Basic online presence audit

Audit date: 8/19/15

Website: http://www.richdimare.com, a promotional Weebly website with 12 HTML pages.

The audit is here: https://goatcloud.com/basic-online-presence-audit-rich-dimare/. We created this URL (web address) just for you. Search engines have been directed to not index this page (so it shouldn’t show up in search results) and it is otherwise shielded on this site from others seeing it. You need the URL to find it. You can certainly share this URL with anyone you like, but we won’t be sharing it unless you tell us to.

You’ll see that this is a very basic audit. Why? Simply put, we would need to charge for anything more than a basic audit. Further, we use this template for all of our basic audits. Does that mean that this audit is not personalized for you? No! A real live human (Cliff Rohde, our Chief Executive Goat) looked at your website and reviewed your online presence and thought about it. Our observations are below. Before you read them, please know that no website is perfect. Every website, including GoatCloud’s, is always in need of some tweaking because the demands of being online change all the time.  Know too that problems identified below can be fixed!

Site speed

• The faster the site, the greater the reward from visitors and search engines alike.
• Audit: Below average, desktop and mobile. Optimize images, leverage browser caching, use gzip. Adding expires headers and leveraging a content delivery network (CDN) could also help.

Mobile-readiness/Responsiveness

• The world is turning increasingly to smaller devices for online activity. It’s imperative that a website look great and be completely functional on smaller devices (smartphones, tablets) and desktops alike.
• Audit: Site is not mobile friendly. Here’s what it looks like on a typical Android smartphone:

Social sharing

• Today’s web is interconnected. Facilitating the sharing of your content can bring additional visitors to your website.
• Audit: No social sharing elements found.

Social Media

• Basic social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn) should be deployed, also those used by your customers or relevant to your industry. Getting the more likes, follows, etc. the better. Make sure to use your social assets if you have them, and to brand them consistently. Use them primarily to communicate, not overtly sell.
• Audit: Twitter account found on fan club page — as iframe and hard to find. No other social media accounts found.

Basic Onsite SEO

• Sites should be structured well and have basic settings in place to permit search engines to know what is on the site and where.
• Audit: Site not substantially optimized for search. Many page titles too short. Majority of page titles repeat name, which is unnecessary. Meta descriptions either entirely missing or too short. XML sitemap found. Good! No HTML sitemap. No favicon.

Local SEO

• Contact information must be easy to find. A consistent NAP (name, address and phone) across the web and online business directories is imperative. Especially critical for local businesses seeking local customers.
• Audit: Local business citations not substantially reviewed, though none were found. No Google+ page found.

3d party links to site

• The more links back to your site from relevant, well-trafficked sites, and other sites, the better.
• Audit: 24 referring domains linking with 42 total links (source: Majestic). More desirable. Domain spam rating 1 (of 17) (Open Site Explorer). OK, but more links on site could reduce it to zero.

Broken links

• Sites are for users, but search engines pay attention to what type of experience you’re delivering. Linking to pages that no longer exist is a bummer for visitors.
• Audit: 1 broken link found, to: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/night-day/id488890975.

Measuring traffic

• It is essential to measure traffic so that you know what is working on your site and what isn’t. Google Analytics (GA) is the (free) gold standard.
• Audit: GA code found. Good! Are you reviewing traffic data? Code may not be current.

Content

• Nothing helps to generate organic search traffic to your website like the regular creation of compelling, original content in your own words, images, videos or sounds.
• Audit: OK amount of informative content, but largely static. Blog exists on blogspot, but not updated regularly, and on site as a separate iframe. Good that you have videos! Forum page unused. Consider eliminating.

Conversions

• Sites should have obvious Calls to Action (CTAs), whether it’s to call, sign up for email newsletter, schedule a speaker, or a white paper, or what have you.
• Audit: Newsletter signup on homepage found. Good. But what does  one get for it?

E-commerce

• E-commerce sites should be secure and easy to use. 
• Audit: Album purchase possible, though does not make clear that it’s on iTunes. First album link not working.

Member section

• Should be easy to navigate and easy to use.  
• Audit: NA.

Security

• Sites need to be secure, with updated software.
• Audit: No problems obvious. Good!