it is impossible for people to take in all of that content without feeling overwhelmed. This is why quality started to become more and more important. People are now quite selective of what blogs they follow, which post they are going to share on social media, which links they will click on in the email. Producing quality content is essentially going to help with achieving your business goals. Although producing quality content is one of the things most marketers see as an obstacle, mainly because it requires more assets, both money and time invested into research and production, it has been constantly highlighted that the potential of such content is huge. Companies that use content marketing strategy have consistently been showing better results in achieving their goals. When you implement quality standards into this strategy and make sure the content truly matches those standards, the results are going to be even better. The potential for achieving goals increases with high-quality content which is why this is an important part of a business strategy. Quality is what counts nowadays, and if you want to be really successful in content marketing and see the benefits it can bring to your business, think about creating content that stands out for its quality. What you need to think about when creating content? In business, content is not created randomly. It is not about writing the content you love, personally enjoy or about a viral video everyone is talking about. It is not about writing anything that comes to your mind. Content creation includes so much more than having an idea about a certain topic. It is a planned strategy that is supposed to bring your business certain results, which means that you should think about all the aspects that could help you create content that brings you to that goal. Starting from the target audience, to search engine optimization, here are the things you need to consider. Audience The importance of user experience has been highlighted over and over again, and in terms of content, this means that you have to have your audience in mind when creating content. After all, you are creating content for the users primarily. Regardless the type of content, regardless the methods used for content distribution, the content you create has to resonate with your target group. This means that you have to think about the following aspects: Determine your target group Think about their possible questions, problems, dilemmas, etc. Be able to predict what kind of information can help in these situations Publish content that is relevant to your target group Use the language your target group can identify with Niche Niche in marketing refers to determining a concentrated topic that corresponds to the interests of your target group, as well as to the products you are selling. It is a subject you want to focus on with the intention to specialize in that particular subject and become a sort of an expert. By choosing your niche, you choose to focus on one narrow topic, which helps you define the road for your content marketing strategy. Resources The next step is determining the resources you have. The resources are needed for content marketing strategy, and they have to be planned and assigned to content creation like any other strategy. Competitors There is no doubt that uniqueness is an essential part of content creation, but it never hurts to check out what your competitors are going. This way you can keep up with the industry trends and standards. SEO In terms of SEO, content is essential. One of the major tasks of search engine optimization is particularly optimization of content. The main purpose of content optimization is to attract search engine crawlers and get the content indexed. This increases the visibility of the content and helps with increasing website ranking in the search engine results. How to start with content marketing? To start with content marketing, you will need a plan. Simply starting a blog and publishing content is not enough. Instead, think of content marketing as a tool to help you achieve your goals, regardless if that is increasing sales, generating new leads, etc. These goals are important because they affect the type of content you are going to create, as well as the ways you will distribute content. Think about your target group and what kind of content they would like to read. It has to be something interesting, helpful, engaging, and relatable. It has to be a content of high quality. Start by brainstorming some ideas that first come to your mind, and then choose the ones that are most likely to bring a lot of visits, i.e. a lot of potential conversions. When using external resources, you should always use credible ones and make sure you provide a reference in a form of a link. There are many types of content, and different types of content have different purposes. For example, "About us" page should be informative and provide details about you and your company. On the other hand, a "how-to" type of post will feature instructional text, preferably with images or videos. What you need to have in mind all the time, regardless the type of content you decide to create, is the fact that each piece is a segment of overall content marketing strategy. Therefore, it needs to be in accordance with global goals, and it has to follow the approach your company is taking. In terms of content marketing, branding is another aspect you should think about. Branding represents the process of creating a unique name and image for a product. This is mainly used in advertising campaigns, to create a sort of differentiated presence on the market and to make a product stand out from its competitors. When it comes to content marketing, content enables you to develop a branding strategy. It allows you to tell a story about your brand and create influence through high-quality content. Finally, after successful content creation comes content distribution as a way to spread the influence of that content and eventually enable it to achieve its purpose, regardless if that is gaining conversions, leads, visits, etc. There are many different ways to distribute content, which will be explained in a separate chapter, but what is essential to think about in relation to content distribution is the following: Data from the previous campaigns Take a look at the data from the previous campaigns to find out which distribution channels provided the best results. When it comes to the best results, make sure you analyze the performance and how each channel affected your business. For example, if you notice a large number of visits from Facebook, but hardly any conversion, maybe this social network is not the way to go in your case. On the other hand, if you notice that email campaigns produced great results in the past, make sure you include this channel when planning content distribution for the future campaigns. 20 Types of Tools for Creating Awesome Video, Images, Gifs for Social Media 1. [Canva](https://www.canva.com/video-editor/)  Canva has been a popular social media content creation tool for various kinds of requests such as brochures, social media posts, business cards and so much more. With the recent rollout of the Canva Animator, accustomed users will find the interface and options highly intuitive. The user-friendliness of Canva that has made it a hit is very evident in the Animator making it the go-to option to create animations and GIFS in minutes. Canva can very be used as an image resizer for social media posts based on your dedicated channel. 2\. Inshot https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/23-7-1024x441.png InShot is among the best video modifying tools used for social media. You can alter your content to impeccably fit any platform and add voice-overs, text, music, channels, and emoticons. InShot is accessible from iOS and Android devices. 3\. Adobe Spark A free social media content creation tool that has been rolled out by Adobe, Spark offers tons of features for web and mobile users to create, edit, and share videos and visual content. It has a noteworthy number of free tools to make it simple for anybody to make fascinating videos that reflect expert creations. The free music library further enhances the overall creation.  4\. Crello The functionality and ease of use are Crello's best qualities, with a bonus being that it is completely free. Crellow is everything great and a few more attractive tools such as animation posts. It offers a huge number of mind-boggling layouts which are completely energized to make your posts extraordinary. 5https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/25-5-1024x589.png. Lumen5  Lumen5 is geared toward businesses that create a lot of blog content. Parts of Lumen5 are free that pull pictures and words from your posts, which you would then be able to alter depending on the situation to make a video that recounts the story for you. Make it intriguing to the point of keeping people entertained, however, leave them needing all the more so they navigate for the full story. 6https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/27-5.png. Quik Quik is a free application, powered by GoPro, that permits anybody with an Apple or Android device to rapidly and effectively piece together pictures and recordings and make enthralling films. Once the design is ready, you download your animation in either a GIF or movie format, depending on where you wish to use the post.  7\. Animoto  Don your social media content creator hat with Animoto, one of the best social media video apps that uses a template interface to create engaging content. The recordings you transferred to Animoto can be distributed onto the online media platforms.  8\. Windows Movie Maker Microsoft has an incredible video editing program, called Movie Maker, and for Windows users, its free of charge. You could likewise get the paid form for extra tools, for example, slow-motion, limitless photograph overlay, Full HD, etc. You can make proficient level video recordings utilizing ambient sound, custom characters, and other visual components. 9\. Animaker https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/29-1.png Animaker is a web-based tool for making videos. Animaker can be characterized more as a video producer than a video editorial manager. However, it allows you to transfer your pictures and sound recordings to be utilized in the videos. In the free version, videos have a watermark and can be distributed to YouTube or Facebook (and not be downloaded) while the paid version starts from \$19/month. 10. HyperLapse https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/31-3-1024x602.png Hyperlapse is developed by Instagram and is geared toward making time-lapse videos. It allows you to speed up films up to 12 times the original speed. You can also record in real-time. Moreover, the application will streamline blurry film and empower you to post a refined video straightforwardly to Facebook or Instagram. A basic, simple to utilize and free, and powerful device. 