Put simply, a content audit is a process that analyses every bit of your website content – this includes images, infographics, videos and written text. It sifts and analyses each page to determine what works on your site and what needs improving. It means going through your site with a fine-tooth comb and leaving absolutely no stone unturned to ensure that your site quality reflects your brand’s second-to-none service.
Think of it as an MOT for your website – if it’s left too long, or worse, not done at all, it could mean a whole host of potential problems going undetected. And a lot of golden opportunities missed. These can cost you heavily when it comes to user engagement and may ultimately prevent site visits from becoming conversions that equate to customer loyalty and cold, hard cash. Search engine rankings are important of course, but once a user reaches your site, your content has to speak for itself and deliver the most relevant, engaging information fast and with the distinctive flavour of your brand.
Bear in mind that a content audit is different to an SEO audit – whilst the latter involves content and evaluates your performance primarily in relation to search engines, the former assesses your site’s attractiveness primarily in relation to human visitors, from UX to readability and the clever ways in which every textual and visual element is designed to charm, convince and convert visitors. SEO is an important and powerful digital marketing discipline but (cover your ears search engine marketing devotees!) there’s no point in driving traffic towards your site if the content that’s on it doesn’t convince them to stick around when they get there. Content marketing shouldn’t simply be the delivery mechanism for SEO results – it’s a discrete discipline which combines elements like solid conversion copywriting, microcopy that applies direct response techniques, design, typography, all aligned with your brand archetype in a way that subtly pushes your most valuable customers’ psychological buttons. Focus on SEO alone and it’s a bit like a movie with a fantastic trailer which you can tell is a turkey two minutes after you’ve sat down in the theatre. Unfortunately, despite Google’s algorithm becoming increasingly sophisticated, you’ll still come across top-ranking sites that are substandard once you click through to them. Combine content and SEO in the right way (ahem, like we do at Maratopia) and yours will never be one of them.
Why is it necessary?
If you’ve never had a professional assist with your on-site content, it’s highly likely that it’s not as effective, engaging, creative and technically proficient as it should be. You may have someone on your team who can create attention-grabbing graphics and write passable paragraphs to give your customers the information they need. But can they optimise your H1, H2 and H3 tags? Write a mind-blowing meta description? Does the text meet the ideal word count without being unwieldy? And above all, does your content show your customer what puts you head and shoulders above competitors, or does it blend in with the crowd?
An audit conducted by content pros can answer all these questions and more, and works out not just what’s missing from your existing content, but what you can afford to get rid of. When your website content is clear, relevant, authoritative and brand-aligned, as well as technically sound, every part of your website is geared towards your business goals.
Customers are looking for quality, not quantity (pro content marketers are concise and comprehensive), and pages of irrelevant, dull or outdated content that makes it more difficult for users to access the information they’re looking for runs the risk of driving them away from your brand and worse, towards a competitor.
A content audit will check for all of this and more, ensuring your site meets all the necessary criteria and highlighting opportunities for improvement with a clear road map that can be implemented in a straightforward way.
What can a Maratopia content audit do for my business?
We’ll be honest with you – there are ways to conduct a basic content audit yourself, and plenty of guides online that tell you how to do it.
But if you’re not a content expert, you might not know exactly what you’re looking for, and there are plenty of potential flaws and failings that may not be obvious to you, as well as vital components you may not realise are missing.
On the other hand, Maratopia content audits are conducted by pros with a trained and expert eye for crystal-clear content that captivates consumers and creates conversions. These savvy individuals can tell you which areas leave room for improvement and how you can fix them. They’ll identify which elements are working well so that you know what hits as well as what misses.
Once your content audit is done, you’ve got an actionable plan on how to make your website the brand-building, customer-pleasing, profit-generating engine it should be.
The next step is up to you – you can have a crack at implementing the changes yourself or take your audit to a freelancer or agency of your choice to get started.
But if you’ve got a Maratopia content audit on your hands, naturally we hope that it’s interesting and exciting enough to convince you that we’re the go to guys to make the blockbuster recommendations it contains a reality. Our team of web designers and content developers will work you with to optimise your website’s user experience, create sizzling-hot content and reel in your customers with a bespoke approach that shows off what you do best!
Sounds good? We can’t wait to chat.
