As your site grows, it’s easy to neglect some of the older content. So it definitely pays to do an audit every now and then.
I must admit, it’s been a long time since I’ve completed one, and this is the next task on my never-ending To-Do list. 😉
So what exactly is an audit? To put it simply, it’s a thorough review of your site or blog that checks for the following…
1) Relevance & Accuracy
Are your articles/blog posts still accurate and relevant? This is especially important if your site is in a niche that is constantly evolving. Just recently, I found an article on this blog for Blog Rush, and this program was terminated months ago.
2) Monetization Opportunities
Check your older articles to see if there are places to add affiliate links for any programs you may have joined recently. It’s amazing how many opportunities will arise.
3) Dated Info
As a rule, you should avoid phrasing that can become outdated. For example, instead of saying “I joined 24 Hour Fitness 3 years ago”, you should say “I joined 24 Hour Fitness in 2006.”
Sometimes such phrasing cannot be helped depending on the article and the point you’re making, but it’s still good to check for outdated information.
4) Broken Links
It’s easy to delete pages and forget you have links to them on other pages. Also, links to external sites may become broken due to site closures or typos. I use Dreamweaver’s broken link checker, but there are a ton of free broken link tools you can use online.
If you have a Google Sitemap (and you should for all your sites), there is a broken link report within your sitemap summary.
5) Promote Your Online Profiles
As the social media world grows, you’re probably developing quite a few profiles around the Web. It’s good to remind people how they can stay in touch with you and keep up with your latest content.
I just created this page on 2 Create a Website that displays the many ways you can connect with me online. I added it to my site’s navigation and linked to it from my Contact page so it’s easy to find. Eventually I will create a page like this for the rest of my sites and blog.
Also, don’t forget to clarify or explain functions that may be confusing. Yes, there are still a lot of people who don’t understand RSS. Don’t assume they will click and subscribe just because you’ve provided a link. A quick explanation never hurts.
Speaking of RSS, did you know you can promote your YouTube channel’s RSS feed by using the following format?
http://www.youtube.com/rss/user/YouTubeID/videos.rss
So if you have a channel you want to promote and/or want to subscribe to someone else’s channel via RSS, just use the above link and replace “YouTubeID” with the appropriate YouTube username/ID.
6) Content Re-organization
As you continue to add content, the organization of your pages may need adjusting. It may have been logical three years ago, but perhaps there’s a better way to structure the content today. Look for ways to simplify and cut down on redundancies.
7) Cross Promote Your Content
If you have a blog and use WordPress, you probably know that it’s super easy to cross promote your posts. There are several related post plugins available that will get the job done easily.
However, if you have a static/HTML site, you’ll need to do this manually. Cross promoting your pages can improve your bounce rate (the number of page views per visitor before exit) and prevent older articles from getting buried.
8) Unwanted Contextual Ads
One disadvantage to using contextual ad programs like Google AdSense is that you may lose track of the ads that show up on your site. You might find some that are inappropriate, or you may discover ads from direct competitors that you don’t want to show.
Remember you can block domains from displaying ads on your site by logging into your AdSense account, selecting the AdSense Setup tab and clicking on “Competitive Ad Filter.”
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Regular site audits will keep your content fresh, accurate and effectively monetized. There’s always so much focus on writing new content, but don’t let your older articles get stale.
Remember, not everyone enters your site via your homepage. So if someone happens to land on an outdated page, it can reflect poorly on your entire site. First impressions are powerful and lasting.
I got my website audited by an expert on Fiverr. The guy did a great job. He gave me a full report with some suggestions
http://fiverr.com/umairhp/audit-you-website-for-seo-performance
If you have a Google Sitemap (and you should for all your sites), there is a broken link report within your sitemap summary
Google Sitemap makes things so much easier. Instead of digging through the site, you’re going to see right away where Google has “issues” with your site. This is great since still even today Google is the #1 search engine. You can use webmaster tools along with analytics and get all the information you need on your website and it’s performance.
