Factors to consider

As you can see from the results, over 80% of people spend less than thirty seconds on a website (The best performing website was 70%).  Although this may appear too little time, it still gives ample opportunity to try and encourage your visitor to take some form of action. If visitors are spending little time on your website, the factors could be;

• The modern world is in a hurry and looking for accessible information in the least possible time. Most visitors no longer have the time or inclination to spend too long on a website.
• Most visitors are just looking for contact details. If your contact details are obvious as soon as visitors visit your website, then you have satisfied their informational requirements.
• Does your website create a positive first impression? If you offer quality services or products, then your website should reflect this.
• Does your website immediately address the most likely scenarios why people are visiting? Remember, typically, you have 15 seconds, at most, to get their attention.
• Do you have too much text on your homepage?
• Are your key selling points obvious within 15 seconds of visiting your website?
• Does your Homepage have “hooks” regarding key services or products to encourage visitors to explore other pages/sections within your website?
• Interesting images tend to get a visitor’s attention, therefore, does your web pages have a good ratio of words to images. If so, try and hyperlink your images to other areas of your website.
• If your website is optimised for certain key search phrases, does your web page content relate to the phrases they are optimised for?
• Does your website make good use of different sized fonts i.e headline text in bigger, bold font and with a different colour, perhaps?
• Does your content include too much “marketing speak”?
• Try and include a Blog or advice area on your website, with helpful articles. Like the article you are reading, if it relates to what the visitor is searching for, then, most likely, they will take the time to read it and, therefore, stay on your website longer. Articles also give you the opportunity to link to other areas of your website.
• Have you made your web pages easy to bookmark, enabling the visitor to easily return at a later date?
• Perhaps the visitors visit was priced based and it quickly became clear you were out of their price range?
• Does your website include, what should be mandatory pages, such as, a why use us page and a testimonials page? Are these easily accessible? Remember, when someone visits your website, in most circumstances, they will be asking themselves; why should they use you. People also like to know what other people are saying about you.
• Have you described all your services on the same page i.e. with brief summaries? It is much better to include a page for each of your services or products. If the service relates to the visitors search, they are more likely to spend the time reading the content you have written. You may also wish to create sections on your website for key services/products, with additional pages with more detailed information. This encourages visitors to dig deeper into your website.
• If you also use Social Networking websites, such as Facebook, Twitter , Google+ and LinkedIn, then make sure it is easy for visitors to visit these other areas of your Digital Web Presence. Depending on your product or services, many people prefer to interact with Social Networking sites, rather than Websites i.e. the younger generation.