Website quality, the X-factor you can't ignore

You’ve got your website looking great, and optimized it for SEO.. You’ve even started building some backlinks, and maybe you’re promoting your content on social media. But wait! Don’t forget about website quality.

If you don’t want to send your visitors away because of poor usability or a bad design, then website QA testing can help optimize the experience.

Before we look at website quality in detail, let’s start with an explanation of what website quality assurance is.

What is website quality assurance?

Website quality assurance is the process of testing and ensuring that a website is functioning correctly and meets the needs of its users. 

It includes testing for things like functionality, usability, security, and performance and gives your visitors a positive experience.

Q&A testing is a comprehensive process covering a range of areas, and here we focus on some of the key components, beginning with user experience.

User experience: How easy is it to use?

One of the most essential parts of a good quality website is a positive user experience (UX). 

After all, if a site is hard to navigate, the design doesn’t flow, or it isn’t intuitive, your visitor will soon get tired of trying to find their way around.

This is where website quality assurance testing comes in. 

By conducting QA testing, you can catch problems, like:

• Errors
• Broken links
• Navigation
• Ease of use
• Checking search functions

Then there’s the overall design. A well-designed website should be intuitive and easy to follow.

By paying attention to these factors, website owners can ensure that their site provides a satisfying UX that keeps visitors coming back for more.

Website design: First impressions count

We’ve already touched on design in the first paragraph. However, Q&A testing isn’t purely about appearance. Yes, it’s vital your website looks good, however, website quality assurance testing goes much deeper than that.

This stage analyzes features such as:

• Layout
• Typography
• Color
• Consistency

Then there are other factors like:

• Do you have high-quality images? 
• Are Call To Action (CTA) buttons visible? 
• Do your contact forms work?

These elements might not seem essential, but they all speak volumes about your brand.

Is your content accurate, up-to-date, and helpful?

You can evaluate your site content in several ways.

First, is your content giving your visitor the impression you want it to? In other words, is your message clear and consistent with your overall branding?

Then there are the wider points. For example:

• Is your content engaging, and does it speak to the reader? You can make your content more engaging with images, videos, and infographics. Additionally, use ‘you’ throughout your content, so the reader feels like you’re talking to them.
• Do you finish your articles with a CTA so your visitors know what you want them to do next? If you want them to contact you, download an eBook, or sign up for a newsletter, then say so, and make your CTA design highly visible to ensure it grabs attention.
• Could your content flow better, or be shorter? Long paragraphs don’t work well on the internet; keep your paragraphs short and to the point.
• Is there plenty of white space and bullet points? You need to avoid large blocks of writing as web users usually skim-read.
• Is the content free from grammar and spelling areas? Mistakes look unprofessional and give a poor impression of your business.
• Is your information up-to-date? Names, contact numbers, emails, and messaging can all change over time. Make sure these details are all accurate.
• What about duplicate content? Do you have identical content, and if so, does Google know which page to prioritize? If not, canonical tags can be added during the website quality assurance phase.

Learn more about how to optimize your content with on-page SEO.

Functionality: Does the site do what it’s supposed to do?

We’ve all been to a website that hasn’t worked well. Perhaps the ‘contact’ button doesn’t work, the pages take too long to load, or you can see coding where content should be. I’m sure you’ll agree that errors like these all give a bad impression.

If your site doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, it’s not serving its purpose.

With functionality, there are a few things you can check yourself, like: 

• Are the links on the site working and taking you where they’re supposed to go? 
• Do forms load properly and efficiently?
• Are videos or other media working correctly?

If any of these areas aren’t working, that’s a sign you may need to undergo Q and A testing to correct these problems.

Is your website mobile-friendly with a responsive design?

Gone are the days when web users were limited to their desktop computers. Over four billion people are using mobile internet, and there’s no reason why these figures won’t continue to climb. With that in mind, it’s more important than ever that your website is created with mobile users in mind. 

You can do that with responsive design. 

Responsive design is a way of building a website that automatically adjusts to look good on any size screen, from a large desktop monitor down to a tiny screen on a smartphone. 

This type of design uses flexible layouts, images, and other components that can resize themselves automatically, eliminating the frustration of not being able to access the internet on the go.

Download our free ebook on how to optimize your website for mobile.

Loading times: A crucial factor for website quality

Have you ever given up waiting for a website to load? If you have, then you’re far from alone, as a survey shows many websites take far too long to load. According to Backlinko, the average fully loaded website time is 10.3 seconds, and 27.3 seconds on mobile.

While that may not seem too long on the scale of things, consumers aren’t prepared to wait, especially on ecommerce sites.

Research shows that:

• 45% of customers say businesses with slow website loading times give them a negative impression.
• 21% say slow-loading pages are ‘their main source of dissatisfaction with e-commerce’.
• And 50% of customers abandon their carts due to slow loading websites.

The survey also reveals another fact: if a website takes too long to load, 46% of visitors ‘blame the company for not having the necessary infrastructure to run a functioning website’. 

So, it’s clear, one of the most essential areas of good website quality is fast loading times, and a slow loading site makes you look unprofessional.

If you’re struggling with loading time issues, website quality assurance can fix this by using tools to test for page loading times.

Learn more in our complete guide to improving page speed.

Conclusion

Great design is just one aspect of website quality. Although a great layout can make a big difference in how users interact with your site and how they view your brand, website quality assurance looks at everything from usability to content and navigation.  

By conducting a website quality assessment before you launch your website and testing at regular intervals, you can avoid potential issues and keep your site running smoothly while giving your visitors the impression of a professional company that’s serious about its business.