90% Bounce rate. is this normal?

[dreamtab]

Hello Warriors,

My site has 90% Bounce rate. Is this normal?
My other info site has only 42% Bounce rate. So I am sure this is critical for this site.
Any suggestion?
Will Camtasia video help my in any way?

[Mint-Tree]

Depend of what type of sites/audience you have. Usually try to keep it at 50% or below .

[cgallagher93]

If it's your email list I suggest you SERIOUSLY consider changing your auto-responder. Aweber, GetResponse and 1 Shopping Cart are seen as the best. I love Aweber for its ease of use.

However, if it's your site youre referring to, PM me and I'd be happy to help and give some constructive criticism. Or post it up for all to see!

If your bounce rate is 90%, I can't see a video helping you much as I'd say there's something you're seriously doing wrong. I'd be happy to help.

All the best,

Connor

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by cgallagher93

If it's your email list I suggest you SERIOUSLY consider changing your auto-responder. Aweber, GetResponse and 1 Shopping Cart are seen as the best. I love Aweber for its ease of use.

However, if it's your site youre referring to, PM me and I'd be happy to help and give some constructive criticism. Or post it up for all to see!

If your bounce rate is 90%, I can't see a video helping you much as I'd say there's something you're seriously doing wrong. I'd be happy to help.

All the best,

Connor

Here is the link
virtual administrative assistant | virtual assistant services

I am not using autoresponder.
most of the visitors are from Google search. (75%+)

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

[SurviveUnemployment]

If I were you, I would dispense with the BS at the top about enjoying your morning coffee and just put the tables showing the prices. Everybody knows what a virtual assistant is and what they do.

Someone looking for a virtual assistant is busy. They're in business. They don't want to read BS. They want the prices, services, and the "Set it up for me" button.

[G Singh]

Is the traffic that you're sending to the site targetted? If not then this could be apart of the overall issue.

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by SurviveUnemployment

If I were you, I would dispense with the BS at the top about enjoying your morning coffee and just put the tables showing the prices. Everybody knows what a virtual assistant is and what they do.

Someone looking for a virtual assistant is busy. They're in business. They don't want to read BS. They want the prices, services, and the "Set it up for me" button.

I will try your suggestion. Thanks.

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by MrEyeconic

Is the traffic that you're sending to the site targetted? If not then this could be apart of the overall issue.

No, they are targeted traffic because they come from search engines with the right keyword.

[Neil Morgan]

Bounce rate is kind of meaningless when used to compare different sites.

For example, if I had a one-page site whose only job is to get people to click an affiliate link, a bounce rate of 100% is perfectly acceptable.

High bounce rates are only a problem on multiple page sites where you want people to stick around. Even then, you should be trying to push them down a certain path to take a desired action - and if that action is to click away to another site then bounce-rate again is meaningless.

I guess I'm saying that the bounce rate number in isolation only gives one piece of the jigsaw.

Cheers,

Neil

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by Neil Morgan

Bounce rate is kind of meaningless when used to compare different sites.

For example, if I had a one-page site whose only job is to get people to click an affiliate link, a bounce rate of 100% is perfectly acceptable.

High bounce rates are only a problem on multiple page sites where you want people to stick around. Even then, you should be trying to push them down a certain path to take a desired action - and if that action is to click away to another site then bounce-rate again is meaningless.

I guess I'm saying that the bounce rate number in isolation only gives one piece of the jigsaw.

Cheers,

Neil

Neil, that makes sense. I was reading this post.
How to Calculate Bounce Rate? - a knol by Sameer Khan

[Emmanuel Betinis]

I can hardly understand one single word you're
saying on the audio on the website.

Get someone that speaks good English to
redo that audio clip and I can almost guarantee
you'll have people staying longer.

I felt like clicking the BACK button as soon as
I heard the audio start. With all due respect,
it's horrible.

[Emmanuel Betinis]

By the way, if you'd like me to create a recording
for you, just PM me. I do voice-overs.


P.S. For a sample of my work just click my
signature link below and press the play button
on the page.

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Betinis

I can hardly understand one single word you're
saying on the audio on the website.

Get someone that speaks good English to
redo that audio clip and I can almost guarantee
you'll have people staying longer.

I felt like clicking the BACK button as soon as
I heard the audio start. With all due respect,
it's horrible.

Thanks for the honest review. :-)
I will consider your suggestion.

[Phnx]

Honestly? I'd lose the audio.