11\. Magisto  Magisto enables you to create stunning video clips for social networks. The app is available for Android and iOS plus as a web-based tool for the PC. The editing and improvement of your raw material are done automatically by the app. Magisto is suited for posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Google+ as well as directly to your website. Particularly valuable for content promotion are its analytical prospects which give you information on your shared recordings. 12\. RenderForest https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/33-2-1024x524.png A social media video tool with an ease of use comparable to anything else out there, Renderforest allows you to publish videos directly to social media channels such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, and Twitter. The free plan has a watermark on the content made by it which can be overcome by going premium 13\. Typito  Typito is a kind of social media management tool that lets you add text to the video clips for better visual aid. This is particularly significant since numerous clients burn-through recordings in a hurry with the sound switched off. Upload photos and/or videos, add subtitles and music, and post the result directly to Facebook or YouTube in a landscape or portrait format.  14. Biteable Biteable is a simple-to-utilize online media creation tool that emphasizes on creating expert-level videos without spending a fortune. Biteable permits you to make a wide range of recordings, like PPTs, animations, logos, slideshows, advertisements, and more for your business in minutes. 15\. Moovly https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/36-2.png Moovly offers a huge functionality range including a plethora of icons and graphics to add to your videos. In addition to that, it offers great animations and the possibility to upload your voice recordings for a more personal and inspirational touch to your beloved content. 16\. GIPHY GIPHY is a web search and database tool that permits users to look for and share short recordings called GIFs without any sound. GIPHY permits you to make GIFs and backgrounds and enhance them with subtitles, channels, stickers, and so much more. 17\. Gifs.com  Like GIPHY, gifs.com allows its users to convert video in formats such as MP4 into soundless, bite-sized gifs. It also offers features allowing you to add captions and visual effects to said gif. 18\. VidLab https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/38-3-1024x576.png VidLab is one of the portable media video producers on our list. It offers a multi-cut, multi-track video editor and allows users to effectively add overlays, shapes, veils, audio cues, and music to make their video perfect. VidLab likewise incorporates bunches of flawless channels and video impacts. Facebook has labelled VidLab as a favored application for making Facebook advertisements for your business and your videos can be shared straight with Instagram without any size changes. 19\. MotionDen  MotionDen is a video editing tool for Social Media Content that can be used to create videos and slideshows with images, music, sound effects, and more.  The application incorporates loads of effects, GIFs, channels, topics, stickers, sound effects, and video upgrade highlights. The application is not difficult to utilize and is a must-have for novices. 20\. Wave.Video https://pepperyourcontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/40-1024x616.png It's incredible for amateurs and exhausted content marketers who need a device with fewer complexities to learn and adapt. You can utilize Wave.video to add inscriptions, interpret recordings, and add or remove sound. In addition, Wave.video can be used to create GIFs, long form videos, and more. Conclusion No matter what platform you end up using, remember to study your audience. Set aside the effort to shape online campaigns that are successful. Assuming you speak with individuals about what they need, and collect considerable feedback by creating captivating videos, how is it that they could turn away? Key Takeaways Social media is effective provided that your copy is connecting enough. Content should be a mix of style, representation, and different parameters to be able to make an impact. Marketing videos are a convincing apparatus for B2C organizations offering well known products. The most famous social media video editing applications are typically accessible for both Android and iOS phones and can be downloaded through their store. Fortunately, there are numerous video editing applications out there that make video and photos a lot more authentic than they used to be. Each social media channel has a frame or size format. With a lot of content accessible for customers, you want to catch their eye in only a couple of moments before they switch to another video. How to make a Wix website Get started by: [**Creating a website →**](https://www.wix.com/?utm_campaign=toplink-website) \| [**Getting a domain →**](https://www.wix.com/domain/names?utm_campaign=toplink-domain) What is a website audit? A website audit is an examination of page performance prior to large-scale search engine optimization (SEO) or a website redesign. Auditing your website can determine whether or not it\'s optimized to achieve your traffic goals and give you a sense of how you can improve it to reach those goals. Before we dive into the things you should keep an eye out for, let's review some of the different types of audits you can perform.   Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) Types of Website Audits Here are a few common audits among marketers. 1\. Competitive Website Audit A competitive website audit tracks your competitors and their online strategies to help you see what opportunities your brand could be missing out on. Essentially, a competitive audit allows you to see what's working for other companies in your market so that you can incorporate those tactics into your own strategy. Start by performing a SWOT analysis on a competitor's website. In a SWOT analysis, you track the website's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For example: A strength could be that their website is easier to navigate than yours. One weakness could be that their website has slower page loading times. Opportunities could be items or tools missing from their website that you can add to yours to give you an edge. A threat could be that their website ranks higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) than your own, resulting in your site losing leads. During this audit, you also need to consider the tools and software they are using to streamline their processes. This can help you discover new ways to run your site more efficiently and make it more accessible for consumers. 2\. SEO Link Audit This type of audit processes the links pointing to your website to find potential issues or opportunities in your backlink profile. By evaluating your links, this audit will help optimize your site to rank for your target keywords. Link audits consider the URL source, domain, and anchor text to see if value and equity (called \"link juice\") are being passed on to your page. This will gauge how much a link is helping or hurting your website\'s visibility in SERPs. Links from well-respected websites are much more valuable than links from smaller, less well-known sites. To perform an SEO link audit, start by gathering all of your link data. You can do this with [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome) by entering your domain and then clicking on \"Links to Your Site\" under \"Search Traffic.\" From there, you can download the latest links and create a link audit spreadsheet. Afterward, you manually evaluate your links by paying attention to factors like anchor text, IP address, and page content. You can also tools like Ahref\'s backlink checker to take the guesswork out of analyzing the value of the links you gathered. 3\. Lead Conversion Optimization Audit A lead conversion optimization audit analyzes a website's conversion issues and opportunities. In this audit, you'll need to analyze how traffic is coming to your website and where it's coming from. [Google Analytics](https://analytics.google.com/) is an excellent tool for this step. Knowing where your traffic is coming from will help you better understand your audience's behavior and will help you optimize your site's content to suit their needs. Speaking of content, you'll also need to analyze the content on your website. Make sure the content is helpful, informative, and up-to-date.\ \ Is the latest information about your business uploaded to the site and easily visible? Does your content contain keywords and phrases to boost its ranking in SERPs? Outdated or irrelevant content can hurt conversions and hurt your SERPs ranking. Other aspects of your website you need to observe are: Forms. Do your forms collect enough information to contact a lead? The checkout process. If you notice a lot of shopping cart abandonment, customers are likely having issues with the checkout process on your website. Design and layout. Are CTAs clear and visible? Is the copy too small and difficult to read? Is the website easy to navigate? Overall user experience. Are there any sources of frustration for visitors to your site? 4\. Social Media Audit Your brand's online performance can also be impacted by social media. If your social media presence isn't pushing more traffic to your website, then it's time to conduct a social media audit. To start the audit, create a list of all your company's social media accounts. Do some extra digging to make sure you don't miss any you're not aware of, such as accounts started by other departments.\ \ From there, go through each account to determine if they're all consistent with the company's branding --- using the same images, logo, tone of voice, etc. Then you'll need to evaluate each page's performance. What kind of content performs the highest, and which content type performs the lowest? Are these pages being updated frequently?\ \ Finally, use information from the evaluation to better understand your audience and optimize your social media to engage them. You'll then be able to update your social media strategy to further delight your audience, more effectively attracting them to your website. 5\. SEO Website Audit While an SEO link audit analyzes the links associated with your website, an SEO website audit evaluates all the factors that can impact your site\'s performance in SERPs. This includes links but also extends to other aspects such as keyword usage, content, metadata, page speed, user journey, and video optimization. It\'s possible to conduct an [SEO audit](https://seomator.com/free-seo-audit-tool) on your own but you\'ll likely get more thorough answers in less time by employing an agency. To perform an SEO website audit, start by crawling your website pages. You can use various tools including [SE Ranking\'s website audit](https://seranking.com/website-audit.html) to evaluate every SEO metric, such as crawling, indexing, security, usability, and other tech errors that prevent your site from ranking high in search results. https://offers.hubspot.com/hubfs/Image%20Hackathon%20%E2%80%93%20Horizontal%20(17).png Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) 6\. Data Privacy Audit A data privacy audit verifies that you're following applicable data privacy laws and ensures you're creating a safe space for website visitors. Search engines look for privacy-related pages when determining whether a website is high-authority. For example, Google's primary goal is to serve the best and most trustworthy content to users from reputable sources. Sites that comply with data privacy requirements will most likely be viewed as more authoritative than those that don't have these essential legal policies.  