Website critique on a smart website
This article is the 3rd in a series of websites reviews. The purpose of these website reviews is to challenge myself to take a visitors website and find 5 areas it could improve on. Sometimes this challenge can be tricky as the websites I’ve had so far are all impressive and look up together.
So before we delve into the website being analysed today. Do take a moment to bookmark, subscribe or even try out some of these tools I’m using to see if the issues I point out in the website audit will also be a good pointer for improvement on your web site. Feel free to comment below if you feel this would help increase your business too.
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Website critique #3 for Marine Engineer Business
Southampton based Momentum Marine are being analysed today. The company is offering marine servicing and maintenance for particularly Volvo engine and transmission. They offer a professional and efficient service. If you want to view the website in your own browser its live on http://momentummarine.co.uk The aim was to find at least 5 things that the business owner should concentrate on to improve his website. The video review is below:
TIMESTAMPS : to help you find the right section in the critique video review
- 0:50 Introduction to the marine website review
- 1:35 Looking at the marine website
- 2:00 Google results from a search
- 2:40 The website layout and design critique
- 4:40 Smart logo design
- 5:40 Logo area on home page
- 5:55 Contact page
- 6:20 Testimonials
- 7:00 About and services pages
- 8:50 5 things to look at
- 9:00 Improvement 1 – HTTPS Security, SSL, Cookies, GDPR etc
- 11:05 Improvement 2 – Consistent Name Address and Phone in Google My Business
- 13:20 Improvement 3 – Logo more prominent. It’s a central part of branding
- 15:50 Improvement 4 – Keyword and more text articles for targeting search engine traffic. Could use a process defined by an info-graphic possibly.
- 20:00 Improvement 5 – How to test your website for mobile 3G and 4G speed
- 23:00 Conclusion of what has been found
This beautiful marine website looked great but just had some small tweaks to consider that would really help it establish itself amongst its competitors. As with all my challenges on YouTube, the aim was for me to discover at least 5 things that the business owner should concentrate on improving their website and naturally their business.
Website Review Positives
So here are some of the things the website did well…
- Smart background image.
- Google Search comes up 1st and 4th “momentum marine”
- Very smart / professional – uses mobile friendly responsive WordPress theme
- Beautiful logo
- Footer copyright was kept up to date
- It was considered mobile friendly. (essential for Google search engine)
- It had a listing in Google My Business and other listings.
- The site had a clear identity as to what the business offered.
- Great color scheme – blue and the bright lifebuoy orange
- Had a clear USP – Independent Volvo Penta Specialist
Website Review : 5 Required Improvements
1. Security
GDPR Issue: With WordPress, it does by default use cookies. So an opt out button and privacy policy page should be apparent for a new visitor. see: https://zanet.co.uk/how-to-add-a-cookie-notice-to-wordpress/
HTTPS – security is needed for momentummarine.co.uk . Most browsers are alerting visitors that the connection is insecure. This can be off putting for new visitors and potential clients.
2. Google My Business
Consistency on Google Maps and the Business submission is really important if you want to convince Google that each reference to your business is the same reference. If the details don’t match perfectly, it can dilute Googles assumed authority of your business and thereby effect the placement of your business in the search results.
Even 49a Orpen Road and 49a Orpen Rd, are considered different addresses by Google
If you look at the NAP (Name, Address & Phone) of all references and make sure they are identical, it will prove a useful perk in Googles algorithm.
Additionally in GMB you have several reviews which is really good. But Google likes you to reply to reviews . When you do reply, try and include naturally the keywords you want your clients to find you with e.g. Volvo servicing, marine, independent, etc
3. Logo not at top
The logo is the central part of branding. So I would recommend this goes to the top left of the website.
4. Keywords
Google works out what the business is about by scanning the words on a page and the words throughout the website. The more you mention keywords for your business in a natural way the better. The home page title is a little general. If you use the Yoast plugin, it might be worth putting the words “Transmission Servicing” and “Maintenance” later in the title tag as the USP is currently being cut off and lost.
A bit of research shows that currently in the UK 120 people each month are using Google to search for
“independent volvo servicing“
“independent volvo service near me“
On average a click in Google Adwords is costing them £2.50.
So that’s around £3000 worth of traffic potential in UK every month
With no effort your marine website is #95 in Google search results. The goal would be to get this to the top 10 page and reap some focused traffic
Also the Homepage says “we can offer you an unmatched service experience. “
It would be better to let the visitor know exactly why your service is better and what the service is Even an infographic to explain the process goes down really well
See infographic example on https://zanet.co.uk/web-design-process/
5. Speed
Page speed is always an issue for current websites. On tests the website came out a little on the slow side considering it’s a relatively simple layout. One of my tests said 7.3 seconds on a 3G network. It’s expected a visitor will switch off if something substantial hasn’t appeared within 2 seconds.
See the Google tool where you can test your website on https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/feature/testmysite/
The Solution would be to add optimised images and some caching plugins
Of course criticising websites is not what I do best. I would much rather improve websites A fresh new redesigned mobile friendly website is always a joy to deliver for a new client. Take a look at my successes at my web design portfolio or apply for a free consultation.
