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Clifford Almeida Clifford Almeida

Why website audits are a powerful tool to generate qualified leads for your web or digital agency

When it comes to website audits, I’m sure you’ve spent a ton of time and money running tests using several tools on the web, trying to generate actionable and easy to understand reports you can share with your prospects or clients.

If you’re looking for some practical reasons why you should use website audits in your business to generate more qualified leads in your business today, then you’ll love this article.

Website audits show customers what they need

Almost any business owner or marketing director knows that they need a successful web presence to grow their business.

Unfortunately, every business owner has, or knows someone who has been sold on a website that cost way too much, promised great rankings and a ton of business, but delivered little to nothing. So, it’s only natural that they are skeptical of anyone claiming they can improve business by fixing or redesigning their website

Demonstrate your knowledge

By performing a website audit, you can easily demonstrate your expertise about the factors that make a website valuable: user experience, online visibility (SEO), performance and security, and conversion optimization. An audit lets you make the owner aware of specific issues that their site has rather than just giving generalized information.

For example, it’s easy for them to understand how important it is for their page to show up on page one of the search results, so when you discuss the web audit, you can show them how to improve SEO with Google analytics, whether the bots can crawl their site, and how to use metadata.

Website audits make it personal

A website audit gives prospects a way to see what you can actually do for them because it performs an assessment of their own website, not some obscure example site that may or may not relate to the industry they are in.

Instead of approaching the sales conversation from a generic “this is who we are and this is what we do” angle, starting with a free web audit lets you open the discussion with an explanation of exactly what their problems are, and provide solutions on the spot for the simple ones. Some will be very quick and easy steps they can take that will yield big results, like claiming their business on Google My Business, adding testimonials as a trust factor or adding their phone number to their header.

A brief explanation of how you can optimize the site, and what the results will be, shows that their problem can be solved and that you are able to do it. Running an audit and delivering a personalized report shows that you have done your homework and are serious about helping them. (You don’t need to tell them how easy it is with My Web Audit (MWA)—let them appreciate your expertise!)

A web audit makes presentation easy

Most web audits are appropriate for web developers and digital marketers, but if you want to develop relationships with small business owners, the presentation and messaging must be delivered in a way that they can easily understand.

Business owners are results-oriented, so your web audit can inform them where their site is lacking, and exactly what their next action is to optimize it. Offering solutions makes your audit extremely valuable, so be sure to paint a picture of what the end result will look like.

You will immediately grab their interest when you open with a slide showing their score for each of the four primary categories: User Experience, Conversion Optimization, Performance and Security, and SEO/Online Visibility. They will want to know why they got each score and what you recommend for the low ones, so they will stay with you to the end.

To make it easy for you to communicate the audit results in a way the business owner will easily understand, My Web Audit also generates a beautiful, ready-to-present report in the form of a PowerPoint slide deck. This feature alone can save you hours of preparation time, and the professional presentation makes you look polished and well prepared.

No need to sell it—customers will ask for a free web audit

When you are already talking to a prospective customer, it’s easy to convert them with this kind of web audit, but you can also attract prospective customers you have never spoken to. By promoting a free website audit on social media or on your website, you can get business owners’ attention and participation without any cold-calling.

All you have to do is embed the MWA widget on your site so prospects can easily request an audit. The short form only requires an email address and the URL and main keyword for the prospect’s website. You can choose from several styles, and have the option of asking for a name and phone number.

MWA informs you when someone goes onto your website and requests a free website audit, and it also notifies you when they look at the results. If you don’t hear from them when they see their scores, you can follow up shortly thereafter and ask if they have any questions, and since you can see the results, you can be ready with solutions.

For example, if you see that they scored low for “conversion optimization,” you can easily give suggestions for improving it, like adding a call to action so readers know what to do next, or adding certifications, awards, case studies and guarantees as trust factors. Website owners will be aware that many other sites have them, but they may not realize how important they are, or even that building trust is the reason for displaying them.

Your agency will still have to do some outreach so that people know about your offer of a free website audit, but that takes much less effort than cold calling. The leads that you develop with the audit will not only understand why they need your services, but will also be inclined to choose you for their website work because they know that you understand their business and their issues with the site.

Most business owners aren’t familiar with the inner workings of a website, so aren’t able to discuss their needs well, which makes shopping for a developer difficult. That’s why a free website audit is such a powerful marketing tool for a designer or developer. In one fell swoop, you are able to see what’s right and wrong with the client’s website and share that information with them in a way that they can understand and take action on. It’s an elegant way to accomplish the fundamental marketing goal of getting a customer to know, like, and trust you.

How my web audit works for generating leads

A free website audit can be used to generate business in two completely different ways. It can be performed by the web developer, who then contacts the prospect or customer with the results, or it can be offered on your website where site visitors can get their own.

As a web professional, you can embed an audit request form on your own website. Then whenever you encounter a potential client, tell them about the free offer and give them your website address. This is an easy way to introduce them to your services and get some interest without making them feel like they would be obligated to buy services if they get the assessment.

Having some information on your site with the link can also reach people who are on the site for other services or even just reading an article or blog post. You can also run ads for a no-obligation free website assessment that take customers to the page with the link, then all they have to do is click it and enter some basic info to get their free assessment and report.

By the way, another feature of My Web Audit’s reports is that you are able to brand them as your own, so your customers will see the work as yours, and not think it was outsourced. Putting together a professional presentation can easily take as much time as the research for a web audit when you are doing it by using a bunch of different tools and then combining the results, so having a report generated that’s client-ready lets you focus on what you do best rather than writing reports.

There are a lot of tools available to you as a web developer or designer, but we are confident that if you give My Web Audit a try, you will be impressed with how much time and effort it saves you. We are so confident, in fact, that we offer a free 14-day trial of any level of our service. If you want to bring in a high number of new website customers, we encourage you to sign up for the agency level service, which includes concierge setup and phone support to get you started without delay. Full details of all levels of service and pricing are laid out on our pricing page. Check it out today and let us start helping you bring in the leads.

Clifford Almeida

About Clifford Almeida

I’m a serial entrepreneur, agency owner, change-maker and globe trotter. I created My Web Audit to help web professionals generate more leads and close more deals faster.

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