Bounce Control
Stop your site from bouncing around!
Are visitors bouncing off your website – or do they keep bouncing back?
OK, if that’s all Greek, let’s go back a few steps. Your "bounce rate" measures visitors ‘bouncing away’ from the entry page of your website without visiting other pages. It’s kind of a Disapproval-ometer.
Let’s say someone spots your site on Google and clicks through to your homepage. From there, they’ve got 2 options – browse your site or bounce off elsewhere. And a high bounce rate is the kiss of death, no matter what you’re selling.
So what’s the main culprit for a high bounce rate?
Well it’s not usually design (unless it’s really, really bad). Dodgy design often gets the benefit of the doubt – at least for the first few seconds! That’s because visitors are far more interested in what you’ve got to say. And if your copy is, frankly, a load of old pants, they won’t get past the fourth line!
Bad copy can send people surfing elsewhere for a number of reasons:
1. You’ve misled the visitor. Your browser heading and description meta-tags, displayed on the Google search page, may not represent what your site is actually about. So when your visitor clicks on the site and sees the horrible truth, they’ll head elsewhere right away.
The answer: be consistent. Only promise on the search page what you deliver on the home page!
2. There are no clear benefits. All copy needs to be benefit-led, and web copy needs it the most. Online we all behave like little hyperactive toddlers, and we need a reason to stick around (there are other shiny things beckoning!)
The answer: nail your benefits at the top of your homepage, preferably in the headline, and keep all the critical information above the fold (ie make it visible on screen before you need to scroll down). And remember, ‘benefit’ means what’s good for the visitor. Forget what appeals to you!