8 Reasons Why People Leave Your Website

1. Slow websites

Of all the things that drive people away from a website, this one takes the cake. An estimated 40% of visitors will leave a website that takes 3 seconds or more to load. This will have a negative impact on your website conversion. Here are some best practices you need to do to make your site load fast:

• Don’t use crazy animations.

• Keep HTML, CSS, scripts, images, and embedded multimedia file sizes to a minimum. 

• Check your site speed regularly and make the necessary remedy when necessary.

• Get a reliable web host. 

More tips here:  Tips to Load Websites Faster

2. Poor Site Navigation and Design

Nothing is more frustrating for visitors than when they don't have a clear path to the content they were searching for. This can be attributed to a complicated site navigation and design.

Heatmaps allow you to visualize what your users are clicking, the areas they mostly engage on and basically how their whole journey with your website takes place. A useful tool to measure your site's heatmap with a nifty analytics report is Crazy Egg.

When talking about website design, it encompasses not just the design per se but the entire user experience. Your web page has to be attractive both in terms of readability and graphic elements. Your website should be designed for your target audience. Remember, your website is an online reflection of your business. So make it clear, simple and professional.

3. Not on Mobile

Take note, more searches are now done on mobile than on traditional desktop computers. So, if your website is not built for mobile, your mobile audience may abandon your site and move on to another source. This will lead to a higher bounce rate. Make sure to understand your audience’s mobile needs and incorporate a responsive mobile design for your site. 

4. Video Autoplay

A video that automatically plays as soon as the web page loads may annoy visitors whose goal by then would be to frantically search where that audio comes from and close it. Keep in mind, not all people are at the comforts of their homes and many might still be at school, or work or riding a train where it's inconvenient to watch a video.

Visitors would like to think that they are in control of their actions, so if a video plays automatically without them launching it is an exercise to poor user experience. When you force them to engage with your audio or video content, you give them every reason to leave your website. 

When Facebook launched their autoplay ads on their user’s news feeds, many people were annoyed and searched for ways to block them. Again, videos should be user-initiated so that users won’t be forced to close your site. 

5. Annoying Pop-ups

When visitors are greeted with pop-ups, chances are great that they might click ‘X’ to get out of the pop-up and consequently from your site. Treat every visitor as a real person and not just a business lead. You can try adding a floating button on the side to encourage visitors to sign up for your newsletter without getting in their way.

If you are running pop-up ads, think of how the ad design will impact your visitors. People searching for quick information won’t likely engage to a content obstructed by ads. Measure how much revenue you’ve earned from ads in contrast to the time spent by visitors to your site and see if it’s worth the investment. 

6. Too many ads

Advertisements are alright. Without it, you can expect to see less content on the web. After all, advertisements are the lifeblood of any for-profit websites. However, when sponsored links or banner ads are indiscriminately plastered all over the web page, this might wear out the visitor’s patience and will make them lose interest on your content, no matter how great they are. 

Ads may not only be distracting, it can also slow down your website, then you’ll be back to problem #1. Blinking texts, animated GIFs, annoying pop-up banners will also make your content hard to read. The key here is not overwhelm your site with too many ads to and strike a balance between your ads and content. 

7. Dormant blog posts

If regular visitors have nothing new to read on your site, they are not likely going to stay. It’s essential to stick your blog editorial schedule and update content frequently. There’s no one answer as to how often to post blogs but what’s important is not to leave your visitors waiting on when your next post will get published. 

There are times when posting very often may also turn off some of your readers and lead them to unsubscribe. Posting less frequent on the other hand, will make your audience lose touch with your site and it would be difficult for you to keep a loyal reader if they have nothing new and exciting to read. The right frequency will depend on the type of niche you’re on and how well your audience are engaged with your content.

8. Click-bait content

Don’t you find it annoying to click on an article with a misleading title that is not even relevant to the content? If you have this experience before, welcome to the club! The goal for this type of content is to get more visitor traffic with less emphasis on value for the readers.

This will not only result in an increased bounce rate, but a decrease in shares on social media as well. Instead, create a keyword-optimized and valuable content that readers will share to their network.