Is it Time to Do an Audit of Your Station’s Website?

Each week I view websites of radio stations in Australasia, North America, South Africa, the UAE, the UK and other English-speaking countries as part of BPR’s monthly Website Check Up.

The one thing I continually notice is the vast difference in websites…overall quality of graphics and content, user friendliness, current vs. out of date content etc.

Have a look at your station’s website and then those of your competitors and other stations in other markets.

Are they doing things better, things that are innovative?

Here are a few tips on how to audit your website:

• Is the site visually appealing? Does the overall look and feel sit within your station’s brand image? Or is it stale and like many network sites, a bit “one size fits all?” Ensure all images, audio, videos and social media make your website more engaging and interesting.
• Is it mobile-friendly? If not, make it so! Your website must be easily accessible and readable on mobile devices.
• Is website speed optimized? Use tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix issues that are slowing down your website and making it more difficult to navigate.
• On that point….is your site easy to navigate overall? Organize your website's content in a logical and easy-to-use structure. So many sites do not!
• Is the language clear and concise? Make sure that your website's text is easy to read and understand. Check for typos and grammatical errors - trust me, I see them all too regularly.
• Keep content updated and relevant. Seems like a no-brainer but so many times I see contests that have finished but are still live on station websites. Is the current on-air line-up actually current?
• Finally…. do some research. Use analytics to track user behavior and make data-driven decisions for improving the website. Conduct user testing and gather feedback to improve user experience.