To conduct a data privacy audit, determine what personal information your site collects from visitors, identify the laws you must follow, list all cookies your site uses, and create and publish website policies to meet legal requirements.  Most websites need a: Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Consent Banner Terms and Conditions Agreement While you can create these on your own, it's much easier and more efficient to use managed solutions, like a [privacy policy generator](https://termly.io/products/privacy-policy-generator/) for example. To take the guesswork and hassles out of privacy compliance, use a reputable generator vetted by a legal team and data privacy experts. It should also include clauses that meet compliance requirements outlined by the most common data privacy laws. Excellent! Now that you know about a few different audits you can conduct to improve your website, let's discuss the perks of an audit. The Benefits of a Website Audit You can compare your website to your competitors. You can improve your SEO. You'll optimize conversion rates. You can optimize your website performance. You can identify issues early. 1\. You can compare your website to your competitors. Conducting a website audit will allow you to compare your website to your competitors. You can analyze how well you're ranking against competitors for keywords and determine potential new sources of revenue. You can use tools, like [HubSpot\'s Website Grader](https://website.grader.com/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621), to perform an audit on your competitor's websites to gather more insights. You can learn how your competitors are attracting visitors and see how they're garnering conversions. Ultimately, this will help you brainstorm new tactics and strategies for your site. 2\. You can improve your SEO.  With a website audit, you will be able to identify any missed [SEO opportunities](https://offers.hubspot.com/seo-guide?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=SEO%20opportunities&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=SEO%20opportunities&_ga=2.107513986.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636) and remedy any misguided or poorly executed SEO pitfalls (e.g. keyword stuffing, exact match anchor text links, etc.) throughout the content of your website. One great tool that can help keep your SEO details organized is [HubSpot's Free On-Page SEO Template](https://offers.hubspot.com/seo-guide?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=SEO%20opportunities&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=SEO%20opportunities&_ga=2.37831907.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840). An audit will also allow you to refocus your SEO efforts on users first and search engines second. This will safeguard you from constantly chasing changes to search ranking algorithms, meaning you won\'t be applying misguided practices just to show up at the top of the SERPs. 3\. You\'ll optimize conversion rates.  Website audits also enable you to re-evaluate the effectiveness of your website in terms of [lead generation](https://www.hubspot.com/free-ebook-an-introduction-to-lead-generation/?hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=lead%20generation&_ga=2.37831907.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840) and conversion. As a result, you'll be able to spot any previously overlooked opportunities to convert visitors into leads so you can add relevant CTAs, as well as identify deficiencies in your landing pages so you can optimize them to boost conversions. 4\. You can optimize your website performance. Website audits, like the ones mentioned above, usually evaluate a site for its content and technical performance. As a result, an audit will give you a chance to inspect the robustness of your website's technical framework and infrastructure. It will also evaluate how friendly your website is to search engines and determine how easy it is for users to navigate your website to find the content they are looking for. 5\. You can identify issues early.  Finally, a website audit finds issues that are hurting your SEO and conversions such as broken links, hidden content, and long page load speed times. Identifying these issues will help you address problems that are diverting traffic. Assessing both the content and technical aspects of your website will open up opportunities to drastically improve the traffic and conversions your website generates. Now that you know what a website audit is and why you should do one, let\'s look at how to conduct one. How to Conduct a Website Audit Run your website URL through a site audit tool. Find technical errors. Identify SEO problems. Analyze design and UX. Assess website content. Generate a checklist of all site issues and recommend fixes. 1\. Run your website URL through a site audit tool. Before you get started, you\'ll need to find a website auditing tool that can help you analyze how your website is performing. When you use site audit software to run your site through, you can get specific recommendations and test how your page is performing. 2\. Find technical errors. Technical errors like ones related to performance, SEO, mobile, and security, can negatively impact your customers\' experience on your website. If you\'re noticing visitors aren\'t staying on your site for long, or you\'re seeing a lot of abandoned shopping carts --- a website audit is a great way to find out why. 3\. Identify SEO problems. Now, you\'ll want to look at SEO-related issues so you can improve your ranking on search engines. This will mean looking at meta descriptions, reviewing image alt text, and more.  Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) 4\. Analyze design and UX. How is this design working for your customers? Some software has heatmaps of what parts of your design draw the most attention and what users are reading. This type of analysis will let you know how the overall design and user experience are impacting your visitors. 5\. Assess website content. A website audit will help you assess website content including blogs, website pages, etc. You\'ll want to know how your current pages are stacking up. Ask yourself, *\"Is my content ranking well in search engines?\"* and *\"Is my on-page SEO and performance aligned with my traffic numbers?\"* 6\. Create a website audit report. Creating a website audit report that clearly communicates the site issues found (and what to do about them) is an easy job when you have the right tools. There are a number of choices available, and [HubSpot's Website Grader](https://website.grader.com/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621) is one of the most user-friendly. It quickly and automatically generates the report by entering the web address you want to have crawled as well as an email address.  For those with more technical experience, SEMRush's Site Audit Tool is a very thorough reporting option, but getting started for free does require jumping through a few hoops. You would need to create an account, answer some questions about yourself, and choose to skip a trial in order to create the free audit report. Their in-depth report can look overwhelming unless you're coming to the game with some technical chops. Whichever reporting product you choose, it should provide a clear display of important website categories --- such as SEO performance and the effectiveness of your security measures --- and then list the individual issues along with recommended fixes.\ \ Having a full website audit report in your hands enables you to start making improvements yourself or to efficiently send the information to the appropriate teams within your organization. Now let's dive into even more detail so you know what to be checking for in this website audit. Assessments to Make When Auditing Your Website First, go ahead and enter your website into [HubSpot\'s Website Grader](https://website.grader.com/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621) --- this will give you a general overview of your website\'s strengths so you can gauge your focus on each of the assessments that follow in this article. How\'d you do? Got an idea of which website audit benefits you need the most? Here we go. 1\. Website Performance Assessment In the first part of your website audit, you should be focusing on how users navigate your website --- from your homepage to blog posts, to landing pages, and any related content in between. Make a list of the pages on your website and ask yourself the following questions to evaluate them for optimization opportunities: Is your website optimized for maximum usability? The more visitors you can attract to your website, the more opportunities you\'ll have to generate leads and, ultimately, customers. But only if your website performs well. Just *having *a website does not guarantee results. As part of determining the overall efficiency of your website, your audit should check to make sure your site is designed with your visitors in mind. The design and [overall navigability of your website](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33536/The-Key-Components-of-a-User-Friendly-Website-Navigation.aspx?_ga=2.70830224.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=overall%20navigability%20of%20your%20website) should correspond with what a person would come to the site to seek out, such as more information on a business-related topic, resources, product/pricing information, testimonials, etc. This will largely depend on your individual business. The main goal here is to make it easy for people to get the information they\'re looking for. As a result, you\'ll likely see conversion rates improve on their own. To audit your website for usability, consider the following: Are all the main value propositions of our business easily accessible via our main navigations/menu items? Do we have a simple yet intuitive website design and page layout? Make sure pages aren\'t too cluttered; littered with ads, CTAs, or links; or void of internal links altogether. Are your conversion paths and/or shopping cart or checkout processes intuitive? Are there a ton of distractions along the way that could be [creating friction](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29396/Master-Online-Lead-Generation-by-Reducing-Friction.aspx?_ga=2.70830224.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=creating%20friction) for your site visitors? Consider doing some user testing with members of your target audience to ensure you\'re effectively surfacing the content they\'re looking for and that they find it easy to navigate to the parts of your website they\'re interested in. How is your website\'s overall speed? Are there excessive page sizes or long page load and server response times? Does your site go down frequently? Site speed can be impacted when image files are too large or HTML and CSS needs to be cleaned up --- all of which can [drastically improve your site speed](http://blog.kissmetrics.com/loading-time/?wide=1). Ultimately, fast-loading and optimized pages will lead to higher visitor engagement, retention, and conversions. To quickly check a web page\'s load time, download [MozBar](https://moz.com/products/pro/seo-toolbar?