Is YOUR website a perfect TEN or a perfect “Belly Flop”?

Image: Analytics Bounce RateIf I asked “What is your Bounce Rate?” no doubt many different thoughts and images would spring to mind and I might get a variety of answers. A golfer would think about his golf ball hitting the green from a perfect high wedge shot. An Olympic highboard diver may shudder about the possibility of a “Belly Flop” from the 10-metre platform (ouch).

In the intriguing world of web design, a Bounce is when a website visitor only views a single page on a website and immediately leaves the site without visiting any other pages. Measuring your website Bounce Rate can be as painful as the highboard diver, in that your home page may just be a great big “Belly Flop”. Its effectiveness to encourage visits to other pages quite often fails miserably because one of many mistakes have been made. Here are a few reasons why visitors “bounce” from your web pages:

A Non-Responsive Design. Your website is not compatible with mobile devices such as smartphones or handheld tablets etc. The pages do not adapt to the device being used to view the site and in frustration, the visitor leaves and moves on to your competitors’ easy to use website.

Non-Professional image photography. The page images are poor quality and project a cheap or amateur display of your products or services. Professional images attract interest and make an emotional connection between the image and the written content.

Easy to read Fonts. Not using a universal website font. An easy to read font and a size no less than 11pt will be more effective on any device rather than the one below, which is your Mum’s favourite and she thinks it looks pretty and will work perfectly.

Image: A Pretty Font Like This

Professional Logo and Brand. Similar to amateur photography, a Logo that is not professionally designed or an unbranded page layout will immediately impact the visitor’s impression of your business and service. Position your Logo within every Page Header and link it back to your Home page for consistent navigation.

Know the Page Fold. Your Call to Action (CTA) is below the Page Fold on all your pages, so people have to scroll down to see it. All the more reason to add your email or phone number within every page header so at least whatever page the visitor is on your contact details are always easy to find.

Too much Clutter. Your pages overwhelm the visitor with too much information and their brains shut down. This has to be balanced against ensuring you have sufficient quality content to maintain your reader’s interest. Short sharp paragraphs with Keyword rich headings are the most effective.

So how big a “Belly Flop” do you think your website makes after reading these simple to fix problems?

And finally, let’s not forget the value of testing various alternatives before settling on the best changes to eliminate your “Belly Flop”.

There is a recognised case study where Microsoft values the selected shade of blue it uses on its search pages and it’s worth an additional $80 million of annual revenue. An earlier version used a lighter shade of blue, however, in testing that colour and hue it was less effective than the selected one now in use.

Microsoft also tested the Verdana font before eventually settling on the model Arial font. So even for Microsoft, simple is better and that’s what Anyware will deliver to you when we work with you to make YOUR website the most effective for your marketing budget.

Contact Us about our website review so you will score a perfect 10 every time a new visitor arrives at your improved website.

Happy Marketing,
The Anyware Team