As we all know, Magento is a powerful platform to create fabulous E-commerce websites. And creating an E-commerce website is a way to take your business to a new level by having customers all over the world. But as your physical store faces some sort of issues, an online store can also have several issues which need to be fixed. Hence time to time and health check-up of your website is very much necessary. It helps your site to work better, over the hurdles if any; and also to make sure that your customers don’t face any issues and they have a great shopping experience with your website. This process can be done by conducting a website audit.
What is a Magento E-commerce website audit?
A website audit is a process to check and know your site as per the customer’s point of view. You have to assess your site as you are looking at it as a customer. Every company with an online presence should have its website reviewed. Website auditing is the process of examining how a website works and how readily it can be found by users. If the audit is successful, it is followed by recommendations for solutions and improvements that directly address the problems identified during the audit.
Why do you need an audit for your Magento E-commerce store?
No matter how great a website you have developed, it frequently needs maintenance to stay away from any type of problems. If your website frequently faces technical issues or lack of performance, then you definitely need a Magento website audit. The following issues are a sign that you urgently need an audit for your Magento site:
- Decreased load speed.
- Malfunction of the updates.
- Frequent website crashes due to high traffic.
- Security issues.
- Customers dissatisfied due to bad buying experience.
- Themes, designs or graphics not executing properly.
- Any probable flaws you doubt your website may have.
Which aspects should a Magento audit cover for your website?
In general, a website audit should be an all-around examination and modification of your website. But precisely, different areas that a Magento audit needs to cover can be divided into 3 main parts:
1. Performance
As performance is the main aspect of an E-commerce site, you should examine your site’s overall performance and fix any bugs if needed. If your website can render third-party plugins, see how often it throws up a 404-page error. It includes everything from checking loading speed, page speed, errors, bugs, themes, payment gateways, etc.
2. Security
It is the most important part of an audit because a secured site will attract more customers to your site. You need to check all the security patches, codes and extensions, payment gateways, administrator rights, etc.
3. Health
The overall health of your website will be decided when the site is performing well and is secured. You should check the core edits, any overrides to the core codes, performance of 3rd party extensions or modules, state of all records, administrator privileges settings, etc.
How to do a basic Magento E-commerce website audit?
There are many tools available that are quick and effortless to examine the performance of your site and also solve any issues with the help of a variety of metrics. But if you want customized solutions to address specific issues, then you can also perform the audit by yourself by focusing on some basic points as follows:
1. Themes and Designs
Any design or layout issues can turn away potential customers. Obtrusive ads, banners or pop-up windows can distract the customers and they can miss out on useful offers. Look if any site content is not written properly or if the text is difficult to read. Visitors should be able to quickly digest important information without being distracted when you organize the site’s appearance.
2. Loading Speed
Through the audit, you can determine which page takes time to load and why. You should also check if your site runs properly on mobile devices too. Several tools like Google PageSpeed Insight etc. can help you check the speed.
3. SEO
For optimized search results of your site, you should audit various SEO aspects. Check if your site runs on HTTPS protocol with main pages as well as subdomains and individual pages. Check for any duplicate or broken links, pages or content. Keywords should be optimized to attract traffic and for a higher ranking.
4. Security
Magento publishes updates for known security concerns on a regular basis; you should apply them as soon as they become available. Check if your site is fully patched and also look for any other common security issues.
Further checklist for Magento website audit:
- Make sure that themes and plugins are up to date.
- Examine any external domains or backlinks that are associated with your site.
- Assess the responsiveness of the menu, categories and search bar.
- Check the image compression rates.
Conclusion:
Thus we have seen that an audit greatly helps your website to perform better than before and to improve user experience. You can also use some features that are Magento specific and are shared with other platforms too like Core, Codebase, Database, etc. You can use these methods and information to perform the audit or you can also hire professionals to get it done perfectly.
iCreative Technologies is a full-fledged IT solutions provider offering a full range of Magento Development Services including Magento E-commerce website audit. We will conduct a complete audit of your Magento website and will also provide a comprehensive report which will consist of insights, suggestions, optimization hacks and much more. Get in touch with us.
Jainesh Shah
Jainesh Shah is a CEO and Co-Founder of iCreative Technologies Inc. iCreative Technologies is a digital eCommerce agency mainly serving B2B clients across the globe. With over 15 years of experience in technology and business, he is helping his client thrive in this competitive era. He is specialized in eCommerce consulting, creative thinking, generating new business ideas, and delivering end products to market in the digital space. He is working with the vision to help his partner agencies and Clients to grow in their respective businesses.