Four Reasons Why Visitors Leave Your Web Site

There are millions of web sites that appear online each month. However, the average attention span of a typical site visitor stands around 15-30 seconds. This means webmasters must capture a person’s curiosity and build upon it to keep visitors from pushing the close button. So how do you accomplish this?

Many experts claim that by using effective marketing (online and offline), it will bring loads of people to your site. While this may help to attract large numbers of visitors, it will not help to keep them interested for long. The true answers to longer consumer visits are as simple as putting yourself in your readers’ predicament. Here are four reasons why visitors leave a website and what they were thinking before they exited.

1) The Website Content is Hard to Read

The words on your website are vital towards persuading visitors to buy into what you are selling. Without words, websites are nothing but a portfolio of images and photos. A well-written website not only helps make reading easier, but also moves the visitor to react upon the message given. Written content can become hard to read when:

• No paragraph breaks – “This website looks jumbled together”
• Spelling and grammatical mistakes – “Must not know what they are talking about”
• Not enough content – “Is this all there is available”
• Too many words – “There’s too much to read…I’m tired”
•  Content is poorly written – “This website looks amateurish”

2) The Web Site Graphics are a Turn-off

Pictures weigh heavily upon readers understanding of the message you want portrayed. Similar to the old saying, “What you see is what you get,” graphics must professionally covey an act, scene, or idea. Having great-looking pictures is very important for keeping your audience glued to your site. Key graphic mistakes to look for when improving how long visitors stay include:

• Pictures that do not fit content – “Can I trust the site to sell me what they are offering”
• Offensive images – “Let me quickly leave before I lose my temper”
• Obscene or suggestive photos – “I can’t view this website around others”
• Too many banners, ads, and/or affiliate links – “This site looks unprofessional”

3) The Web Site Design Does Not Impress Others

The overall look and feel of your website is critical to offering an organized view of what you want visitors to experience. It portrays what you represent. The design of a site will help characterize your product, service, or idea. Website design fails to keep an audience when:

• Chosen colors are annoying – “This site hurts my eyes”
• Fonts that do not stand out – “I can’t read this website comfortably”
• Too much material – “It’s taking too long to load”
• Broken links – “There is nothing to see but blue-highlighted text…boring”
• Navigation is difficult – “Too complicated to quickly figure out”

4) The Marketing Does Not Attract the Right People

Strategic marketing of your website is pivotal to attracting the type of visitors who are interested in what you are offering. Correctly marketing your website address to the public will help establish your online presence. You fail to take advantage of smart marketing for your website when:

• Bland ads do not sell your website address – “Why should anyone visit”
• Site promotions look cheap – “This website must also be poorly designed ”
• Wrong places to advertise – “I can’t relate to what this site offers”
• Not enough marketing – “I bet someone else has what I need”

Of course, there are many other reasons why people leave websites. However, some of these reasons can be eliminated simply, by fixing some of the problems outlined here. If you need help, editors, web designers, marketing companies, and writers are a few professionals who offer their services online. Changing your web site can make the difference and gain you longer visits from your existing or potential new customers.

I would love to know your thoughts. Are you a web designer that dramatically helped a new client, or a site owner that made some changes that greatly helped your web site success. Please share in the comment section below.

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