Why your visitors are leaving your website, and how to solve it by understanding website usability

The goal of any website is to keep your visitors long enough to get them interested.  If you’re having difficulty keeping users on your site, your site usability may be to blame.

How are people finding you?  How informative is your content?  Here are some things to consider if you’re having issues with usability:

Consider improving your headline and content:

•   You have three seconds to convince your visitor whether or not they should stay on your site.  Create compelling headlines tell your visitors whether or not the page is relevant.

• Keep the words simple and straight to the point — when you’re writing, write to a Grade 8 or 9 level.   Avoid using jargon unless necessary, or if you do, explain it in simpler terms. You don’t want to alienate your readers and make them feel inadequate. Minimize sounding too professional or “corporate speak”.  Instead, write conversationally.

• Focus on the benefits rather than the features.

If your website sells new cars, it’s important to describe the features of the car, such as the size of the engine.  It’s also important to point out the benefits of purchasing the product,  such as increased personal or family security.

• Address the pain points of your audience.   Describe or show how your product can resolve their problem.  If the content is compelling and evokes a response from the reader, you’ve done your job.

• The headline should be above the fold (meaning there is no need to scroll down).

Improve the ease of use of your website:

• Make things easy to find.  If the layout of your website is too radical and too different from other websites, your visitors will have a learning curve. Most of them won’t have the patience to learn how to use your website.

• Put the call to action front and center.  Your most important call-to-action should be above the fold—that may mean your contact details or phone number, opt in form, or a button leading to the sales page.

• Use contrasting colors for your website

• When in doubt, keep it simple

• Consider increasing the font size of your website.

Talking the time to increase your website usability will pay dividends in satisfied customers and increased earnings for your company.

If you’re looking for any help increasing the usability of your site, visit www.site-evaluator.com .   Our web expert team will analyze your existing site on over 60 key metrics, and then we’ll tell you how to improve your site’s visibility, traffic, and revenue.

The Importance of Evaluating Your Website Regularly

If your website is not getting the traffic it deserves, one idea to consider is to use an outside evaluation tool on a regular basis.  A site evaluation tool provides you with information current site ranking and can provide relevant strategies to increase your rankings and get traffic from search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo

Make sure your website is search-engine friendly. Search engines are always changing and updating their algorithms and they frequently release new guidelines to website owners and webmasters. It’s important to keep up to date with and follow the new guidelines, otherwise your website rankings could take a hit.

Make sure your website technology is up to date.  New technologies means new advances, but it also means new threats to your site.  By making sure that your site uses the latest technologies, you’ll make sure that both your site is secure and your customer information is not compromised.  Also keep in mind that search engines frown on websites that use outdated codes, plugins, or are missing important security measures.

Make sure your website uses basic web usability guidelines.   Is your navigation intuitive?  Is it easy to find the “where to buy” button?  Is the description of your products or services front and center?  If not, consider revising the design or location of the content on your site so that visitors can easily find it.

Make sure you have a social media strategy. It’s very competitive online, so it’s important to make sure your website is tied to the right social media channels. Social media links will help boost your website, but not all links are equal. Some social mediums will provide more traffic than others.  Be sure to find out the differences, and evaluate which will be best for you.

It’s important to keep up to date with the latest in technological and site search developments for your site.  

If you’re looking for any help increasing the usability of your site, visit www.site-evaluator.com .  Our web expert team will analyze your existing site on over 60 key metrics, and then we’ll tell you how to improve your site’s visibility, traffic, and revenue.