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=sitelink&ads_cmpid=123718265&ads_adid=43593784977&ads_matchtype=e&ads_network=g&ads_creative=219471141799&utm_term=mozbar&ads_targetid=kwd-330634041298&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&ttv=2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlJLggenJ2gIVENVkCh36MwRgEAAYASABEgJiWvD_BwE), a toolbar by Moz that you can attach to your browser for simple page analysis every time you visit a website. 2\. SEO Assessment [Optimizing the performance of your website](https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/website-optimization?utm_source=marketing_blog&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=website_optimization&_ga=2.70830224.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636) is crucial to holding onto visitors, but the above question isn\'t the only one you should be asking. You should also audit the content you\'re publishing to ensure it\'s actually solving your visitors\' problems. https://offers.hubspot.com/hubfs/Image%20Hackathon%20%E2%80%93%20Horizontal%20(17).png Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) Is Your Website Content High Quality? As you evaluate your content for quality, think about it from your target audience's perspective:  Did this information leave me satisfied? \< Did it answer all of my questions?  Does it give me all the resources relevant to this topic?  Do I know what to do next? Keep in mind quality content should appeal to the interests, needs, and problems of your [buyer personas](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/buyer-persona-research?_ga=2.43091173.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=buyer%20personas). Present them with interesting and well-written content. Always aim to leave the reader with immediately actionable next steps such as calls-to-action or links to resources. Is Your Website Search Engine Optimized? Make sure all your web pages are following [on-page SEO best practices](https://offers.hubspot.com/seo-guide?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=on-page%20SEO%20best%20practices&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=on-page%20SEO%20best%20practices&_ga=2.37482400.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636). To audit your content for on-page SEO, conduct a keyword analysis in which you do the following: Consult your [analytics](https://www.hubspot.com/products/seo?hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=analytics&_ga=2.37482400.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=analytics) to review keyword performance. Which keywords are giving you the biggest gains in traffic and leads? Assess how well you\'re factoring keyword performance into your content strategy. How much relevant content are you adding to your website to target those keywords? Review basic on-page SEO elements like URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, and copy. Make sure keywords are included where relevant. To help you conduct an on-page SEO audit of your content, read [The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33655/a-step-by-step-guide-to-flawless-on-page-seo-free-template.aspx?_ga=2.15478646.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=The%20Ultimate%20Guide%20to%20On-Page%20SEO), which also includes a [free downloadable on-page SEO template](https://offers.hubspot.com/seo-guide?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=free%20downloadable%20on-page%20SEO%20template&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=free%20downloadable%20on-page%20SEO%20template&_ga=2.15478646.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840) to keep you on track. 3\. Conversion Rate Assessment While high-quality, search-engine-optimized content is a great way to boost your traffic numbers, it\'s what happens once those visitors are on your website that really counts. This is where optimized [calls-to-action](https://www.hubspot.com/how-to-create-effective-calls-to-action/?hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=calls-to-action%20&_ga=2.37482400.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636) (CTAs), marketing offers, and landing pages play a major role in the performance of your website. Not only do they offer you opportunities to capture visitors\' information so you can follow up with leads, but they also keep your visitors engaged with your content and your brand. To audit your website for maximum conversion potential, ask yourself the following questions: How many [marketing offers](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31252/How-to-Create-Marketing-Offers-That-Don-t-Fall-Flat.aspx?_ga=2.37482400.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=marketing%20offers) do I have in my content arsenal to gate behind landing pages? Do I have a variety of marketing offers that appeal to all my different buyer personas? Do I have any landing pages/conversion forms on my website to begin with? [How optimized are those landing pages](https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-ebook/free-ebook-optimizing-landing-pages/?hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=How%20optimized%20are%20those%20landing%20pages&_ga=2.95478940.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636)? Do I have conversion opportunities for visitors in [varying stages of the funnel](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31406/How-to-Map-Lead-Nurturing-Content-to-Each-Stage-in-the-Sales-Cycle.aspx?_ga=2.95478940.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=varying%20stages%20of%20the%20funnel)? Am I using CTAs effectively? Am I missing opportunities to include CTAs on various pages of my website? Learn more about [CTA selection](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32306/How-to-Select-the-Right-CTA-for-Every-Page-on-Your-Site.aspx?_ga=2.10183669.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=CTA%20selection) to optimize the CTAs on your website. 4\. Technical Assessment Once you\'ve addressed the three primary goals of a website audit, it\'s time to loop in a developer or someone from your IT department for a technical evaluation. You could also hire an outside agency --- just be sure to do your homework first. Keep in mind that there may be some carry-over from the three assessments above --- website performance, SEO, and conversion rate. The technical evaluation, however, addresses all three to maximize the user experience (UX). Here\'s what you should be looking for in the technical assessment stage of your website audit. Is your website design responsive? Does your website have a responsive design? Meaning, is it a [mobile-friendly website](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33737/A-Simple-Approach-to-Prioritizing-Your-Mobile-Optimization-Efforts.aspx?_ga=2.95478940.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=mobile-friendly%20website)? The usage of smartphones to access the internet is only growing. As a result, websites must be compatible with that growing demand. Here's more on [mobile compatibility](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/28776/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-mastering-mobile-marketing.aspx?_ga=2.14183287.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=mobile%20compatibility) if this is an area you need to improve in. Is your website error message free? Are response code errors popping up all over your website where there shouldn\'t be any? Calling out 302-, 404-, and 500-level response codes *can *be useful to tell users that something\'s wrong. However, having this happen is also an indication that someone isn\'t cleaning up broken links and, as a result, leading users to dead ends. Find those error messages and clean up your broken links. Tools like [Google\'s Webmaster Tools](http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621) or [Xenu\'s Link Sleuth](http://xenus-link-sleuth.en.softonic.com/) can be very helpful for this. Are your website URLs optimized? Does your site have URLs of excessive length due to keyword stuffing? Do they contain session IDs and/or include tons of dynamic parameters? In some cases, these URLs are difficult for search engines to index, resulting in lower clickthrough rates from search results. Does your website have too much Flash or JavaScript? Identify areas of your navigation that are entirely Flash or JavaScript. Search engines have challenges with reading and accessing these, which could prevent your site from getting indexed. These elements also present problems from a usability perspective. Visitors are often looking for a very specific piece of information when visiting your site. If they have to sit through a 10-second visual introduction before they can find your hours of operation, you're going to have a pretty frustrated visitor on your hands. Is your site structure optimized for search engines? We already talked about site structure as it relates to accessing content and usability for users, but it\'s also important to make sure your site structure is optimal for search engines. If pages on your site are not internally linked to other pages on your site, those pages are less likely to be indexed. Are you defining how your web pages are crawled and indexed by search engines? This can be done through various methods that include everything from robots files and tags to sitemaps. These tools help you guide search engines toward your website's most useful content. Robots Files or Tags The robot meta tag lets you use a granular, page-specific approach to controlling how an individual page should be indexed and served to users in search results. These tags should sit in the \ section of a given page.  Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) The [robots.txt file](http://tools.seobook.com/robots-txt/), on the other hand, is a text file that allows you to specify how you would like your site to be crawled. Before crawling a website, search engine crawlers will generally request the robots.txt file from a server. Within the robots.txt file, you can include sections for specific (or all) crawlers with instructions (\"directives\") that let them know which parts should or should not be crawled. Public and XML Sitemaps Your website should also have public and XML sitemap files. The public sitemap is one that users can access to review the pages of your site, like the index of a book. The XML sitemap is for search engines to review pages that get added to your site, all in one place. The usual location of a sitemap.xml file is www.domainname.com/sitemap.xml.  