Your website is supremely important to your business success.  In fact, in today's internet-driven culture, it can make or break your business.  I suggest allowing your business to do a lot of the work of selling, educating, and qualifying clients for you.  This way you don't have to spend time doing this with each prospect that contacts you.  

You should be reviewing and updating your website regularly.  Your website is never "done", it should be a living, changing, adapting tool that you are constantly improving and refining.

Here are three areas that you should take a closer look at when you perform your website audit.  A website audit is simply taking a closer look at what you've got going on in your internet home and making sure that it is ready for visitors.  As interior designers, you're probably hyper-aware of how your house looks when people come over and visit.  You likely are making sure it's clean, smells good, lighting is flattering, and it is a welcoming space for company.  You need to do the same for your web home - make your ideal clients comfortable and entice them to return.

Functionality

Functionality is the basics of a good website.  Your website should be mobile-friendly, be SEO-optimized, load fast, and have terms & conditions and a privacy policy.  Can your potential clients find you online?  Is your site secure?  Do you have it backed up?  Are you watching your analytics so you know if anyone is visiting and if so who are they?  This is the stuff no one notices if done well, but everyone notices if not.  

User Experience / Purpose

After the basics of a functional website, you need to make sure you are creating an experience for your visitors.  Because of this, your website needs to have a purpose.  Not thinking about the purpose of your website could be a fatal flaw.  Ten years ago you could slap photos of your work and your contact info on your website and call it a day, that is no longer an option.  You need to lead your visitors on a path to hiring you.  

It's your job to create an experience for web visitors that captivates thr right ones into taking the next step - which you've conveniently laid out for them.  Make your website feel like the right fit for the right clients and then tell them what they can do next.  

This area is where most websites fail and where most designers can get the most improvement.  By giving your site a purpose and creating a wonderful user experience you will get more clients.  You will make more money.  You will get more of the right clients.  If your website is working correctly you can get all that by doing less work overall.  Who's in?

Design

The design of your website is part of your visual branding, whether you're on-board with that idea or not.  If you don't think that your website is a good representation of your business, then change that now, because for web visitors, it's the only one they have.  

You want to make sure that all your website images are high quality, that your fonts and colors are consistent, that you have a great headshot.  If your website looks good, your business looks good.   An unprofessional website will make your business look unprofessional even if you are the greatest interior designer that ever designed.  Just like a professional website when you are first starting can lend credibility and authority to your new business.  

I created a whole checklist so you can do your own website audit.  Download by entering your info below!