Conducting a content audit for a charity website

The importance of conducting a content audit

Redesigning a website is an exciting yet challenging undertaking, especially for charities aiming to enhance their online presence and engage with their audience more effectively. A crucial step in this process is conducting a comprehensive content audit. By evaluating existing content, identifying redundancies, and pinpointing opportunities for improvement, charities can ensure their redesigned website is streamlined, effective, and user-friendly. Here’s a guide to best practices for conducting a content audit during a website redesign.

The importance of a content audit

A content audit involves systematically reviewing all the content on your website. For charities, this means assessing articles, blog posts, landing pages, images, videos, and downloadable resources to ensure they align with your current goals, audience needs, and branding. The audit helps you:

• Streamline content: Eliminate outdated or irrelevant content.
• Reduce redundancies: Identify and consolidate duplicate information.
• Identify opportunities: Highlight gaps and opportunities for new, engaging content.

Best practices for conducting a content audit

Define your goals and metrics Begin by establishing clear objectives for your content audit. Are you looking to improve SEO, increase user engagement, or better convey your charity’s mission? Define the metrics that will help measure these goals, such as page views, bounce rates, time on page and conversion rates.

Create a content inventory Develop a comprehensive list of all your website content. This inventory should include URLs, page titles, content types, authors, publication dates, and performance metrics. Tools like Screaming Frog, Google Analytics, and Excel can help automate and organise this process.

Evaluate content quality Assess each piece of content based on relevance, accuracy, and engagement. Consider the following criteria:

• Relevance: Does the content align with your charity’s mission and current campaigns?
• Accuracy: Is the information up-to-date and factually correct?
• Engagement: Does the content resonate with your audience and encourage interaction?

Identify redundancies and gaps Look for duplicate or similar content that can be merged or eliminated. Simultaneously, identify topics or areas not currently covered that could enhance your site’s value. This step ensures a cohesive and comprehensive content strategy.

Develop an action plan Based on your findings, create a plan outlining what content needs to be updated, removed, consolidated, or created. Prioritise tasks based on impact and effort required. Assign responsibilities and set deadlines to keep the project on track.

Top 5 tips for an effective content audit

1. Use Data-Driven Insights: Rely on analytics to guide your decisions. Metrics like page views, time on page, and conversion rates provide objective data on content performance.
2. Engage Stakeholders: Involve team members from different departments, including marketing, fundraising, and program management, to get a well-rounded perspective on content needs and goals.
3. Focus on User Experience: Always keep your audience in mind. Content should be easy to find, read, and act upon. Consider usability testing to gather feedback directly from users.
4. Keep SEO in Mind: Ensure your content is optimized for search engines. Use relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and alt texts to improve your website’s visibility and reach.
5. Document Your Process: Maintain detailed records of your audit process, decisions made, and actions taken. This documentation will be valuable for future audits and ongoing content management.