The XML sitemap is something every website should have. It offers an opportunity to tell Google and the other search engines which pages on your site you want to be crawled and indexed. While search engines don't guarantee they will abide by your sitemap, anecdotal evidence has proven time and time again that XML sitemaps help provide insurance that your pages are found, and found faster --- especially if your sitemap(s) dynamically update your new web pages. Are you defining the canonicalization of content? The canonicalization of your website content is your final major technical consideration. To gain more control over how your URLs appear in search results --- and to minimize issues related to duplicate content --- you need to pick a canonical (preferred) URL as the preferred version of the page. You can indicate your preference to Google in a number of ways. One such way is to insert the [canonical tag](https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2009/02/specify-your-canonical.html) (rel=\"canonical\") in an HTTP header of a page. Be sure to have someone check that the canonical tag is properly implemented across the site by making sure it points to the correct page, and that [\>every page doesn\'t point to the homepage](https://moz.com/blog/catastrophic-canonicalization). Website Auditing Checklist Before you get started, you might consider using this basic website auditing checklist to ensure you review all the necessary elements of your site's performance, SEO, mobile, and security issues. What is a website audit? A website audit is an examination of page performance prior to large-scale search engine optimization (SEO) or a website redesign. Auditing your website can determine whether or not it\'s optimized to achieve your traffic goals and give you a sense of how you can improve it to reach those goals. Before we dive into the things you should keep an eye out for, let's review some of the different types of audits you can perform.  https://offers.hubspot.com/hubfs/Image%20Hackathon%20%E2%80%93%20Horizontal%20(17).png Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) Types of Website Audits Here are a few common audits among marketers. 1\. Competitive Website Audit A competitive website audit tracks your competitors and their online strategies to help you see what opportunities your brand could be missing out on. Essentially, a competitive audit allows you to see what's working for other companies in your market so that you can incorporate those tactics into your own strategy. Start by performing a SWOT analysis on a competitor's website. In a SWOT analysis, you track the website's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For example: A strength could be that their website is easier to navigate than yours. One weakness could be that their website has slower page loading times. Opportunities could be items or tools missing from their website that you can add to yours to give you an edge. A threat could be that their website ranks higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) than your own, resulting in your site losing leads. During this audit, you also need to consider the tools and software they are using to streamline their processes. This can help you discover new ways to run your site more efficiently and make it more accessible for consumers. 2\. SEO Link Audit This type of audit processes the links pointing to your website to find potential issues or opportunities in your backlink profile. By evaluating your links, this audit will help optimize your site to rank for your target keywords. Link audits consider the URL source, domain, and anchor text to see if value and equity (called \"link juice\") are being passed on to your page. This will gauge how much a link is helping or hurting your website\'s visibility in SERPs. Links from well-respected websites are much more valuable than links from smaller, less well-known sites. To perform an SEO link audit, start by gathering all of your link data. You can do this with [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome) by entering your domain and then clicking on \"Links to Your Site\" under \"Search Traffic.\" From there, you can download the latest links and create a link audit spreadsheet. Afterward, you manually evaluate your links by paying attention to factors like anchor text, IP address, and page content. You can also tools like Ahref\'s backlink checker to take the guesswork out of analyzing the value of the links you gathered. 3\. Lead Conversion Optimization Audit A lead conversion optimization audit analyzes a website's conversion issues and opportunities. In this audit, you'll need to analyze how traffic is coming to your website and where it's coming from. [Google Analytics](https://analytics.google.com/) is an excellent tool for this step. Knowing where your traffic is coming from will help you better understand your audience's behavior and will help you optimize your site's content to suit their needs. Speaking of content, you'll also need to analyze the content on your website. Make sure the content is helpful, informative, and up-to-date.\ \ Is the latest information about your business uploaded to the site and easily visible? Does your content contain keywords and phrases to boost its ranking in SERPs? Outdated or irrelevant content can hurt conversions and hurt your SERPs ranking. Other aspects of your website you need to observe are: Forms. Do your forms collect enough information to contact a lead? The checkout process. If you notice a lot of shopping cart abandonment, customers are likely having issues with the checkout process on your website. Design and layout. Are CTAs clear and visible? Is the copy too small and difficult to read? Is the website easy to navigate? Overall user experience. Are there any sources of frustration for visitors to your site? 4\. Social Media Audit Your brand's online performance can also be impacted by social media. If your social media presence isn't pushing more traffic to your website, then it's time to conduct a social media audit. To start the audit, create a list of all your company's social media accounts. Do some extra digging to make sure you don't miss any you're not aware of, such as accounts started by other departments.\ \ From there, go through each account to determine if they're all consistent with the company's branding --- using the same images, logo, tone of voice, etc. Then you'll need to evaluate each page's performance. What kind of content performs the highest, and which content type performs the lowest? Are these pages being updated frequently?\ \ Finally, use information from the evaluation to better understand your audience and optimize your social media to engage them. You'll then be able to update your social media strategy to further delight your audience, more effectively attracting them to your website. 5\. SEO Website Audit While an SEO link audit analyzes the links associated with your website, an SEO website audit evaluates all the factors that can impact your site\'s performance in SERPs. This includes links but also extends to other aspects such as keyword usage, content, metadata, page speed, user journey, and video optimization. It\'s possible to conduct an [SEO audit](https://seomator.com/free-seo-audit-tool) on your own but you\'ll likely get more thorough answers in less time by employing an agency. To perform an SEO website audit, start by crawling your website pages. You can use various tools including [SE Ranking\'s website audit](https://seranking.com/website-audit.html) to evaluate every SEO metric, such as crawling, indexing, security, usability, and other tech errors that prevent your site from ranking high in search results.  Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) 6\. Data Privacy Audit A data privacy audit verifies that you're following applicable data privacy laws and ensures you're creating a safe space for website visitors. Search engines look for privacy-related pages when determining whether a website is high-authority. For example, Google's primary goal is to serve the best and most trustworthy content to users from reputable sources. Sites that comply with data privacy requirements will most likely be viewed as more authoritative than those that don't have these essential legal policies.  To conduct a data privacy audit, determine what personal information your site collects from visitors, identify the laws you must follow, list all cookies your site uses, and create and publish website policies to meet legal requirements.  Most websites need a: Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Consent Banner Terms and Conditions Agreement While you can create these on your own, it's much easier and more efficient to use managed solutions, like a [privacy policy generator](https://termly.io/products/privacy-policy-generator/) for example. To take the guesswork and hassles out of privacy compliance, use a reputable generator vetted by a legal team and data privacy experts. It should also include clauses that meet compliance requirements outlined by the most common data privacy laws. Excellent! Now that you know about a few different audits you can conduct to improve your website, let's discuss the perks of an audit. The Benefits of a Website Audit You can compare your website to your competitors. You can improve your SEO. You'll optimize conversion rates. You can optimize your website performance. You can identify issues early. 1\. You can compare your website to your competitors. Conducting a website audit will allow you to compare your website to your competitors. You can analyze how well you're ranking against competitors for keywords and determine potential new sources of revenue. You can use tools, like [HubSpot\'s Website Grader](https://website.grader.com/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621), to perform an audit on your competitor's websites to gather more insights. You can learn how your competitors are attracting visitors and see how they're garnering conversions. Ultimately, this will help you brainstorm new tactics and strategies for your site. 2\. You can improve your SEO.  With a website audit, you will be able to identify any missed [SEO opportunities](https://offers.hubspot.com/seo-guide?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=SEO%20opportunities&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=SEO%20opportunities&_ga=2.107513986.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636) and remedy any misguided or poorly executed SEO pitfalls (e.g. keyword stuffing, exact match anchor text links, etc.) throughout the content of your website. One great tool that can help keep your SEO details organized is [HubSpot's Free On-Page SEO Template](https://offers.hubspot.com/seo-guide?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=SEO%20opportunities&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=SEO%20opportunities&_ga=2.37831907.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840). An audit will also allow you to refocus your SEO efforts on users first and search engines second. This will safeguard you from constantly chasing changes to search ranking algorithms, meaning you won\'t be applying misguided practices just to show up at the top of the SERPs. 3\. You\'ll optimize conversion rates.  Website audits also enable you to re-evaluate the effectiveness of your website in terms of [lead generation](https://www.hubspot.com/free-ebook-an-introduction-to-lead-generation/?hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=lead%20generation&_ga=2.37831907.