INTERNET MARKETING AUDIT

Internet Marketing Audit - What Can You Do Better Online to Boost Profits?

You may not know this, but internet marketing is on the up and up.  According to Forrester, interactive marketing spending in the United States will grow to $61.3 billion in 2012, from $18.4 billion in 2007.  As smart organizations continue to shift marketing dollars to the web, it becomes increasingly important for them to understand the strategies and tools involved in implementing an effective internet marketing plan.  As well, companies must evaluate their existing online marketing efforts so that they may determine which tactics should be kept in the mix moving forward.  And luckily, Terrakon's Internet Marketing Audit can help you accomplish this.

Perhaps you have recently learned that lack of interactive marketing expertise can be debilitating, first manifesting itself in the planning stages, and then trickling down to impact individual tactics- and transitively, the lukewarm, or cold results. Or maybe you are relatively happy with your online results, but just want to know if there is something else out there for you and your business.  And that is precisely where Terrakon can come in.

Whether you are finding it a struggle to drive traffic to your site, or to satisfy, and convert your online audience, Terrakon can assist you with a comprehensive internet marketing audit. The audit consists of an in-depth analysis of your website, and its supporting online marketing and promotional tactics to determine why you are not receiving the results you expected. Along with receiving a report on what is working and what is not, we can provide you with custom recommendations to help you reap optimal internet marketing results. The following elements are included in Terrakon’s internet marketing audit.  For a sample audit in more detail, click on the linked PDF down to the right.

Web Traffic Breakdown

• What percentage of your traffic are first time visitors, and how many are returning?  
• How long are visitors staying on your site?
• What are the main entry points?
• What are the main exit points?

Link Analysis

• How many inbound links from established and reputable organizations and websites does your site have? 
• Who is linking to you?
• How well is your site using lateral and vertical linking to allow visitors to find relevant information on your website? 
• Who is linking to your competitors?

Customer Profiling

• How is existing business managed, how have leads been generated? 
• Is your company B-2-B or B-2-C? 
• What is your current promotional mix?
• What percentage of your sales is repeat business?

Market Evaluation

• What is your market share? 
• What is the market share of your competitors? 
• How much do you feel your market share can be improved? 
• How is the site ranking online for the desired keywords and keyword phrases?

Search Engine Ranking Benchmarking

• How do your rankings compare to those of your competitors for key search terms? 
• Has your ranking for key search terms improved, worsened or remained the same over time?

Keyword Analysis

• Is there clear keyword targeting on your website?
• Are there unique keywords targeted on each page? 
• Are the keywords targeted realistic in comparison to the current strength of the website?

Coding Audit

• Does the site suffer from code bloat? 
• Was the site built in frames? 
• Does all global navigation use absolute links? 
• Was the CSS validated?

Content Review

Content is still king. Content review and refurbishment can be a tenuous process, but necessary nonetheless if it was not written well to begin with.

• Is the site’s use of acronyms and phrases sensible and consistent? 
• Is the content timely and updated often enough?
• Does the content utilize inverted pyramid style and get to the best stuff quickly?
• Does the content utilize a reasonable amount of keyword usage such that it is written for humans and search engine spiders? 

Website Design & Functionality Analysis

• Are images used on the site of crisp, clean and consistent image quality? 
• Is the design clean and free of clutter? 
• Is there a good balance of content/graphics, as well as whitespace?
• Was the site user tested?
• Are forms user-friendly and well functioning?

User Testing

As well, we will analyze the user experience on your site as well as undergo user testing to hear, in real words, what your visitors feel about your site overall.  It may hurt your feelings, but may be the best gift you could give yourself.

Online Advertising & Promotion

• Do you utilize pay per click advertising to drive traffic to your website?
• Is there freshly updated content consistently added to the website?
• Which social media networks are you currently using? 
• Which social networks are your competitors currently using?

Marketing Cohesion

• How well do all of your online activities work together to present one cohesive brand? 
• Do your online activities share on voice and message?

Risk-taking & Transparency

• How transparent are you allowing your company to be?
• Do your company & staff appear to care about the new Web 2.0 tools and proactively endorse them?
• How safe do you appear to play it online?

Landing page review and analysis is also an audit component if applicable.

Contact Terrakon Marketing for your Internet Marketing Audit today and start becoming proactive and involved with what your company is saying and doing online.