Building a website is a critical business factor in this digital age when people buy online often and use websites as the first point of contact in many cases. However, it’s not enough to simply build a great digital presence and leave it at that. You must engage in quality assurance (QA) over time so your site remains professional and effective.
Regular website quality assurance can mean the difference between a conversion rate that makes you smile and a high bounce rate that leaves you wondering what went wrong. Use QA to help you meet and exceed customer expectations rather than failing them. Utilize a handy session recording tool and analytics program to get an idea of what people search for, what they look at and do on your site, and, most importantly, where they click away.
Website quality assurance will also help you stand out from your competition, build your reputation and the trust customers have in your business, and get more positive testimonials and reviews. This work can assist you with identifying potential security vulnerabilities, too. If you haven’t tested your site since you launched, don’t delay. There are many elements to examine as you go about the process.
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Check for Broken Links and Forms
Many websites end up with broken links that may not be obvious at first glance but can cause site visitors much frustration. Such breaks disappoint consumers, harm your credibility, and make it harder for shoppers to make a purchase, get in contact, or learn the information they need.
Link breaks can happen when the page you connect to externally disappears, or changes or the URL of an internal page gets removed or updated. Sometimes simple glitches make these issues arise, too. Go through your entire website, clicking on every link to ensure it goes where it’s meant to and arrives on a working page.
Similarly, check the forms on your website. Many sites have contact or cart-based forms, among others, where people have to input various information then submit those details. Problems can arise in missing fields, information not saving, and forms not submitting. Sometimes it appears forms have been completed and sent off to the correct location or recipient, but they got lost in transit, too.
Look Out for Issues with Content or Graphics
As your website grows in comprehensiveness, it gets hard to keep track of the content and graphics on each page and whether they’re correct, up to date, or if crucial details are missing. As such, spend time going carefully through every page to see if what’s there is right or not. For example, are there any outdated details, such as product or service listings, contact information, data about the team behind the business, and pricing, shipping, and returns aspects? Are there old listings you need to remove or deals or other offers you used that are no longer valid?
Perhaps you have pages with only the bare minimum of content that you need to bulk up to help consumers and boost your SEO rankings. You might also have old photos or videos that are no longer relevant. Customers lose confidence in organizations if they can’t find critical information or read inaccurate details. It might take time to check all the content on your site, but it’s an essential step.
Spot Spelling Mistakes and Typos
Be on the lookout for spelling mistakes, typos, and grammatical issues across your website. If you quickly threw content together when creating your site or putting together new product listings, for instance, some errors likely occurred. It’s easy to forget to come back and check these things later, but neglecting this part of the process can damage your credibility with shoppers and create miscommunications.
It can be hard to spot mistakes and typos when our brains know what should be written there. As such, it pays to copy the content from each page and paste it into a word document or an app like Grammarly or Hemingway to pick up on problems. You might also highlight details in a different color or read them aloud as a way to notice errors. Or, have someone else who didn’t write the content scan it for you.
Some other components of your website to check for quality assurance include:
- How pages display on mobile devices and different browsers
- Site uptime and loading times
- Search engine optimization factors such as metadata, title tags, H1 tags, and alt text on images
- The checkout and payment process
- Automated emails such as those sent when people sign up for a newsletter or account, submit a query, or make a purchase
The more elements of your online presence you comb through carefully, the more issues you’re likely to spot and rectify. In turn, your website will function better and impress consumers more.
About Carson Derrow
