5 Common Bounce Points on Small Business Websites

david bell profile picture small size

15 Jun, 2021

4 mins read

Common bounce points are a challenge for any website and make no mistake; it is not about getting your bounce back! As a small business owner, there are several things you can do to achieve success. The first step includes setting up a website for your enterprise. Developing a site for your firm is worth considering in today’s business world because it expands your reach.

However, that will prove a worthless investment if those visiting your website do not stick around. Meaning, if your site does not capture the attention of visitors, they will not stay there for long. In turn, getting conversions, subscriptions, and sign-ups on your business website will become a challenge. Quite often, the reason behind this is a high bounce rate.

What is Bounce Rate?

Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors leaving your website after viewing only one page. So, you cannot ignore your website’s performance metrics as a small entrepreneur. The key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor, in this case, include page views, load time, bounce rate, site visitors, and time on page. Bounce rate is a critical issue because it affects multiple small business operators.

According to this study, a site’s content has a direct impact on the bounce rate. Here are details about the common bounce points on small business sites.

1. Irrelevant Content Common Bounce Points

If you are enjoying high traffic on your business website, you should focus on creating content that encourages visitors to convert. The reason is that the bait-and-switch approach is not ideal if you want to increase conversions. Meaning, if your PPC ads and title tags suggest that visitors to your website should expect one thing, and they find another, they will be unhappy.

People will hardly stick around your site if they do not get what they want, and they interpret misdirection as lies. Your search engine ranking may decline as well if the information on your website is not relevant to the search queries of individual viewers, leading to a high bounce rate. Spelling errors and bad formatting are other reasons why visitors may leave your site within no time.

The bottom line here is that the content marketing environment is quite competitive, and if the details on your website do not deliver, a different site will. Eventually, that will result in reduced traffic to your website.

2. Slow Loading Speed

You cannot afford to run a website that loads at a snail’s pace in this day and age. It’s frustrating! Site speed is one of the factors worth considering in Google’s ranking algorithm. Providing a positive experience for users is the whole idea behind prioritizing web pages that load faster. Google focuses on promoting content that offers users the best experience.

In that case, if your website is slow, it causes a poor user experience, thus increasing the bounce rate. You also need to understand that visitors have no reason to stay on your site if the pages take more than a few seconds to load. Large images, browser cache, and multiple third-party scripts are some of the things that reduce the loading speed of web pages.

Remember that people no longer have the patience of waiting since most of the web loads at lightning speed. That is why viewers will bounce off your site before checking the details if the page loading speed is slow.

3. Multiple Pop-Ups and Ads

Today, there are billboards everywhere you turn, and TV commercials are running almost every other moment. That kind of advertising is causing people to suffer from information bombardment. Escalating the situation through your website does not make things any better. One of the hard truths you must accept is that people hate pop-ups.

Most viewers have no problem blocking a site from the search for having pop-ups. On the other hand, the ad technique has a high disapproval rating, which suggests that it is ineffective in one way or another. The fact that specific ads do not inspire the same level of annoyance does not mean individuals will appreciate the idea of seeing them often.

Therefore, if your website has intrusive ads, which distract viewers from what they are looking for on your site, your bounce rate will be high. The reason is that people tend to spend less time on your site if they feel that your ads are bombarding them.

4. Inappropriate Backlinks from Different Websites

Doing everything you can to lower the bounce rate from organic search results is a wise idea. The only problem is that the bounce rate from your referral traffic may still be high even after lowering the same from your end. That is as a result of the referring site sending you unqualified visitors or the context for the link and anchor text being misleading.

Sloppy copywriting can cause such problems, and it happens when the writer or publisher links to your website in the wrong part of the copy. Incorrect links can also feature on the content of your site if a writer or publisher has no intention of linking to your website.

Additionally, the presence of inappropriate backlinks may be an act of sabotage by the referring website through blackhat SEO tactics either out of spite or for fun. Failure to make necessary adjustments on such content before having it on your site will increase your bounce rate.

5. Poor Web Design

The appeal of your website is an essential factor of consideration when it comes to reducing your common bounce points. Anyone looking for a particular product will go for the best, and that applies to your site as well in terms of appearance. As such, visitors will hardly stay on your website if the design is ugly or outdated.

Why should your site remain in the ’90s if you know that it will not inspire trust among viewers? It is also possible to have an attractive website with design issues. When visitors find your website hard to navigate when seeking the information they need, it forces them to research elsewhere.

Conclusion

A website can indeed open a world of opportunities for your enterprise. Unfortunately, if you are experiencing a high bounce rate, you may not enjoy the benefits of investing in a business site. Reducing your common bounce points will not only result in increased traffic and encourage conversions, but it improves user experience as well.

david bell profile picture small size

SEO consultant and AI strategist helping Fortune 500 companies and ambitious startups navigate the future of search. As co-founder of Previsible SEO, David combines data-driven insights with scalable processes to transform complex marketing initiatives into predictable growth engines, having guided numerous startups to successful funding while also serving enterprise clients like Yelp and Atlassian.

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