Simple and practical advice for assessing if your website is fit for purpose...in three steps. It covers purpose and audience, SEO and social web, and web performance.

1. Is your website fit for purpose?
3 simple steps
Firehoop
8 March 2012
Emily Davis
emily.davis@firehoop.com

2. We will cover...
1. Purpose and audience
2. SEO and the social web
3. Website speed and performance

3. Why bother?
• A way to measure success
• Supports your business goals
• Ensures your investment is working for you
• And...for your users

4. 1. Purpose and audience
Have you considered...?
• The purpose of your site
• Your target audience
• The tone and language used
• The usability of the site

5. Bad - Yvette’s Bridal
www.yvettesbridalformal.com

6. Bad - Merlin’s B&B
www.merlinshill.com

7. Good - Twitter

8. Good - E4 homepage

9. Tools
• How to analyse your target audiences
– What are your key messages?
– Who are they aimed at?
– What’s the tone of voice?
– What methods will you use?
– Who is responsible?

10. 2. SEO and the social web
Have you considered...?
• The keywords you should be known for
• How you will track goals
• How you will stay relevant
• How users will find / share your content

11. Communications
• Make a 12 month plan
• Make sure you stay on message
• Share it across the right channels
• ALWAYS drive back to your website (think
email marketing)
• If you set up any social profile,
make it a Google Plus one!

12. 3. Website speed and performance
Have you considered...?
• The page load time of your website
– Over half users abandon after just 3 seconds
– The average Fortune 500 website load time is 7
seconds!
– Slower sites = less sales
– Even more so on a mobile device

13. Tools
• Google Analytics
– Content > Site speed
• Install Firebug (Firefox addon)
– Open console
– Site speed tab
– Analyse performance tab
– Score out of 100

14. In Summary
• Audience empathy
• Find a friendly tester
• If you’re relevant, Google will find you!
• Content generation is the new black

15. Further reading and credits
Page load statistics
http://www.slideshare.net/AndyDavies/web-performance-a-whistlestop-tour-10995825
Page speed fixes
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/optimizing-page-speed-actionable-tips-for-seos-and-web-developers?utm
Using Analytics
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/11-google-analytics-tricks-to-use-for-your-website?
Search engine optimisation, architecture and code
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=218981494854060
Tips for planning and creating your content
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=187005541384989
Google + and SEO
http://intranetfuture.com/seo-by-sharing-to-googleplus

16. Thank you
Firehoop
8 March 2012
Emily Davis
emily.davis@firehoop.com