The Reasons Your Visitors Are Bouncing off Your Site within Seconds

As the sophistication (and maybe the ADD) of people searching the web for information increases, the reaction time when the “What’s in it for me” question upon arrival at a site isn’t answered immediately is pretty quick. In fact, estimating ten seconds for that reaction is being generous. The problem is, if your   visitors don’t see immediate relevance for their search terms they will bounce off your site and head elsewhere looking for that site that can give them what they want. If your analytics are showing this type of activity, your site probably possesses one or more of the following characteristics: * Your landing page isn’t relevant to the search term that’s driving visitors to your site. If a search term like “brides lose ten pounds in two weeks” is being used, the people that arrive on your landing page are going to be looking for information on how to lose ten pounds in two weeks. If they see content on planning a wedding when they land, they’ll leave as fast as they arrived.* Your landing page has relevance but visitors have to search for it. This is better than not having relevance, but you’ll still lose a high percentage of visitors that are seeking immediate search gratification.  * Your content is written purely for search engines. If the same keywords keep popping up and drowning the rest of your content, your visitors aren’t going to see much value in what you have to offer. Instead, balance your content so that your readers see value and the search engines see relevance.* The search terms you’re optimizing are too broad. Using generic keywords may deliver traffic, but your site will be relevant to only a small percentage of your arrivals. The rest will probably bounce off, refine their search terms a little, and end up elsewhere.  * Your content is dated. Having content that refers to old events in the present tense or snowfall during the summer makes it look like you’re not doing much with your site. Your products may not be time sensitive but visitors will be.* Your navigation is too complicated. Frustrating your visitors is a bad thing. Make navigation simple so that your visitors can get around your site easily.  The importance of onsite SEO can make the difference between keeping visitors on your site to purchase your offerings and losing them to your competitors.