Ever observed a 5-year-old choose books? The other day I watched my nephew pick the biggest book from the rack, and when I asked why? The reason was, “coz it has shiny cover.” And luckily enough it had lots of pictures, another must have when it comes to books. Something similar works when users look at websites. First they fall for the colors, the general presentation and gradually the content keeps them hooked.
Creating a website is often the easiest part, what comes next is what makes or breaks it. The website traffic, determines its success. If your website has been witnessing an increased bounce rate, then you have reasons to worry as well.
Here are the top 15 reasons as to why your website is losing traffic.
- Newness of the Website
If your website is relatively new, it means it still has to be marketed well. Probably people haven’t heard about it yet. So focus more on increasing the google ranking, work on the keywords, meta tags etc.
- Lack of Constant Audience
Again a common case when website is new. However, if the website has been around for some time and yet maintaining a constant traffic is an issue, then probably there is an issue with the content strategy and the advertisements. SEO, social media strategy and the overall content may need revisiting here.
- Google Algorithm
Google keeps revising its algorithms to filter out websites that use black hat SEO techniques. In some cases, other websites too fall into the trap, hence losing credibility and traffic flow. It is hence, a necessity to constantly stay updated about the latest changes.
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Absence of Lead Generation Tools
Relying entirely on the organic traffic may not yield great results always. Advertising, blogging, social media posts etc. can help in increasing the traffic however all of that should be supported with specific landing pages, or free downloadable and shareable content.
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Bad Content
There is nothing that can be done if the content itself is substandard, badly researched and poorly presented. Traffic lost here can only be regained through content change and overall redesigning.
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Outdated Content
A similar vice to bad content is the lack of timely updates. You can’t state a fact validated in 1995 as an established fact in 2019, unless it has been re-validated recently. Similarly, talks about technology, tools etc. should be relate-able in the current market.
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Slow Loading
Heavy plugins, images and even videos in some formats, can slow down the website. In some cases, the pages even fail to load and nothing puts off the audience like unloaded content. Never forget to Optimize the website.
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Design Issues
So, what if the user fails to find the link to the next page, the dropdown menu? In certain cases, the extraordinary website navigation may be commendable, however not user friendly and hence would cater to only a certain percentage of the intended audience. Design should always be created keeping the entire audience in mind.
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No Crosslinks
Certain websites take the user nowhere, they look at the home page and just leave the page. Bounce rates are higher when the user finds the content to be lacking and doesn’t find a path to explore the website. Give the user an opportunity to explore, to keep them engaged for longer.
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Too Much Clutter
Just like too little is an issue, too much cramped into a webpage can be confusing and overwhelming. The audience may fail to find relevant information in some cases. Hence, create a design that brings out relevant information in the best possible manner.
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Excessive Advertisements
Too many ads can distract the users and even annoy them. While it may be a source of revenue generation, try not to go overboard and plan the placements carefully.
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Hosting Issues
Would the shared hosting plan you started with when your site was small work the same when the site gets bigger? Not necessarily and that could indirectly affect the traffic too.
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Website Format
From the clash between Flash and HTML to the influence of responsive and adaptive design, multiple devices, operating systems, everything and anything can affect the website, the loading, the page display and hence the traffic. The solution here is to create a website that caters to the audience on the devices they need.
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Security Issues
Right from defacements to malvertising and malicious redirects, security issues can even lead to data breach and that can have serious repercussions. While protection from malware attacks is one part of security, keeping the profile details and personal information safe is another crucial aspect and if the website fails here, then it surely needs rethinking.
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Lack of Innovation
Despite all the talks about easy navigation, easy to understand design etc. conformity to the same old styles can be tad bit boring. With the changing audience and the expectations, website designs should be innovative and intuitive.
The above mentioned points may or may not be the actual reason behind low website traffic on your website. However, you can always use those to check and analyze before concluding and solve the issues as required. And in case your experience in handling such situations is limited, you can always find an outsourcing partner to help you with it.
So, what would your approach be?
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