You speak too fast and your accent makes it hard to understand what you are saying. (I'm a native English speaker and I have a horrid accent so I'm not trying to offend. )

If you really must use voice audio, I'd hire one of those 'voice' people who'll read your spiel for you. Don't know what gender will be better, but you want a native English speaker with no strong accent and a good speaking voice, who enunciates clearly. Probably cost you a couple of hundred bucks but it'd be worth it. Don't have a link unfortunately, but someone else may know of a site that offers such a service. Otherwise try the usual outsourcing place like Elance etc.

As it is, if I were looking for your services I'd click away from your site too, purely because I can barely understand you.

See what happens when you dump the audio.

edited to say: I see Emmanuel saw the same problem. I'd take him up on his offer if I were you!

[Emmanuel Betinis]

Originally Posted by Phnx

Probably cost you a couple of hundred bucks but it'd be worth it. Don't have a link unfortunately, but someone else may know of a site that offers such a service.

edited to say: I see Emmanuel saw the same problem. I'd take him up on his offer if I were you!

I've had a good day today. I'll do it for free.

[Phnx]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Betinis

I've had a good day today. I'll do it for free.

LOL!

dreamtab.....seriously mate....snatch that offer before he changes his mind!

(PS: I've made a note of you Emmanuel, because if I ever decide to have audio on any of my sites I'll come banging on your door. No way would I be using my own voice. )

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Betinis

I've had a good day today. I'll do it for free.

That's great! I will take your offer.
Thank you.

[Emmanuel Betinis]

Originally Posted by dreamtab

That's great! I will take your offer.
Thank you.

You're welcome.

I PM'ed you with details.

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Betinis

You're welcome.

I PM'ed you with details.

That was too fast Emmanuel. You have got a great voice.

I have uploaded the new audio.

[Emmanuel Betinis]

That's great, Tab!

However, the new audio is not loading
on my end.

[deezine]

Is that the right price on your site, $4.52 per hour?

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Betinis

That's great, Tab!

However, the new audio is not loading
on my end.

Its working on computer but not on the website.
Do you have any idea?
If I just replace the audio file with mine, it works.

[Chris Thompson]

I just tried listening by using this url:
http://www.esupportguru.com/audio-intro.mp3

It plays ok right in the browser when I do this. But it is taking a while to buffer.

On your site, the flash player doesn't seem to find the file. Are you using a different location in your directory? I use that player on my wordpress sites and you have to put the audio in a specific directory.

[infite]

90% bounce rate is really good if you send spam...

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by infite

90% bounce rate is really good if you send spam...

I do not have any list or send any promotional email to anyone.
Here is the traffic detail
Search engines 75%
Direct hit: 10%
Social networking: 15%

I am using Emmanuel's audio and I will update the thread after one week of testing the bounce rate.

Thanks everyone for great ideas and suggestion. I will also be changing the headline.

PM me or post here if any other ideas you may have or help me to reduce the bounce rate as its affecting the ranking.

@Chris Thompson

I use it in root. Same place where I kept my old audio file.
I will try to tweak the code.

[Emmanuel Betinis]

Tab,

I'm not sure what to say about your source code.
Obviously something is not right in it.

It sounds like others have used that same player
so hopefully they can help you out with that.

If you still can't figure it out after trying everything
let me know and I'll send over a flash button to use
like the one on VoiceOverHelp.com

[cgallagher93]

Hi dreamtab,

Sorry I didn't get chance to reply to you last night, I was pretty busy and just got chance to have a quick look now.

Firstly, I would suggest that you only use 2 fonts max. One for your headings, headline and a seperate, smaller font such as Arial 12pt for your body copy.

Get rid of "Attn: Internet Marketers and online entrepreneurs... Virtual assistant starts at $4.52 p/hour"

You have just a few seconds to impress your visitor. Telling them that they're going to have to pay for something as soon as they hit your website is probably why your bounce rate is so high.

You've got some audio just below your headline that doesn't play on my PC at least so there's a potential issue there.

In addition, you need to consider that what you're doing is similar to direct mail marketing. Which has between a 1% and 5% response rate. So 10% response is probably pretty good considering your offer isn't.

The reason I say this is because the "new" way of marketing is to offer an incentive. You need to give people value and gain their trust by building relationships with them.

This is normally done by offering a free report to solve a common problem, and providing them with emails 2-3 times a week that will aid solve further problems.

Your site layout isn't very good either I'm afraid. I suggest hiring a minisite designer such as Sean at MinisiteGraphics.com if you can afford it and perform spellchecks before uploading your content.

I'd also get rid of the B.S about honouring your honesty and integrity. This is BAD and comes across as arrogant.

I'd also make your sales letter much, much longer. I'd go between 10-15 pages. If you're direct selling (which you are) then you need to provide not only reasons to buy, but a serious amount of testimonials. Genuine ones at that.

