<div class="gn-article"><div class="gn-hero gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-hero__image"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/687a235da6861294eec73166/68fa12382f4ecde1096309bf_651d3d594f4d0833d4296a93_640a5ebc1ffa99d6eebb3e0f_Getting%252520more%252520from%252520your%252520Website%252520in%2525202023%252520-%252520The%252520Complete%252520Guide%252520(1).png" alt=""></div> <div class="gn-hero__head"> <span class="gn-kicker"><span class="dot"></span>Growth</span> <h1 class="gn-title">Round-up: 5 Website Optimisation Pain Points – And How to Manage Them</h1> <div class="gn-meta"> <strong>The GO Network</strong> <span class="pip"></span> <span>11 March 2023</span> <span class="pip"></span> <span>6 min read</span> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gn-body"> <p class="gn-lede gn-reveal">Is your website not performing as well as you want it to? Are you keen to try new tech solutions, <strong>but not sure what's going to work for you?</strong></p> <p class="gn-reveal">In our latest workshop, 'Getting More from your Website in 2023 – The Complete Guide', experts <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhammersley/" target="_blank"><strong>Ian Hammersley</strong></a>, Ecommerce Specialist at <a href="https://www.smartebusiness.co.uk/" target="_blank"><strong>smartebusiness</strong></a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjonesquba/" target="_blank"><strong>Matthew Jones</strong></a>, Marketing Director at <a href="https://www.quba.co.uk/about" target="_blank"><strong>Quba</strong></a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andynicol/" target="_blank"><strong>Andy Nicol</strong></a>, Head of Client Strategy &amp; Managing Director of <a href="https://sputnik.digital/" target="_blank"><strong>Sputnik Digital</strong></a> share the <strong>common issues surrounding website optimisation</strong>, <strong>and how to manage them</strong>, ways to objectively assess your website to hit strategic objectives from the ground up, along with best practise advice on <strong>fine-tuning key elements and consistent measurement of performance</strong>.</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/events" target="_blank"><strong><em>View our upcoming events calendar</em></strong></a></p> <h2 class="gn-reveal"><span class="num">01</span>Objectively assessing your website from the ground up</h2> <p class="gn-reveal">With the <strong>introduction of the latest integrations</strong> or overcompensating on the <strong>demand for new, personalised content</strong>, it can be easy to indulge in the makeup of your website, and therefore lose focus around its core functionality or objectives. <strong>Matthew</strong> runs through particular site set-ups that would be most beneficial for certain strategic objectives or audiences, <strong>highlighting a shift towards headless CMS</strong>.</p> <figure class="gn-fig gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-fig__media"> <div class="w-richtext-figure-type-video w-richtext-align-fullwidth" style="padding-bottom:56.33802816901409%" data-rt-type="video" data-rt-align="fullwidth" data-rt-max-width="" data-rt-max-height="56.33802816901409%" data-rt-dimensions="426:240" data-page-url="https://vimeo.com/806862354"><div><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/806862354" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div></div> </div> <figcaption><a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/resources/playback-getting-more-from-your-website-in-2023-the-complete-guide" target="_blank"><strong>WATCH THE FULL WORKSHOP PLAYBACK</strong></a></figcaption> </figure> <div class="gn-divider gn-reveal" aria-hidden="true"></div> <h2 class="gn-reveal"><span class="num">02</span>5 website optimisation pain points – and how to manage them</h2> <p class="gn-reveal">In today's ever-changing digital landscape, it's important to <strong>optimise your sites functionality, design, and content to reflect growing trends</strong> and target audience behaviours. However, web optimisation can often present itself with a set of challenges/pain points, leading to <strong>content overload, increased bounce rates or a lack of actual conversions</strong>. Our experts dive into some of the major pain points they have experienced with web optimisation – and how you can manage them.</p> <h3 class="gn-reveal">Investing Your Time In The Wrong Places</h3> <p class="gn-reveal">Ian reiterates the importance of using the 'maths' behind your website performance to identity some of those pain points.</p> <aside class="gn-quote gn-reveal"><q>The math forces you to be rational and not emotional, making it obvious where you need to invest your time.</q><cite>Ian Hammersley · Ecommerce Specialist, smartebusiness</cite></aside> <p class="gn-reveal">He says, "from an eCommerce perspective, it's like a normal shop; you look at how many customers come through the door, <strong>how many of them convert</strong>, how much they spend and then if they return, <strong>that's the lifetime customer value</strong>."