The outside perspective
You’re the expert in your organisation whether that’s as a subject matter expert, a process specialist or a simply the person who keeps everything running. You may even have a carefully considered approach to how you communicate with your audience. But unless someone takes a step back and looks at it all with fresh eyes, it’s genuinely hard to judge whether all that effort is paying off.
That’s where I come in.
I offer two ways to work together, depending on the scope of what you need:
A clear view of how your organisation speaks to the world
Communications Review
Analysis of your customer journey and website experience
Website audit
What is a web copy audit?
A web copy audit is a professional analysis of your website:
- how it's perceived by visitors
- whether or not it's saying the right things to the right people and
- where it might be losing them along the way.
If you’re wondering why your website isn’t generating enquiries or sales, a web copy audit is often the best place to start.
The most common things I find when I do an audit are that the content isn’t engaging or up to date, the pages aren’t laid out in a way that makes sense to your ideal customer or it’s not immediately clear what you’re actually offering.
Who is this for?
A web copy audit might suit your business if you want a second set of eyes on your website. You might suspect your site needs attention but may not know how to explain that to your team. Or you might just feel that your copy sounds ‘meh’ and you’re not sure what’s causing it or where to start fixing it.
In particular, a web copy audit is useful if you:
- haven't updated your website copy in more than a year
- are getting traffic but not enquiries or sales
- have recently changed your services, prices or target audience but haven't updated the site to reflect that
- are about to invest in a new website and want to understand what's working before you brief a designer.
How a Web copy audit works
We start with a conversation about what you want to achieve. Perhaps you simply want a professional opinion on how well the site is working. Or perhaps you know the copy feels flat but aren’t sure what else might be affecting performance.
Whatever your starting point, I conduct an in-depth review of your Home and About pages: the two most visited pages on any website and the ones where customers make decisions about whether or not to work with you. I report on how well the content engages and informs visitors, whether it keeps them on the page and whether it encourages them to explore further.
I also review your Services or Capabilities page…and look beyond the words themselves to consider layout, clarity, user experience and readability. My aim is to identify what’s working well and what’s actually working against you.
Some audits leave you with a laundry list of jobs for you to do and that’s it. Mine go deeper. You receive a clear action plan showing what’s urgent, what needs to be done soon and what can wait…and a personalised video explaining it all. You also get a chance to ask questions in a hand-over meeting.
And because I don’t believe in handing someone a ‘to do’ list and waving goodbye, you also get me as an accountability partner for the first three months: available to help you work through what needs to happen next, with a follow-up meeting to see where you are in the process.
Want to know how your website is really performing?
You know your business.
I know words.
Let’s make beautiful copy together.
Need some great copy?
What is a communications review?
A communications review looks at the bigger picture:
- all the channels you use to communicate with your audience
- how effectively each one is working
- how well they're working together.
This might mean looking at whether you need to be on all the social media platforms you’re currently managing. It might mean reviewing whether or not your email strategy is delivering results, or if your website and your LinkedIn presence are telling the same story.
Often the issue isn’t that businesses are doing things badly: it’s that they’re doing too many things without a clear strategy connecting them.
Who this is for
Best for businesses or organisations that are communicating actively but aren’t sure the effort is translating into results.
Organisations that typically engage this service include:
- professional membership organisations
- leadership teams within larger organisations
- local government outreach and business support teams
- not-for-profit associations
- small businesses at a growth or transition point.
How a communications audit works: a recent case study
A professional member association recently approached me to review their communications. A team of dedicated volunteers, they were working hard across multiple channels but felt their efforts weren’t achieving the results they wanted. After a couple of conversations, I suggested a communications review. As they were using six channels to reach their audience, we agreed to focus on the four most important:
- website
- member portal
- LinkedIn presence
- email communications (to both members and general subscribers).
How I proceeded
What I found
My review identified what I suspected: they were doing a lot right. Their open rates for their emails were really impressive. They were active on a whole range of platforms. And they wanted to get things right for their members.
The core problem, however, was consistent across every channel I reviewed: they were communicating too much, in too many places and without a clear strategy connecting it all.
For example, their emails were going out too frequently and too close together, which was overwhelming their professional audience. Their LinkedIn posts were underperforming because the posting schedule was irregular and the posts leaned towards administrative rather than engaging content. There were also minor technical issues with the website and member portal that were making navigation harder than it needed to be..and there was no clear strategy for converting non-member subscribers into members.
I suggested they:
- establish a planned monthly communications calendar across email, LinkedIn and the website, so the channels worked together rather than in isolation
- fix the technical issues with the website and member portal
- audit and clean their full email list
- start treating their non-member subscribers as a conversion audience, showing them the value of joining the organisation.
Importantly, I didn’t simply hand them a list and leave. I created examples and templates showing how these changes would look in practice, and presented my findings to both the executive and the full board so that they could ask questions about my methods, my findings and how to proceed. I also recommended they engage me on a retainer basis to complete the more specialist tasks.
The outcome
It’s early days, but the organisation implemented two changes immediately and saw almost instant results. They audited and cleaned their email list, which improved their credibility with email platforms (a high bounce rate is a red flag that can affect deliverability across the board).
They also changed their LinkedIn posting schedule and shifted the tone of their content from administrative to curiosity-driven.
The next stage involves implementing a coordinated monthly communications calendar, addressing the technical issues with the website and member portal and developing a strategy to convert non-member subscribers into members. The goal is an organisation that communicates with confidence, consistency and considerably less effort than before.
Think your organisation could benefit from an outside perspective?
Not sure? I can help!
If you’re still not sure or there’s something you’re looking for that’s not listed on these pages, drop me a line contact@mariealafaci.com.
Better still, let’s talk like real humans in an obligation-free 15-minute call. I’m always happy to help. And if I can’t help you, I probably know someone who can.