You’ve always got some great ideas here. In addition to “Content Re-organization” it’s also a great idea to just go back and completely revise some content. Even if it’s not outdated – recent content can also benefit from a revision. Often times we are in a time crunch to get things up and running that we don’t take the time to go back and rework things for a better flow. You never know how much new life you can breathe into an article until you try it. http://www.affiliateshelpdesk.com
well which temptlate did you use..
Im trying to configure the CSS. now. but its not updating properly.
I’m definitely for the “broken link” checkup but revisiting older posts are irrelevant if you ask me. I do see a point in doing it with the top 10 most visited posts that you have on your site but doing it with all of your posts will be wasting your time or would at least be a lot let productive than doing other stuff. But that’s just my opinion 😉
Mikael @ Retire Early’s last blog post..How to Retire Early and Rich by Making a Commitment
Hi Mikael,
Sometimes I will read older posts and would have mentioned things that are no longer relevant and need to be updated. For example, I change web hosts and sometimes I need to update articles to reflect that change if I mention who I’m using at the time. So it’s definitely a personal choice and depends on the type of content/site you have. Due to the kinds of articles/reviews I write, I have to constantly check older content.
hello Lisa.
I put the meta tags according to your advice on the head section of my website.how many days it will take to finding my website by the search engines?
They should find you pretty quickly, the ranking is what takes more time. Make sure you read up on sites like http://www.seomoz.org to learn how to get good rankings. Listing and ranking are two different animals.
Hi, Lisa.
Thank God!
I finally find a beautiful woman who gives such a wonderful
effort to teach a woman like me ( who only found that most male involve in internet bla bla bla tutorials ) But this is not about gender matter,right ?
But I am really proud of you.
I want to be like you one day.
Regards
Su
Great post! I really need to do an audit, because I have at least three posts that gets more traffic than my current ones.
Carla’s last blog post..Green + Chic Baby Gift Sets
Eww! I HATE “housecleaning” my site. I end up with a jillion broken links, pages get “stranded”, but you are absolutely right: it is a necessity. Visitors have to be able to get at information quickly.
I can’t imagine having 21 sites like Chris AND trying to maintain a blog.
Elaine’s last blog post..Free Marketing Guides
thank you for your advice for traffics building and more.I follow some ideas from you.I test.
I
Hi Lisa,
And thanks for the advice. I have 21 sites (plus a full time job) and so it is often hard to keep up with the little things, such as broken links and content that may be out of date, as well as new opportunities to make money with my sites.
However, visitors probably view sites with broken links as amateur sites and may be less likely to visit. So thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for this post, Lisa! Very timely for me as I’m in the middle of transforming my blockbuilder pages to the 3-column format. Yesterday I found 3 broken links on one of my top visited pages.
Your idea of creating a “Connect-With-Me” page is great too!
OFF topic:
May I contact you regarding WebsitePalace and SSI includes by email or can you direct me to the right forum where I can ask you a question about it? Thanks!
Eszter’s last blog post..Visa to Jordan | Free Aqaba Visa | Free ASEZ Visa | Border Visa to Jordan | Jordan Exit Tax | Jordan Departure Tax
I actually have a video on how to setup SSI with your host and it works with Website Palace or any linux host.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJfvIGMru0M
Hi Lisa,
You touched a very important point.
I think it is very important to do a site audit at least twice a month because things are always changing, you get new ideas, everyday you learn something new, etc.
If you apply small changes to your site it can pay off with great results.
A couple of months ago I posted an article to my blog, but I didn’t promote anything. After a couple of weeks I realized that I was getting a good amount of traffic for that specific post.
Then I went ahead and found a related affiliate product, added my affiliate link to the post and now I am making money with it.
Just a very small tweak to a post can make the difference.
Thanks,
^PV Reymond
Absolutely, Raymond! Great point.