If you’re a business owner or marketing manager deciding whether to move forward with a digital audit can feel overwhelming (Spoiler Alert: you should, it’s worth it). Follow along as I set out to answer four common questions small business owners ask about digital audits:
A digital audit is an analysis of your website and search engine optimisation and search presence to identify weak areas that you can work on and also lists what you’re doing right.
This digital audit report helps you understand all of your online initiatives for better search engine optimisation (SEO) so you can plan your marketing efforts over the next three, six and twelve months.
The digital audit analysis will help you to identify underperforming digital assets such as your website, landing pages, sales funnels, PPC (pay per click) advertising and social media, and it should cover some competitive opportunities and additional ways to reach your customers or audience.
There are many ways your business can benefit from a digital audit analysis especially when:
There are many benefits of a digital audit and you can accomplish some quick wins below that are easy to achieve:
Many businesses have an established digital presence for years. Rather than beginning with a comprehensive digital strategy, these companies may have had initiatives at different stages of their business and often wouldn’t combine goals.
A digital audit gives a strategic analysis of the entire digital footprint of your brand. It gives insight on ways to optimise existing digital assets to drive leads, and identify opportunities to outperform your competition.
This analysis helps guide you to ensure your digital assets like your website and social media platforms are performing together to drive a maximum return for your business.
A digital audit analysis helps you track the success of your marketing efforts. It’s critical to benchmark your ad spend to stay ahead of competitors and investigate their digital marketing tactics.
For example, the speed at which an ecommerce website loads, can impact whether a customer continues to look at your website and buy your products.
Consumers expect a direct and quick way to purchase. A website that loads more than 3 seconds can lose a 3rd of potential customers, because the site is too slow.
Many established businesses have lost a good portion of their market share to start-ups who have clever digital marketing tactics that encourage customers to switch over to them.
A digital audit can help you understand the interactive digital landscape from a fresh perspective. You can make decisions based on data for that competitive advantage.
Read: The best way to increase website traffic quickly
A digital audit with digital marketing effectiveness is the fast track for uncovering ways to save money because you see what works well and where to increase budgets for a better return on investment.
For example, a small change such as the copy on a banner ad on your website might have a dramatic outcome that increases leads during the festive seasons.
A digital audit keeps your marketing initiatives aligned and provides your marketing team with the confidence that they are using the most effective marketing strategies. Again This ensures the greatest return on your investment.
Read: Attract Online Customers in a Competitive World
A digital audit analyses the digital practices and outcomes and reveals where you can improve your online presence.
It gives you insights into what is performing, what is lagging, and which is harmful to the business. Sometimes a digital analysis can lead to a reassessment of the overall strategy including updating the website and introducing landing pages.
A digital audit should deliver:
A digital audit will give you the necessary information to create actionable, effective and logical solutions to enhance your digital and online effectiveness to help drive new leads.
Read: How to future proof your business with a strong digital presence
An agency that offers a digital audit needs to be able to identify the connection between a digital strategy and your business goals. You should look for:
A thorough audit will look at both digital metrics and internal business metrics, then lay out a clear path to how those metrics can work together more effectively moving forward. Look at:
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A digital audit can be a single transaction that provides an outside expert perspective on how well your platforms are performing. However, strategic companies know that a digital audit is the opportunity to form a mutually beneficial relationship with a digital strategist that adds value to your marketing, design, and or development resources.
When it comes to designing a high converting website with technical SEO so they get more traffic, and adding web accessibility so they remain compliant.
Find an agency or digital strategist that not only audits your digital portfolio, but also has the talent and expertise to help you implement effective digital strategies, and be sure to vet them ahead of time.
Image courtesy @Unsplash
A fresh pair of eyes with digital experience working within other sectors and different companies can provide some very interesting and valuable insight on your website and other digital initiatives.
