Having a business website can not only help you grow your audience. Potentially it can help you turn visitors into paying customers and increase your revenue – if you manage to capture the interest of your audience long enough to showcase what your business has to offer.
Studies of browsing behaviour have shown that most online users leave a website within the first 15 seconds, merely skimming through a fraction of its content. In those few moments they judge whether the website will be useful or not which only leaves a small window for you to convince them to stay.
Obviously, being online and fully functional, available and accessible, are the main requirements of a website to attract any traffic in the first place. However, there are plenty of other factors that determine the success of a website, and there are common mistakes or indicators for why visitors don’t hang around long enough to engage with the content you provide.
Poor design
It all comes down to user-friendliness. Which fonts are you using and in what size? What is the text to media ratio? Are you creating a calm and professional image, or will visitors be overwhelmed with bright flashing colours and numerous unnecessary design elements? Does your website have a clear purpose that will show users how your business can help them? Focus on what’s really important, keep it simple and easy to understand. If in doubt, web-designers can help you create an attractive business website or re-design your current one to help reach its maximum potential.
Long loading time
How long it takes for a website to load is another major factor that drives people away. According to research, 25% of users will already abandon a page after waiting for as little as 4 seconds without ever actually seeing its content.
Autoplaying media
Internet users like to make choices, including what content they view and how it affects their data usage. Automatically loading audio and video content on your website can scare a lot of visitors away. Media files that start streaming as soon as someone lands on a page not only interfere with the user’s experience and the loading time of your website, they can also chew through data which is extremely annoying for those who are on expensive or limited plans.
Not meeting expectations
Does your website deliver what it promises? If the name of your website is misleading or the information provided is contrary to people’s expectations, they will quickly go elsewhere. The same goes if essential parts of your website are missing which will depend on your industry. Running a retail store without giving people the opportunity to order online is counterproductive. Consistency and reliability are key when trying to meet user’s expectations. After all, people want to be able to use your website, not just look at it.
Lack of compatibility
Your website needs to be accessible across all devices, from stationary computers to laptops, iPads, tablets and, above all, smartphones. More and more people are accessing the internet on their smartphones, wanting information fast and in easily digestible bits. If your website design is not responsive, it will be hard for mobile users to navigate, let alone find what they are looking for in a short amount of time. Mobile-friendly websites not only increase the chance of growing your audience and getting people to return, they also rank better in Google search results.
Insufficient trust
Spammers, hackers and illegitimate websites are plentiful on the world wide web. Therefore, internet users examine each website instantly for its credibility and trustworthiness. Without having established major brand recognition, you will need to generate trust using other channels such as third-party validation including business associations and link your website to your social media profiles such as Facebook, Google, Twitter or Instagram.
If you have concerns regarding your website traffic or would like to get more information on how to ensure your website does not scare users away, contact the friendly team at Energise Web today.