Why are Website Health Checks important?
Regular website health checks help diagnose minor problems before they become more significant problems. You go to your doctor for regular health checkups to keep tabs on your health, right? It’s the same with your website. Spotting problems early allows you to get issues fixed as soon as possible. Nobody likes a buggy website. It makes your business and brand seem unprofessional and untrustworthy.
Avoiding regular checks for your WordPress website severely impacts your business and brand. Don’t leak leads to your competitors because of avoidable issues.
What is a Website Health Check from Karasu Designs?
We perform a series of technical tests that go through the ins and outs of your website. We test your website against best industry practices in web design and development in the following categories:
- Conversion Optimisation
- Website Performance
- Website Security
- User Experience
- Content Format & Copy
- WordPress Technical
- Search Engine Optimisation/ Online Visibility
- My Google Business
- Accessibility
- Legal compliance
- Competitors Analysis
Do you know how your website ranks in these categories? Knowing how you perform in these categories is a best practice, even if you’re not looking to run maintenance on your site. Our Website Health Check gives you baselines of your site’s performance to understand how future changes to your site impact useability and sales.
What is a good Website Health Check score?
After the checks are done, we’ll send you a report listing any issues found and our recommendations for how you can make improvements to your website. You would want to score in the green zones (80+) for as many categories as possible. Doing so gives your website an excellent foundation to serve your audience smoothly and outperform your competitors.
Can I do a Website Health Check myself?
If you prefer to DIY, we’ll help guide you on that too. Grab a drink and strap in. Be prepared to invest some time and effort.
Below is a checklist of things you’ll need to test to perform a thorough diagnosis of your website.
1. Conversion Optimisation
Look into the things that determine how well your site converts website visitors into leads and customers.
- Unique Selling Proposition Clearly Expressed
- Relevant Trust Factors & Certificates
- Testimonials & Reviews
- Primary Call to Action
- Secondary Call to Action
- Lead Capture Mechanism
- Contact & Thank You Page
2. Website Performance
Slow sites make people leave and cause a loss of trust.
- Caching & Compression Optimised
- Google Page Speed Score Results
- Are You Using a CDN
- Are You Using Premium WordPress Hosting or having current hosting issues
3. Website Security
How secure is your site from unwanted malware and hackers? Are you protecting your web assets and client information?
- HTTPS padlock/ SSL certification
- CAPTCHA anti-spam & bots
- Firewall/s
4. User Experience
Websites should flow naturally and be easy to navigate & use. Is the customer experience visually appealing, and does it fulfil the visitor’s needs?
- Professional Web Design
- Professional Branding
- Relevant Headlines & Page Copy
- Is the Site Optimised for Mobile
- Relevant use of Images & Video
- Custom 404 Page
5. Content Format & Copy
Copywriting that is SEO friendly and engages the target audience.
- Compelling Messaging/ Calls to Action
- Easily Readable
- Relevant & Captivating Headlines
- Consistent Formatting
- Spelling
- Easy to Scan
- Complete, no placeholder text (Lorem ipsum)
6. WordPress Technical
Go deep under the hood of your website to ensure security, stability, performance and functionality.
- Php version
- WordPress Security & Vulnerabilities
- Plugin compatibility
- Admin User Account
- Deactivated themes
- Google Safe Browsing
- Discourage Search Engines Disabled
- Theme & Plugin Editor
- Protect wp-config.php
- Disable Directory Access
- Automatic Updates
- Spam comments
- WordPress Backups
- WordPress Version compatibility
- Permalinks
- Broken Links
- Hide WordPress version
- Post Revision Control
- Anti Spam
- Timezone Settings
- Development Site Instance (Staging)
- Page Edit URL
- Deactivate unused Plugins
7. Search Engine Optimisation/ Online Visibility
Get found easier organically with search engines like Google, Bing & Yahoo.
- Local Map Listing
- Accelerated Mobile Pages Enabled
- WWW Resolve
- Sitemap
- Google Analytics/ Tag Manager
- Bog/ Resource Center
- Schema Markup
- Sufficient Page Content
- Keyword Optimisation
- Accessible to Search Engines
- Meta Titles & Descriptions
- Keywords in Image Alt Attribute
8. My Google Business
Get found locally faster and drive more traffic
- Claimed Profile
- Business Name
- Address
- Website
- Business Hours
- Business Description
- Business Category
- Photos
- Videos
- Reviews
- Responses to Reviews
- Posts
- Question & Answers
- Social Profiles
9. Accessibility
Alternative (ALT) text for Images
- Captions/ transcripts for Audio & Video
- Test Size & Readability
- Colour Contrast
- Descriptive Link Text
10. Legal
- GDPR
- Privacy Policy
- Terms & Conditions
- Cookie Policy
- Copyright in Footer
- WHOIS
11. Competitors Comparison (BONUS)
- Complete all the above tests for up to two of your competitors to compare how you fare against them.
- Find opportunities to excel, improve, and outperform them.
How did your website score in all of the above? When was the last time had a Website Health Check?
Overwhelmed? Our Website Health Checks have got you covered.
Business owners generally don’t check their websites often. Nor do they have the time to check all of the above. But that doesn’t mean you can skip them. Would you skip taking yourself or loved ones to your GP for regular checkups? Or would you skip going to your mechanic and risk driving an unsafe car? You wouldn’t right? Same with your website. You’re kidding yourself if you tell me you want to check all of the above yourself. You have better things to do! Leave it to the us professionals. We’ll have it done in 3-5 business days. Get clarity on what needs fixing.
