There comes a point in any website redesign project where you “push the button” and your changes go live to the world.
(At least you hope that’s what happens and nothing breaks!)
A couple Saturdays ago was that day for the redesign of the VirtualAssistantAssistant.com site. We picked that day because it’s historically the lowest traffic day of the week, so if anything did go wrong, at least fewer people would see it.
And as expected there were a few bugs and errors, but for the most part the transition has been pretty smooth. Yes, the project took a lot longer than I expected it to, but in the end I’m happy with the results.
Here are a few metrics to keep an eye on when you update the look and feel of your online presence.
Table of Contents
1. Revenue
Obviously nothing trumps the bottom line, so keep a close watch on your sales numbers before and after the transition.
I don’t have enough data to make a firm conclusion on this yet, but the other metrics look OK so I’m guessing this one should be OK too.
If you see a sharp decrease in sales — even if the old site is ugly — it makes sense to change it back or continue tweaking the new version to make up the difference.
2. Traffic
In your Google Analytics, it will be easy to see if there was a “breaking point” at or shortly after your redesign.
This is always my biggest fear.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
Thankfully the traffic numbers have been holding steady.
3. Index Status
In Google Webmaster Tools, there’s a handy report I use to gauge the overall health of a site in Google’s eyes.
If you login, you’ll see it under Google Index > Index Status. It shows you how many of your pages Google has stored and are eligible to turn up in search results.
Over time, you’d expect to see a slowly upward-sloping graph as you add more content to be discovered.
In my case, I saw about a 5% decline in indexed pages following the redesign. This is something I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on in the coming weeks.
4. Crawl Errors & Broken Links
Over time it seems like certain parts of your website are bound to break, but thankfully there a couple tools you can use to identify the problems.
The first is in Google Webmaster Tools, under Crawl > Crawl Errors. This will help you discover the pages and links on your site that could use some attention.
The other tool I use is a WordPress plugin called Broken Link Checker. After you install it, it will generate a report of all the “broken links” it finds in your site so you can fix or remove them. (The reason this is important is because broken links create a poor user experience and signal to Google that the site is no longer being maintained — which could hurt your rankings.)
5. User Behavior
One thing I like to keep an eye on in Google Analytics are the user behavior metrics like Time on Site, Bounce Rate, and Pages per Visit.
If you see a dramatic shift in any of these coinciding with your redesign, it’s time to take a closer look and what the cause may be.
I had a momentary freak-out when I saw that my bounce rate had more than doubled! (Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who come to your website and view only 1 page before leaving.)
Digging a little deeper, I’m not sure I have any cause for alarm because the other “behavior” metrics didn’t see a similar change. The Average Session Duration and Pages per Session are consistent before and after the redesign, so I’m not really sure what’s causing the Bounce Rate to spike. If those other metrics pointed to trouble as well, I’d be much more worried.
6. Leads
Although this will naturally play into the Revenue number mentioned above, one of the most important functions of your website is to capture leads.
Often, this is in the form of email addresses signing up to hear more from you or requesting some resource. (In my case, the First-Timer’s Guide to Hiring a Virtual Assistant.)
I am seeing a slight decrease in the number of sign-ups (from roughly 4 a day to roughly 3 a day) and this is something I’ll have to play around with a little more — though it’s not a pure experiment since I changed a couple other variables as well.
Your Turn
If you have a website redesign on the horizon, or have recently completed one, keep these metrics in mind.
Anything else to look out for when making website changes?