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840) and conversion. As a result, you'll be able to spot any previously overlooked opportunities to convert visitors into leads so you can add relevant CTAs, as well as identify deficiencies in your landing pages so you can optimize them to boost conversions. 4\. You can optimize your website performance. Website audits, like the ones mentioned above, usually evaluate a site for its content and technical performance. As a result, an audit will give you a chance to inspect the robustness of your website's technical framework and infrastructure. It will also evaluate how friendly your website is to search engines and determine how easy it is for users to navigate your website to find the content they are looking for. 5\. You can identify issues early.  Finally, a website audit finds issues that are hurting your SEO and conversions such as broken links, hidden content, and long page load speed times. Identifying these issues will help you address problems that are diverting traffic. Assessing both the content and technical aspects of your website will open up opportunities to drastically improve the traffic and conversions your website generates. Now that you know what a website audit is and why you should do one, let\'s look at how to conduct one. How to Conduct a Website Audit Run your website URL through a site audit tool. Find technical errors. Identify SEO problems. Analyze design and UX. Assess website content. Generate a checklist of all site issues and recommend fixes. 1\. Run your website URL through a site audit tool. Before you get started, you\'ll need to find a website auditing tool that can help you analyze how your website is performing. When you use site audit software to run your site through, you can get specific recommendations and test how your page is performing. 2\. Find technical errors. Technical errors like ones related to performance, SEO, mobile, and security, can negatively impact your customers\' experience on your website. If you\'re noticing visitors aren\'t staying on your site for long, or you\'re seeing a lot of abandoned shopping carts --- a website audit is a great way to find out why. 3\. Identify SEO problems. Now, you\'ll want to look at SEO-related issues so you can improve your ranking on search engines. This will mean looking at meta descriptions, reviewing image alt text, and more. https://offers.hubspot.com/hubfs/Image%20Hackathon%20%E2%80%93%20Horizontal%20(17).png Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) 4\. Analyze design and UX. How is this design working for your customers? Some software has heatmaps of what parts of your design draw the most attention and what users are reading. This type of analysis will let you know how the overall design and user experience are impacting your visitors. 5\. Assess website content. A website audit will help you assess website content including blogs, website pages, etc. You\'ll want to know how your current pages are stacking up. Ask yourself, *\"Is my content ranking well in search engines?\"* and *\"Is my on-page SEO and performance aligned with my traffic numbers?\"* 6\. Create a website audit report. Creating a website audit report that clearly communicates the site issues found (and what to do about them) is an easy job when you have the right tools. There are a number of choices available, and [HubSpot's Website Grader](https://website.grader.com/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621) is one of the most user-friendly. It quickly and automatically generates the report by entering the web address you want to have crawled as well as an email address.  For those with more technical experience, SEMRush's Site Audit Tool is a very thorough reporting option, but getting started for free does require jumping through a few hoops. You would need to create an account, answer some questions about yourself, and choose to skip a trial in order to create the free audit report. Their in-depth report can look overwhelming unless you're coming to the game with some technical chops. Whichever reporting product you choose, it should provide a clear display of important website categories --- such as SEO performance and the effectiveness of your security measures --- and then list the individual issues along with recommended fixes.\ \ Having a full website audit report in your hands enables you to start making improvements yourself or to efficiently send the information to the appropriate teams within your organization. Now let's dive into even more detail so you know what to be checking for in this website audit. Assessments to Make When Auditing Your Website First, go ahead and enter your website into [HubSpot\'s Website Grader](https://website.grader.com/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621) --- this will give you a general overview of your website\'s strengths so you can gauge your focus on each of the assessments that follow in this article. [Image Source](https://website.grader.com/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621) How\'d you do? Got an idea of which website audit benefits you need the most? Here we go. 1\. Website Performance Assessment In the first part of your website audit, you should be focusing on how users navigate your website --- from your homepage to blog posts, to landing pages, and any related content in between. Make a list of the pages on your website and ask yourself the following questions to evaluate them for optimization opportunities: Is your website optimized for maximum usability? The more visitors you can attract to your website, the more opportunities you\'ll have to generate leads and, ultimately, customers. But only if your website performs well. Just *having *a website does not guarantee results. As part of determining the overall efficiency of your website, your audit should check to make sure your site is designed with your visitors in mind. The design and [overall navigability of your website](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33536/The-Key-Components-of-a-User-Friendly-Website-Navigation.aspx?_ga=2.70830224.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=overall%20navigability%20of%20your%20website) should correspond with what a person would come to the site to seek out, such as more information on a business-related topic, resources, product/pricing information, testimonials, etc. This will largely depend on your individual business. The main goal here is to make it easy for people to get the information they\'re looking for. As a result, you\'ll likely see conversion rates improve on their own. To audit your website for usability, consider the following: Are all the main value propositions of our business easily accessible via our main navigations/menu items? Do we have a simple yet intuitive website design and page layout? Make sure pages aren\'t too cluttered; littered with ads, CTAs, or links; or void of internal links altogether. Are your conversion paths and/or shopping cart or checkout processes intuitive? Are there a ton of distractions along the way that could be [creating friction](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29396/Master-Online-Lead-Generation-by-Reducing-Friction.aspx?_ga=2.70830224.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=creating%20friction) for your site visitors? Consider doing some user testing with members of your target audience to ensure you\'re effectively surfacing the content they\'re looking for and that they find it easy to navigate to the parts of your website they\'re interested in. How is your website\'s overall speed? Are there excessive page sizes or long page load and server response times? Does your site go down frequently? Site speed can be impacted when image files are too large or HTML and CSS needs to be cleaned up --- all of which can [drastically improve your site speed](http://blog.kissmetrics.com/loading-time/?wide=1). Ultimately, fast-loading and optimized pages will lead to higher visitor engagement, retention, and conversions. To quickly check a web page\'s load time, download [MozBar](https://moz.com/products/pro/seo-toolbar?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=sitelink&ads_cmpid=123718265&ads_adid=43593784977&ads_matchtype=e&ads_network=g&ads_creative=219471141799&utm_term=mozbar&ads_targetid=kwd-330634041298&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&ttv=2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlJLggenJ2gIVENVkCh36MwRgEAAYASABEgJiWvD_BwE), a toolbar by Moz that you can attach to your browser for simple page analysis every time you visit a website. 2\. SEO Assessment [Optimizing the performance of your website](https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/website-optimization?utm_source=marketing_blog&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=website_optimization&_ga=2.70830224.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636) is crucial to holding onto visitors, but the above question isn\'t the only one you should be asking. You should also audit the content you\'re publishing to ensure it\'s actually solving your visitors\' problems.  Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) Is Your Website Content High Quality? As you evaluate your content for quality, think about it from your target audience's perspective:  Did this information leave me satisfied? \< Did it answer all of my questions?  Does it give me all the resources relevant to this topic?  Do I know what to do next? Keep in mind quality content should appeal to the interests, needs, and problems of your [buyer personas](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/buyer-persona-research?_ga=2.43091173.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=buyer%20personas). Present them with interesting and well-written content. Always aim to leave the reader with immediately actionable next steps such as calls-to-action or links to resources. Is Your Website Search Engine Optimized? Make sure all your web pages are following [on-page SEO best practices](https://offers.hubspot.com/seo-guide?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=on-page%20SEO%20best%20practices&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=on-page%20SEO%20best%20practices&_ga=2.37482400.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636). To audit your content for on-page SEO, conduct a keyword analysis in which you do the following: Consult your [analytics](https://www.hubspot.com/products/seo?hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=analytics&_ga=2.37482400.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=analytics) to review keyword performance. Which keywords are giving you the biggest gains in traffic and leads? Assess how well you\'re factoring keyword performance into your content strategy. How much relevant content are you adding to your website to target those keywords? Review basic on-page SEO elements like URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, and copy. Make sure keywords are included where relevant. To help you conduct an on-page SEO audit of your content, read [The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33655/a-step-by-step-guide-to-flawless-on-page-seo-free-template.aspx?