</p> <p class="gn-reveal">By acknowledging these numbers, such as your <strong>web traffic, conversion rate or CLV</strong>, you know what – and by how much – each area needs to improve by to reach your turnover goal <strong>and whether it's realistic to do so.</strong></p> <p class="gn-reveal">For example, <strong>Ian</strong> adds "In the eCommerce industry the average <a href="https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-analytics/typical-average-add-cart-conversion-rates/" target="_blank"><strong>add-to-basket rate is around 10%</strong></a>, <strong>knowing this you can identify if your rate is above average or not</strong>, if not, you can start to begin a path to why? I.e. you notice customers are bouncing on the product page, so you invest your time in optimising that page rather than other areas."</p> <p class="gn-reveal">Read: <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/news/planning-your-website-rebuild-for-successful-execution?utm_source=Article&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Event+resource+-+Website+Rebuild+Projects+-+Planning+for+Success" target="_blank"><strong><em>Website Rebuild: Planning for Success</em></strong></a></p> <h3 class="gn-reveal">Poorly Configured Back-end</h3> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Matthew</strong> says, "one of the biggest issues is poorly configured back-ends, where it doesn't give control to marketing teams, <strong>they're difficult to maintain, and you can't create landing pages with ease.</strong></p> <p class="gn-reveal">He adds, "a key takeaway from this would be: <strong>ensure that you work with an agency that's certified in the technology</strong>, do your due diligence on them and make sure that they are accredited."</p> <p class="gn-reveal">View our Web Dev 101 article: <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/news/web-development-101-optimising-your-website-for-a-successful-2023" target="_blank"><strong><em>Optimising your Website for a Successful 2023</em></strong></a></p> <h3 class="gn-reveal">Platform Difficulty</h3> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Matthew</strong> highlights, "<strong>some platforms are simply easier to work with than others</strong>. We work with <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Umbraco</strong></a>, which is called the friendly CMS for a reason, it's very easy to get up and running on, within an hour of training, you can be editing.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">Whereas some of the DXPs take days of training, or potentially weeks before you're proficient in using them.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">From an eCommerce perspective, <strong>Ian</strong> adds, "<strong>there's been an explosion of what I call 'no code' platforms in the last five or six years</strong> with phenomenal growth. For example the things that you could do on something like Shopify, would have taken you much longer on Magento, <strong>plus you can utilise these platforms on your mobile phone for much cheaper.</strong>"</p> <figure class="gn-fig gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-fig__media"><img alt="Andy Nicol, Managing Director of Sputnik Digital on the use of off-the-shelf themes" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/687a235da6861294eec73166/68fa12372f4ecde109630978_640ca8394efe7c9d2f699a92_Andy.png" width="auto" height="auto" loading="auto"></div> <figcaption>Andy Nicol, Managing Director of Sputnik Digital, on the use of off-the-shelf themes.</figcaption> </figure> <h3 class="gn-reveal">Off-The-Shelf Themes</h3> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Andy</strong> says, "you can have <strong>too much content on your homepage</strong>, but how to rationalise that is the complicated part. If you asked every client they'd want all of the content above the fold for the whole website into a thousand pixels.</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>There is now a trend towards using off-the-shelf themes</strong>, where you swap some content in to make it your own and go live. But this means <strong>the design hasn't been considered to reflect your audience</strong>, whereas to do it properly, it needs to be somewhat bespoke."</p> <p class="gn-reveal">View our <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/news/round-up-investing-in-seo-with-dark-horse-crafted-and-krow-group" target="_blank"><strong><em>Round-up: Investing in SEO with Dark Horse, Crafted and Krow Group</em></strong></a></p> <h3 class="gn-reveal">Page Speed Optimisation</h3> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Andy</strong> highlights, "in terms of page speed optimisation, which affects SEO, page speed is an indicator for Google search rankings, and it affects user experience. <strong>This means the very second your page takes to load 'X' number of people will drop off.