Some Questions Used
in an Online Audit of a Web Page

Web Page Analysis:

• Why use a web site and not another form of communication? Is information at this site more easily disseminated in another way?

• Web sites are universal. Is information at this site too localized? Have you evaluated site information for foreign languages and visitors?

• Give a summary description of the target audience(s) for this web site. Include the following:

Friends, enemies, competitors, prospects, customers.
Demographics, psychographics
Geographic locations
Knowledge level
Opinion leaders
Perception of organization
Opinions and intensity levels about the organization
Self-interest regarding the organization
Your estimate about the audience's accuracy of perception about the organization
Your estimate about the organization's accuracy of perception about its audience.

• Describe desired action that site should motivate in the audience.

Awareness
Information
Decision support
Purchasing
After purchase service

• Site plan: Was there a site plan before development that spelled out the site's objectives?

Is the plan formal or informal?
Does the site follow the plan, or did it deviate during development?
If the site deviated from the plan, are changes appropriate?

• Summarize in one sentence the business objective of this organization.

• Summarize in one sentence the communications objective of the site.

• Is the home page introduction appropriate to the business objective and audience?

• What are the META TAG terms and descriptors, and are they appropriate for business objective and target audience.

• Is site content overall and in particular appropriate to what the site sets out to achieve? What is missing? What is good? What can be improved?

• Are graphics appropriate to the site's business objective?

• Site Map: Is there a site map and does it accurately reflect the site and its links?

• Is there an index and table of contents on the home page.

• Is the site and its information dated for freshness?

• Is content below home page linked appropriately to it? Are there broken links?

• Are there links back to home from each sub-page? Are there appropriate links to complementary information sections in each sub-page?

• Site Content:

Is site content updated regularly?
Is this a push or pull site?
Is this a database or text site? If database, are search options easily identified and instructions easy to follow?
Is text chunked for easy understanding? Has it been tested against the target audience?
Is text well-written, clear and persuasive?

• Site Presentation:

Are colors and backgrounds suitable for text overlay? Is text difficult to read?
Are graphics and text anachronistic based on the site objective?
Are graphics easily downloadable, clear and persuasive?
Are link colors easily discernible?
Are buttons placed in easily visible and reachable locations?

• Search engines:

Is the site listed with common search engines?
Where does the site come up when key terms are requested on common search engines?
Is the site URL/Domain name appropriate to the site's communications objective?
Is home page easily understood and indexed for access?
To what is the site hyperlinked, and are they appropriate links?
What sites link to this site, and are they appropriate?

• Site mechanics:

Does home page download easily at telecom speeds the target audience(s) uses?
Have you timed the average download?
Do you have a text-only option, if appropriate?
Is the site compatible with major web page browsers?
Have you tried to access the site through common ISP's -- Compuserve and AOL? What is the download speed? How accurate are colors? How well do animations work?