Let’s get one thing straight: these days, your online presence isn’t only about having a fancy website or a few spray-and-pray social media profiles. It’s about making sure your business stands out from its competitors, reaches the right people in the right place at the right time, and delivers real results. After all, your online presence is often the first impression that potential customers have of your business, so you better make sure you’re putting your best foot forward.
But how do you know if you’re using your limited time and money effectively online? Many small businesses don’t. And that’s where an online presence audit comes in. Think of it like giving your business a digital check-up. You want to identify any areas of weakness, shore up your strengths, make sure everything’s running smoothly, and optimize your resource allocation.
The nuts and bolts of an online presence audit
What exactly do we do when we audit a client’s online presence? Throughout the audit process, we’ll meticulously scrutinize your website, search engine optimization (SEO), social media platforms, and relevant online directories to ensure that your digital activities resonate with your business and marketing objectives.
Following our comprehensive evaluation, you’ll receive a detailed audit report outlining our findings, as well as an assessment of what needs to change for you to reach your business goals.
Here’s the digital audit process broken down into 10 straightforward steps:
- List all your platforms: Our first step is to gather as much information as possible about your business’s online presence by listing all the platforms that you use to promote your brand. From your website to social media, review sites to online directories, we’ll make a comprehensive list of all the places your business shows up online.
- Align your branding: Consistency is key. We make sure your branding (including elements like your logo, fonts, color palette, business name, messaging, and contact details) is consistent across all platforms.
- Standardize your brand introduction: Are you keeping your tone, vocabulary, and approach consistent across all channels? We’ll help you craft a clear and compelling brand introduction and value proposition that stays consistent across platforms, even when you’re allotted a limited number of characters to get your message across.
- Review your website: Your website is your online storefront. We’ll check everything from design to content and functionality, including front-end usability and back-end technical elements. (If you’re looking to DIY, we’ve created a step-by-step website audit guide for you to follow here.)
- Assess your SEO performance: We’ll ensure your website is optimized for search engines and includes target keywords to improve your visibility and ranking. Get our free eBook for five quick SEO tactics if you’d like to tackle some SEO improvements yourself. We also look at the back-end details, ensuring that all the foundational elements of SEO are in place.
- Analyze your social media accounts: Are your social media efforts paying off? We’ll evaluate your platforms, content, engagement, and campaign performance to check that your social media accounts are optimized and attracting the right eyeballs.
- Check online reviews: Are you monitoring and responding to reviews across platforms to show customers you’re listening? We can help you manage your online reviews to show customers that your brand is listening to them.
- Check online directories: We’ll review any online directories or listings to ensure that all information is accurate and up-to-date.
- Identify areas for improvement: Based on the audit findings, we make a list of fixes and enhancements for optimizing your business’s online presence. A detailed, prioritized report of our findings and recommendations will guide your business’s digital marketing efforts moving forward.
- Audit again: The digital world moves fast. We recommend making online presence audits a regular part of your digital marketing strategy to stay ahead of the curve. Once we’ve taken you through the audit process, you may even have the knowledge and confidence to conduct your own mini-audit for your business once a year or so.
Ready to get better at being online?
At Brighter Messaging, we specialize in helping small businesses like yours shine online. When you work with us, you’re not just getting a cookie-cutter checklist. We take the time to understand your business, your goals, and your unique challenges. Our team of experts will conduct a thorough audit of your online presence, identifying areas for improvement and providing actionable recommendations tailored to your needs.
Whether you need a full audit, ongoing support, or just a little guidance, we’d love to hear from you!