</strong></p> <p class="gn-reveal">So, from that side of things, utilising new integrations or plugins such as off-the-shelf themes, WordPress plugins, content editors or bootstrap front-end frameworks that make chopping pages quicker, will slow your site down."</p> <p class="gn-reveal">He adds the importance of "<strong>having regular performance monitoring every couple of weeks</strong> to check your page speed and other metrics to make sure things aren't getting bloated."</p> <p class="gn-reveal"><a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/news/seo-101-practical-tips-to-improve-your-seo-strategy-with-limited-resource" target="_blank"><strong><em>Discover 10 Quick Fixes to Improve your SEO Strategy with Limited Resource</em></strong></a></p> <div class="gn-divider gn-reveal" aria-hidden="true"></div> <h2 class="gn-reveal"><span class="num">03</span>Biggest Opportunities and Considerations for External Support</h2> <p class="gn-reveal"><strong>Matthew</strong> says, "the biggest opportunity when comes to web optimisation is <strong>working smarter by using the SAAS based Cloud products that are out there</strong>, rather than reinventing the wheel.</p> <p class="gn-reveal">In terms of first conversation and what that would look like I think it would be based on content. There needs to be a clear plan, this shouldn't be an afterthought, it needs thinking about from the <strong>existing content, content migration, content creation</strong>, and is there sufficient resource internally within the organisation to deliver that? Or <strong>do they need an agency partner to deliver and how that's going to work?</strong>"</p> <blockquote class="gn-blockquote gn-reveal">"In terms of improving conversion, from a design perspective <strong>people should stop tinkering with A/B tests – there's much bigger wins to be had by ripping up stuff and starting page design from scratch</strong>. For example, we've just redesigned a checkout page for a client, and the conversion rate went up from 45% to 55 – you don't get that by changing button designs. And then from a build perspective, <strong>don't underestimate optimising for page speed</strong>. You can still have big SEO impacts by tackling the quick wins."<cite>Andy Nicol · Head of Client Strategy &amp; Managing Director, Sputnik Digital</cite></blockquote> <p class="gn-reveal">On using external support, <strong>Andy</strong> says "people come to us with their problems, or their objectives and <strong>we try to give them something valuable straightaway</strong>, we call this an innovation phase, where we just try and get people to leave the meeting with a clearer vision, and more value than when they started."</p> <aside class="gn-callout gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-callout__label">What this means for you</div> <h4>Managing the five key website optimisation pain points</h4> <ul> <li><strong>Use the maths behind your performance.</strong> By acknowledging these numbers, such as your <strong>web traffic, conversion rate or CLV</strong>, you know what – and by how much – each area needs to improve by to reach your turnover goal <strong>and whether it's realistic to do so.</strong></li> <li><strong>Ensure certified back-end partners.</strong> <strong>Ensure that you work with an agency that's certified in the technology</strong>, do your due diligence on them and make sure that they are accredited.</li> <li><strong>Choose platforms for ease of use.</strong> <strong>Some platforms are simply easier to work with than others</strong>, and 'no code' platforms mean you can utilise these platforms on your mobile phone for much cheaper.</li> <li><strong>Make themes bespoke to your audience.</strong> To do it properly, it needs to be somewhat bespoke, as the design needs to reflect your audience.</li> <li><strong>Monitor page speed regularly.</strong> <strong>Having regular performance monitoring every couple of weeks</strong> to check your page speed and other metrics to make sure things aren't getting bloated.</li> </ul> </aside> <p class="gn-reveal"><em>If you're investing in a website strategy this year, make sure you're getting the most from your time. The GO Network offer cost-free agency recommendations, pitch management, and more.</em> <a href="https://www.thegonetwork.com/get-in-touch" target="_blank"><strong><em>Get in touch</em></strong></a><em> to get started.</em></p> </div></div> <aside class="gn-related gn-reveal" data-auto="related-reading"> <div class="gn-related__label">Related reading</div> <ul class="gn-related__list"> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/getting-more-from-your-website-in-2023-the-complete-guide" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Expression</span> <span class="gn-related__title">Getting More from your Website in 2023 - The Complete Guide</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Your agency&#39;s website should work harder. 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