Think You’re Top of the Class? How’s Your Website’s Grade?

You need an online marketing strategy. That’s old news. Millions of companies have embraced consumer culture and recognized that they won’t get far without optimizing for search engines, using pay per click ads, and taking advantage of social marketing. But, are all strategies created equal? Not so much. Implementing an online marketing strategy is only half of the story. Many businesses who have already gotten started are still stuck trying to translate that added web traffic into leads, and those leads into customers.

Figuring out how well a page is truly performing for your user base is a critical component of an excellent online marketing strategy. Plenty of website grader tools are available for mobile, social, and SEO website analysis, providing data about the overall effectiveness of a site. Unfortunately, though free website graders are readily available across the web, few businesses are aware enough to take advantage of them.

Why is it worth using a free website grader for mobile, social, and SEO website analysis? Many sites simply aren’t performing to the standard expected by today’s consumers. According to data compiled by Compuware, a remarkable 77% of the top companies in multiple industries have mobile pages that take more than five seconds to load. Though it sounds negligible, in today’s fast paced world, many users simply abandon an attempt to load a page if it takes more than five seconds. The result for businesses with slow loading mobile sites? Loss of potential customers. Ouch.

Free website graders don’t just analyze mobile effectiveness. They also pull data about a sites social presence. Some estimates indicate that only about 15% of a site’s overall ranking is influenced by keyword research and internal linking strategy. Where does the other 85% come from? Among a variety of sources, social networking. Quality presence on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter can increase SERPs, especially as more and more users find and share posts. A veritable goldmine of potential customers, social media is one of the most under used resources for businesses looking to grow.

Along with SEO website analysis, heuristic evaluation is a major tool used by some more advanced web graders. Heuristic evaluation, conducted by a team of flesh and blood evaluators, can be important for quantifying a website’s quality when computer based measures are not able to be effectively adapted for the process. Essentially, the team combs through a site, trying to poke holes in its usability. The team compiles a list of usability issues and determines how each issue could negatively affect user experience.

Implementing an online marketing strategy isn’t enough for the development of an effective business model. Assessment of that strategy is essential for any company wishing to continue growth. Free website graders providing mobile, social and SEO website analysis are a fantastic tool for companies wishing to gain a little perspective on how their sites are working and how they could be improved.