Time for a Content Audit

Maybe your website is up and running and you’re getting excited to start promoting it to generate traffic to capture those sales. [Cha-ching!]

Or maybe your website has been running for a while and you wonder why your conversions aren’t what you expected. [Deep sigh]

Maybe what you need is….

A Content Audit!

Seriously. This is something you should do right away after launching, and then continue to do throughout the life of your store.

Before you do a lot of marketing and promotion, you’ll want to make sure your website is completely accurate, and error free.

Of course, you want your products to be found in searches, and you want your visitors to convert into paying customers. One important factor that helps you rank better in searches AND increases the trust-factor is having a website that is free of spelling and grammar errors.

When you have spelling errors, people searching for your products won’t be able to find them. Think about it…

If your product title reads “awesum gajet” and people are seaching for “awesome gadget”, they are not going to find your products. Okay, that example was a little extreme, but you get the point.

Pages that have no spelling or grammar errors also look way more professional, and give your visitors a better sense of trust. More trust = more conversions. We like conversions!

Sometimes when we first create content, we are too close to our own writing to notice spelling and grammar mistakes within our text. Therefore, it’s important to do a content audit from time to time, taking a fresh look at it to ensure your website looks professional.

How Do You Start?

Review at least 12 pages on your website to do a content audit for spelling and grammar mistakes. If time allows, review another 12 pages, then another 12 pages, and so on.

Take a look at your product titles, as well as your product descriptions. Review your About, Contact, and Policy pages. Check for proper punctuation (especially in product titles), as well as spelling errors and grammatical errors.

TIPS:

Have a friend or family member (or business partner) take a look at your writing to ensure there aren’t any obvious issues – “a fresh set of eyes” will often see mistakes you are oblivious to.
If you’d like, you can install the Grammarly app in your web browser to check these things for you.
Hire a proofreader. You can find inexpensive proofreaders on websites such as Fiverr and Upwork. Make sure to find someone who has experience with ecommerce product descriptions.

BONUS TIPS:

While you are proofreading, I also recommend you look at your product descriptions to ensure the first or second sentence includes the important keywords from your product title, in a natural sentence structure.
Look at your SEO Meta Descriptions at the very bottom of the listing pages to make sure they are free of errors as well. The Meta Descriptions are what visitors will see when searching the internet. See Search Engine Listing Preview – Very Important Settings For Your Products for more details.
Check for commonly misspelled words, words that may have multiple spellings, and appropriate use of these words. See Misspellings and Multiple Spellings in Product Descriptions for more details.
While editing your product descriptions, look for places where formatting can be added to make your descriptions easier for your visitors to read. Perhaps you could add BOLD headings or Heading 3 or Heading 4 formatted headings; or maybe add bulleted lists. Anything that can make your descriptions easier to read is a good thing!