If you’re starting a business, you already know that online presence is essential for success. Terms like SEO are commonplace in any modern business setting. And, it’s likely you embarked on perfecting this before you were even up and running.
And, the work doesn’t stop there. Now you’re set up, you need to think about all the different ways you can drive traffic to a business website. This is, after all, where the majority of your sales will come from. So, if people aren’t visiting your site, you’ll struggle to see any form of success. The good news is, there are plenty of tips and tricks for getting people to click on your webpage.
Sadly, clicks don’t always translate to sales. That’s especially the case if you’re struggling to keep visitors on your page. By looking at your site analytics, you’ll be able to see the average time each guest spends browsing. If that time is down to a few seconds, it suggests you need to reassess. After all, the traffic is there, but your page is failing to make use of it. And, that’s as bad as not getting visitors at all. Worse, perhaps, because it suggests you’re doing something wrong.
The good news is, issues like these are usually pretty clear-cut. There are some common issues that few website visitors will stick around through. To make sure you aren’t falling foul to these mistakes, we’re going to look at what they are.
Messy layout
If guests leave your page as soon as it loads, a messy layout may be your issue. Facing an unorganized or overloaded page is sure to turn customers off. After all, they have no loyalty to you at this stage. Why should they work to decipher where to go? That’s why, on any website advice guide, you’ll read about the importance of a simple layout. You want to make your information as obvious as possible. Visitors should be able to glance at your page and see what you offer and where they can find it. Anything which involves effort on their part is sure to do you out of sales. Hence why you should focus on a labelled sidebar. It doesn’t get much better than that for showing customers where they need to go.
Auto-play
Another leading reason for visitors clicking off web pages is auto-play. Setting music or videos to play straight away could lose you a shocking amount of traffic. Options like these just don’t suit modern consumers. What’s more, visitors may see them as nothing more than unwelcome invasions. Think about it; most people listen to music or some noise in the background when they’re online. If your website interferes with that, you can kiss goodbye to any chance of success. As a rule, it’s best to avoid music altogether. You can guarantee that even the people who stick around find it irritating. Videos are a different matter. After all, having a YouTube account is becoming an increasingly useful way to sell. In fact, video tutorials suit modern high-speed consumers perfectly. But, again, an autoplay feature here will put people off. Instead, place any videos in a visible place, and let customers click play themselves. This shows a level of respect for your website visitor. It’s sure to reap better rewards than you would see if you gave people no choice but to listen.
Slow loading
Slow loading is a real no-no when it comes to any page. In fact, in an ideal world, you should aim for a loading time under 2 seconds. That’s lightning fast, but it’s essential if you want to compete with any other webpage. In fact, surveys by Akamai and Gomez revealed that nearly half of users abandon a website which takes longer than 3 seconds to load. What’s more, 79% of users claimed they wouldn’t revisit the site. And, to make matters worse, 44% said they would tell friends about the bad experience. Do you see, now, how vital load time is to your enterprise?
Getting this wrong could, in theory, do more damage to sales than anything else. That’s especially the case if every page on your site is slow to load. To make sure this issue doesn’t slow down business, it’s worth taking action. The good news is, you can test loading time with tools like Google’s Page Speed Online. If you get a bad score here, you should digitally declutter your business as much as you can. Get rid of advertisements, and large images which could be to blame. Make sure, too, that a server problem isn’t behind the issue.
Eager pop-ups
In much the same way as immediate noise is a mistake, eager popups could do you out of sales. After all, no one likes to have an invasive advertisement in front of them the moment they click on a site. Whether it’s a call for email addresses or a live chat pop-up, you should delay it by at least 30 seconds. That way, guests will have a chance to settle in and take a look around. They’ll be able to develop some idea of what you do, and whether they want your services. As such, there’s a much better chance they’ll be receptive to you. As it stands, your pop ups get people’s backs up before they’ve decided you can help. And, that’s a massive mistake.
Invasive entry requirements
Speaking of massive mistakes, invasive entry requirements are sure to do you out of visitors. It may have seemed like a good idea to require email addresses for entry, but it’s not. In fact, you can be sure the majority of visitors click off straight away. Why should they give you their details? It doesn’t matter to them if they don’t see your site. There are, after all, plenty more websites in the internet sea. But, it does matter to you if they don’t come onto your page. So, do away with the ultimatums, and open things up to invite sales.
