A website as the first evidence of credibility
What a survey about choosing legal services reminded us in early 2023.
Read articleHow to assess website quality
How many points out of 60 does your website score? A simple six-category test – from design to security – that you can run yourself without paying anyone.
A website reflects your company’s credibility and professionalism, and when it is poor, people leave quickly and look for an alternative.
In our previous article, A website as the first evidence of credibility, we showed how website quality shapes visitors’ decisions. Now you can measure it and see how your website compares with the competition.
How the test works
Go through the six categories below.
Score each one from 0 to 10. For SEO, performance and security, use the scoring scales; for the others, use your own judgement and the checklist questions.
Add up your points and compare the total with the evaluation at the end.
1. Design and identity
Design determines how visitors feel on your pages and whether they find them clear and easy to use. Identity determines whether they remember your brand and how you stand out from the competition. That means more than a logo, colours and typeface: it is the overall style and mood of your brand.
Is the website clear and easy to use?
Do the logo, colours, typeface and overall style match how your brand communicates in every other channel?
Do you stand out from your competitors at first glance?
Does the design hold up against modern trends and standards?
If you are not sure what to compare your website with, have a look at our portfolio for inspiration.
2. Responsiveness
A responsive website automatically adapts to the size and orientation of the screen it is viewed on. This is not only about looks: a well-adapted website helps increase traffic, reduce bounce rates and improve the conversion rate.
How to test responsiveness
Open your website on a computer in a full-screen window.
Gradually make the browser window narrower – to half the screen and finally to a thin strip.
Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor on a smaller device: does the content display correctly at every size?
Full marks go to a website that looks good at every size, from large desktop screens to small phones.
3. SEO
SEO means optimising your website for search engines such as Google. It increases the chance that your pages appear at the top of search results, bringing you visitors for free and building awareness of your brand.
Test: enter your website’s address into Google’s PageSpeed Insights and, after a moment, read the SEO score. Award points as follows:
score of 100: 10 points
95 or more: 8 points
90 or more: 6 points
80 or more: 4 points
70 or more: 2 points
below 70: 0 points
4. Performance
The same PageSpeed Insights report also gives you a performance score – Google’s rating of how fast your pages are. Points:
95 or more: 10 points
90 or more: 8 points
75 or more: 6 points
60 or more: 4 points
55 or more: 2 points
below 55: 0 points
5. Freshness
Current, relevant content attracts and keeps visitors. Outdated, inaccurate or dull content erodes trust and costs you potential customers. So update it regularly to suit your audience – easiest from an administration where you can add, edit or delete text, images and videos yourself.
Is your website’s content up to date?
Can you manage your pages yourself?
6. Security
Only a specialist audit can verify a website’s security properly. For this quick test, it is enough to check whether the site uses the ‘padlock’, meaning a secure HTTPS connection. You will find the padlock icon at the top left, in front of the URL.
padlock present: 10 points
no padlock: 0 points
Evaluation
The maximum is 60 points. So when is it time for a new website? The threshold differs for everyone, but two guidelines often apply:
Design and identity at 7 points or fewer. That alone is often reason enough for a new website, because a new, modern look brings big changes straight away.
Fewer than 45 points out of 60 in total. In that case, a new website will bring you a great deal.
Where the most common mistakes are
Our survey of 1,020 websites found these weaknesses:
91% – design and identity, the most common weakness of all.
65% of the websites examined put their visitors at risk.
62% of websites do not adapt to mobile devices.
These numbers mean not only a poor user experience but also heavy penalties from search engines.
Why not fix it piece by piece
Meeting all the criteria at once can be expensive and time-consuming. That is why we at TwoDo built our own website administration, TwoDo CMS. You do not have to develop high-standard technical foundations from scratch, so you can invest your budget in quality design and leave the technical side to the system.
Scored lower than you would like? Get in touch and we will talk through what kind of website would attract and keep your customers.