_ga=2.15478646.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=The%20Ultimate%20Guide%20to%20On-Page%20SEO), which also includes a [free downloadable on-page SEO template](https://offers.hubspot.com/seo-guide?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=free%20downloadable%20on-page%20SEO%20template&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=free%20downloadable%20on-page%20SEO%20template&_ga=2.15478646.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840) to keep you on track. 3\. Conversion Rate Assessment While high-quality, search-engine-optimized content is a great way to boost your traffic numbers, it\'s what happens once those visitors are on your website that really counts. This is where optimized [calls-to-action](https://www.hubspot.com/how-to-create-effective-calls-to-action/?hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=calls-to-action%20&_ga=2.37482400.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636) (CTAs), marketing offers, and landing pages play a major role in the performance of your website. Not only do they offer you opportunities to capture visitors\' information so you can follow up with leads, but they also keep your visitors engaged with your content and your brand. To audit your website for maximum conversion potential, ask yourself the following questions: How many [marketing offers](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31252/How-to-Create-Marketing-Offers-That-Don-t-Fall-Flat.aspx?_ga=2.37482400.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=marketing%20offers) do I have in my content arsenal to gate behind landing pages? Do I have a variety of marketing offers that appeal to all my different buyer personas? Do I have any landing pages/conversion forms on my website to begin with? [How optimized are those landing pages](https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-ebook/free-ebook-optimizing-landing-pages/?hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_post-cta=How%20optimized%20are%20those%20landing%20pages&_ga=2.95478940.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636)? Do I have conversion opportunities for visitors in [varying stages of the funnel](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31406/How-to-Map-Lead-Nurturing-Content-to-Each-Stage-in-the-Sales-Cycle.aspx?_ga=2.95478940.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=varying%20stages%20of%20the%20funnel)? Am I using CTAs effectively? Am I missing opportunities to include CTAs on various pages of my website? Learn more about [CTA selection](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32306/How-to-Select-the-Right-CTA-for-Every-Page-on-Your-Site.aspx?_ga=2.10183669.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=CTA%20selection) to optimize the CTAs on your website. 4\. Technical Assessment Once you\'ve addressed the three primary goals of a website audit, it\'s time to loop in a developer or someone from your IT department for a technical evaluation. You could also hire an outside agency --- just be sure to do your homework first. Keep in mind that there may be some carry-over from the three assessments above --- website performance, SEO, and conversion rate. The technical evaluation, however, addresses all three to maximize the user experience (UX). Here\'s what you should be looking for in the technical assessment stage of your website audit. Is your website design responsive? Does your website have a responsive design? Meaning, is it a [mobile-friendly website](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33737/A-Simple-Approach-to-Prioritizing-Your-Mobile-Optimization-Efforts.aspx?_ga=2.95478940.16278751.1660940636-2120468521.1660940636&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=mobile-friendly%20website)? The usage of smartphones to access the internet is only growing. As a result, websites must be compatible with that growing demand. Here's more on [mobile compatibility](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/28776/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-mastering-mobile-marketing.aspx?_ga=2.14183287.1363187377.1671730840-1056012254.1671730840&hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_content-cta=mobile%20compatibility) if this is an area you need to improve in. Is your website error message free? Are response code errors popping up all over your website where there shouldn\'t be any? Calling out 302-, 404-, and 500-level response codes *can *be useful to tell users that something\'s wrong. However, having this happen is also an indication that someone isn\'t cleaning up broken links and, as a result, leading users to dead ends. Find those error messages and clean up your broken links. Tools like [Google\'s Webmaster Tools](http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/?__hstc=20629287.fdd546c2d8326b0b61b6bc1df301dfd4.1658861662513.1660065723304.1660225569358.16&__hssc=20629287.5.1660225569358&__hsfp=207990621) or [Xenu\'s Link Sleuth](http://xenus-link-sleuth.en.softonic.com/) can be very helpful for this. Are your website URLs optimized? Does your site have URLs of excessive length due to keyword stuffing? Do they contain session IDs and/or include tons of dynamic parameters? In some cases, these URLs are difficult for search engines to index, resulting in lower clickthrough rates from search results. Does your website have too much Flash or JavaScript? Identify areas of your navigation that are entirely Flash or JavaScript. Search engines have challenges with reading and accessing these, which could prevent your site from getting indexed. These elements also present problems from a usability perspective. Visitors are often looking for a very specific piece of information when visiting your site. If they have to sit through a 10-second visual introduction before they can find your hours of operation, you're going to have a pretty frustrated visitor on your hands. Is your site structure optimized for search engines? We already talked about site structure as it relates to accessing content and usability for users, but it\'s also important to make sure your site structure is optimal for search engines. If pages on your site are not internally linked to other pages on your site, those pages are less likely to be indexed. Are you defining how your web pages are crawled and indexed by search engines? This can be done through various methods that include everything from robots files and tags to sitemaps. These tools help you guide search engines toward your website's most useful content. Robots Files or Tags The robot meta tag lets you use a granular, page-specific approach to controlling how an individual page should be indexed and served to users in search results. These tags should sit in the \ section of a given page. https://offers.hubspot.com/hubfs/Image%20Hackathon%20%E2%80%93%20Horizontal%20(17).png Website Accessibility Checklist This checklist will help you make the following more accessible on your website: Web Pages Navigation Video & Media And More! Download for Free[Learn more](https://offers.hubspot.com/website-accessibility-checklist?hubs_post-cta=fwcta&hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-audit&hubs_signup-cta=blog-fwcta-offer-cta) The [robots.txt file](http://tools.seobook.com/robots-txt/), on the other hand, is a text file that allows you to specify how you would like your site to be crawled. Before crawling a website, search engine crawlers will generally request the robots.txt file from a server. Within the robots.txt file, you can include sections for specific (or all) crawlers with instructions (\"directives\") that let them know which parts should or should not be crawled. Public and XML Sitemaps Your website should also have public and XML sitemap files. The public sitemap is one that users can access to review the pages of your site, like the index of a book. The XML sitemap is for search engines to review pages that get added to your site, all in one place. The usual location of a sitemap.xml file is www.domainname.com/sitemap.xml.  The XML sitemap is something every website should have. It offers an opportunity to tell Google and the other search engines which pages on your site you want to be crawled and indexed. While search engines don't guarantee they will abide by your sitemap, anecdotal evidence has proven time and time again that XML sitemaps help provide insurance that your pages are found, and found faster --- especially if your sitemap(s) dynamically update your new web pages. Are you defining the canonicalization of content? The canonicalization of your website content is your final major technical consideration. To gain more control over how your URLs appear in search results --- and to minimize issues related to duplicate content --- you need to pick a canonical (preferred) URL as the preferred version of the page. You can indicate your preference to Google in a number of ways. One such way is to insert the [canonical tag](https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2009/02/specify-your-canonical.html) (rel=\"canonical\") in an HTTP header of a page. Be sure to have someone check that the canonical tag is properly implemented across the site by making sure it points to the correct page, and that [\>every page doesn\'t point to the homepage](https://moz.com/blog/catastrophic-canonicalization). Website Auditing Checklist Before you get started, you might consider using this basic website auditing checklist to ensure you review all the necessary elements of your site's performance, SEO, mobile, and security issues.  Website Audit Example To pull all this together, I decided to run a website audit on one of my favorite bloggers, [Christina Galbato](https://christinagalbato.com/). This website is performing well. SEO and Mobile are scoring very highly. The main areas for impro website audit report checklistvement for this site would be performance and security.  Website Audit Example To pull all this together, I decided to run a website audit on one of my favorite bloggers, [Christina Galbato](https://christinagalbato.com/). This website is performing well. SEO and Mobile are scoring very highly. The main areas for improvement for this site would be performance and security. website audit report, score  So, you want to create a website? Good news: making a website has never been easier. These days, there are a number of website builders that make designing a site as simple as following a recipe. A mature [website builder](https://www.wix.com/) like Wix can also make running your business online significantly easier.  Wix gives you a range of high-quality features: a drag-and-drop website editor, templates, AI, marketing tools and native business solutions. Keep reading to learn how to make a Wix website by bringing all of your favorite elements together.  Start Your Site How to make a website with Wix [Define your goals](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website#viewer-f45dq) [Pick a website builder](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website#viewer-7uiv4) [Map out and create your pages](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website#viewer-2m7tt) [Design your site](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website#viewer-3i7eh) [Create your content](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website#viewer-cirlc) [Choose a domain name](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website#viewer-ace7e) [Select web hosting](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website#viewer-15gbu) [Promote and track your website](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-a-website#viewer-62gn0) 01\. Define your goals Creating a website starts with considering the goal of your website. Do you want to [monetize your website](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-monetize-a-website), or simply share your favorite recipes? Whatever your aim is, be clear about your definition of success. This will help you determine the best platform, design and timeline for your project. Related ready: [**How long does it take to build a website?**](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-website) If you\'re still unsure about the kind of website that suits you, take some time to explore the different [types of websites](https://www.wix.com/blog/types-of-websites) available or explore these [website ideas](https://www.wix.com/blog/website-ideas) for inspiration. Your website could serve as: An online store where you sell custom merchandise, handmade items, branded products or even dropshipped items. (See our guides specifically on[ how to start an online store](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-start-an-online-store) or [how to make an eCommerce website](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-an-ecommerce-website).) A blog where you share your own insights, interview experts or engage a community of people who share a common interest. (Learn[ how to start a blog](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-start-a-blog).) An [**online portfolio**](https://www.wix.com/portfolio-website), which exists as a type of[ static website](https://www.wix.com/blog/building-a-static-website) that shows off your experience to potential employers or clients. (Learn[ how to make an online portfolio](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-make-online-design-portfolio-guide).) how to make a website - choose your type of website Note: One website can serve multiple purposes. You can[ create an online store](https://www.wix.com/ecommerce/online-store) that also has a blog. Or, you can[ create a blog](https://www.wix.com/start/blog) that sells merchandise.  "Just as us humans, every website has its own needs. Try to define what those are and what goals you'd like to achieve in order to create a successful website that is truly original." *- Adi Huri, product marketing lead for the Wix Brand* 02\. Pick a website builder Your website builder sets the foundation of your website. Pick a platform that doesn't just accommodate your current needs but can scale with your business and keep all of your data and assets safe.   To this end, Wix guarantees enterprise-grade security with every site, in addition to 99.98% uptime and a scalable infrastructure. On top of this, you've got built-in tools for marketing and business management---saving you the headache (and cost) of finding third-party integrations to perform fundamental business tasks.  If you're not sure where to start, jot down a list of needs and wants. Sign up for a free trial or free account. Spend time exploring the benefits and limitations of each platform, and look at reviews online.   Learn more:[** Wix vs. Squarespace**](https://www.wix.com/blog/wix-vs-squarespace)  When it comes to Wix, you've got several options to choose from. Wix AI website builder An evolution of our [Wix ADI](https://www.wix.com/blog/wix-artificial-design-intelligence) technology (which we launched back in 2016), the AI website builder lets you create a fully functional website---simply by chatting with AI. Just answer a few questions about your business and website goals. The builder will then whip up a bespoke site with all the core pages, business apps and content (including images and text) based on your preferences.  Wix Editor The[ Wix Editor](https://www.wix.com/blog/wix-editor-evolution) is a [drag-and-drop HTML editor](https://www.wix.com/builder/html) with flexible customization options. You can choose from more than 900 [website templates](https://www.wix.com/website/templates) or start from scratch. The Editor allows you to [create a professional website](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-create-website-step-by-step-guide) that still embodies your unique brand; customize the look and feel of your site for both your mobile and desktop. Enjoy various AI-powered tools, including our AI text creator, image creator, layouts tool and more. See these[** Wix websites**](https://www.wix.com/blog/wix-websites-examples) for inspiration or see the Wix Editor up close with[** this online course**](https://www.wix.com/learn/courses/web-design/build-your-website-with-the-wix-editor).  For more advanced [website development](https://www.wix.com/blog/website-development) needs: The Wix Editor offers access to [Velo](https://www.wix.com/velo) by Wix. Velo supports markup languages like [ HTML](https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/html-hypertext-markup-language),[ CSS](https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/cascading-style-sheets-css) and[ Javascript](https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/javascript) for custom-coding elements of your site. For example, you can connect custom[ databases](https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/database) and build[ dynamic content](https://www.wix.com/blog/dynamic-content), or use JavaScript to add more interactive behaviors. As another option, you can use Velo APIs to install a[ Wix website app](https://www.wix.com/blog/wix-website-apps) to an existing site. (Learn more about Wix Wix Headless.)  Wix Studio If you run an agency that's regularly [building a website](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-to-build-website-from-scratch-guide) for clients, or if you have an enterprise business with complex design needs, Wix Studio is probably your best bet. Wix Studio offers a collaborative platform and unparalleled customization options. Enjoy precise control over your design and easily create highly responsive, intricate animations (among other things). You can even export a design from Figma into the Wix Studio Editor, where you can bring your vision to life.  Discover more about[** Wix Studio**](https://www.wix.com/studio). Content do's **Find your target audience** Each piece of content you write could not possibly engage every one of your customers -- in the same way that your products or services aren't designed to be purchased by all. For this reason, you need to define your target audience and create audience relevant content at all times. **Talk to customers** Feedback is key to knowing when you are on the right track. The more opportunity you have to gauge how your audience perceive you, the better able you'll be to create content that resonates. Run surveys, ask for social media engagement and start conversations with your clients that can help shape future content. **Focus on great design** Never underestimate the importance of great design when it comes to both your website and blog. Responsive design means that your site will render perfectly on desktop and mobile devices -- along with pretty much every screen in between. Your ultimate goal is to get people to visit your website or blog, make a purchase or engage with your brand. If your design is failing you, you'll have a hard time making people stay. **Think brand** If people read a piece of your content and love it enough to share it a thousand times, you'd better hope your brand is unique and prominent enough that they'll associate your name with the brilliance of the piece. The widespread nature of effective content is one of the best methods for building brand awareness. Content don'ts **Avoid the hard sell** Consumers have a better buying experience when they make an informed purchase. A good blog piece will encourage people to make a purchasing decision without the use of forceful language or assertive tone. The occasional promotional post is encouraged, but lean more on the side of education and entertainment versus promotion. **Don't follow the crowd** Keeping tabs on your competitors is always a good idea, but mimicking their activity, is strongly discouraged. Keep your content strategy unique and true to your brand values, and you will have a much easier time generating interest. **Don't duplicate content** Plagiarism is a very serious offense in the content marketing world, one that [will tarnish your brand's name.](https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2012/09/13/why-marketers-should-care-about-copyright-plagiarism/) Furthermore, stay away from duplicating your own content. Duplicate content not only makes your brand look bad, but can also result in search ranking penalties. **Don't become selfish** Being seen as an open minded thought leader is far more attractive than talking about yourself and your products all the time. Not only will social media channels penalise you for too many promotional posts, but you will find that your audience prefers to be educated and entertained -- so keep to this within your content criteria and you won't go far wrong. **How many of these good practices are you already implementing? Our in-house [content team](https://www.spindogs.co.uk/services/content-creation/) can help you generate fresh, original copy which reflects your unique brand personality and targets the right audiences. [Get in touch](https://www.spindogs.co.uk/contact-us/) if you need a hand getting your content to the next level!** https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a77aa0\_f9aff360a9944155b0f5aca0b1a90e8e\~mv2.png/v1/fill/w\_924,h\_533,al\_c,q\_90,enc\_auto/a77aa0\_f9aff360a9944155b0f5aca0b1a90e8e\~mv2.png 03\. Map out and create your pages Before jumping into your design, take some time to map out your essential [web pages](https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/webpage).  Start with the basics: a [homepage](https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/homepage), an about page and a contact page. Then, think about what else you need based on your site\'s purpose. You may end up needing:  Category pages: Category pages are helpful for organizing content, especially on an eCommerce site or blog. A category page can act as a navigational element, guiding visitors to the content that they're looking for in a friendly, familiar way.    Product pages: Product pages should highlight key features and benefits of your product, giving enough space for images, videos and dynamic sections (such as "recommended products"). You may even want to include a reviews section, or an area showcasing user-submitted photos. Services page: Here you can list the services you offer. For example, if you're a freelance writer, you can talk about the types of projects you take on or the types of packages you offer. Support page: A support page can include information on ho