On the other hand, your call-to-action is there at the end. This is good. On the whole I think your site is reasonably good, but I feel there's room for improvement and I'd suggest investing in an auto-responder and reading Mike Filsaime's
Butterfly Marketing Manuscript.

Hope this helps and I wish you all the best with your website,

Connor

[Emmanuel Betinis]

Originally Posted by Chris Thompson

I just tried listening by using this url:
http://www.esupportguru.com/audio-intro.mp3

It plays ok right in the browser when I do this. But it is taking a while to buffer.

Tab, I just eMailed you a smaller version of the audio file.

It is nearly identical in quality of the original but it will
load twice as fast now.


P.S. I hope you figure out your coding issue on your site
with the audio player!

[jmarketer]

From what I saw, your headline needs a lot of work. It made me leave and I'm sure that it's the reason why a lot of others left. You have less than 10 seconds to entice the reader and if you don't, the person is gone...the rest of the site doesn't matter. I assume that if your headline is not good, then the rest of the copy probably needs work. I didn't get pass the headline.

[SeanCooper]

The big thing I don't get is:

Why are you worrying about your bounce rate?

I expected a content website or something else, but you have a salesletter. What you should really be worrying about is your conversion rate - the number of people who visit who actually BUY!

The reason why your bounce rate is so high is because people really only have two options, to buy or click the back button. If they don't want to buy they're gonna click the back button. The 10% that don't are either buying, or clicking one of the links on the bottom of the page to learn more about you.

What you have to do is stop worrying about bounce rate. That's only a factor in content websites, when you want people to view as many pages as possible.

In a salesletter website, you want as many people as possible to LEAVE...by clicking your "Buy Now" button. You track this by measuring your CONVERSION RATE.

Makes sense? A great, simple and free way to track your conversion rate is by using Google Website Optimizer.

[Emmanuel Betinis]

SeanCooper brings up some good points.

Nonetheless, Tab, I see the new audio is
working now. Good job!

And about the headline...

Try split testing different ones to see which one
yields the highest conversion %...

Heck, you could even transcribe some of the audio
into a headline version to test against! ("If you're
looking to outsource...")

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Betinis

Tab, I just eMailed you a smaller version of the audio file.

It is nearly identical in quality of the original but it will
load twice as fast now.


P.S. I hope you figure out your coding issue on your site
with the audio player!

Thanks Emmanuel, Its working now.... Seems your voice has given a new life to my site....

Originally Posted by cgallagher93

Hi dreamtab,

Get rid of "Attn: Internet Marketers and online entrepreneurs... Virtual assistant starts at $4.52 p/hour"

Connor

Removed that line and thank you very much for reviewing my site.

Originally Posted by jmarketer

From what I saw, your headline needs a lot of work. It made me leave and I'm sure that it's the reason why a lot of others left. You have less than 10 seconds to entice the reader and if you don't, the person is gone...the rest of the site doesn't matter. I assume that if your headline is not good, then the rest of the copy probably needs work. I didn't get pass the headline.

I have removed the headlines.... Now it has no headline. I will think of some great headline and put it there or what would be great headline according to you?

[Emmanuel Betinis]

"If You're Looking To Outsource
Web Work, Then Read On..."

A headline serves one purpose.

Do you know what that is?

To keep the visitor on the page
to continue reading.

The red headline above may not be
the best headline in the world...and
yes, it's very simple, I know...but if
I was looking to outsource web work
and came across your site, I would
definitely stay and keep reading.

Also, I strongly recommend you watch this video
because after you do, you'll be able to write
KILLER headlines!

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Betinis

"If You're Looking To Outsource
Web Work, Then Read On..."

A headline serves one purpose.

Do you know what that is?

To keep the visitor on the page
to continue reading.

The red headline above may not be
the best headline in the world...and
yes, it's very simple, I know...but if
I was looking to outsource web work
and came across your site, I would
definitely stay and keep reading.

Also, I strongly recommend you watch this video
because after you do, you'll be able to write
KILLER headlines!

Thanks. I am using your Headline.
And the Alex mandossian video is really great. Thanks for sharing.

[Chris Thompson]

Tab - your site looks MUCH more professional now. WAY nicer.

Let me make one new suggestion. Check out FlexSqueeze theme for wordpress and consider using that instead of whatever you use now. It comes with a great toolkit for IM websites and squeeze / sales pages. I just installed it on a new site and I love it so much I'll be re-doing my headers to fit into the new theme. So awesome.

$129 for an unlimited-site license (so you can use it on any sites you want). Since you are also offering Web Hosting and wordpress stuff, you could also check out the guys' $299 developer license - I think it allows yout to deploy the theme on other people's sites. Anyway I'm actually considering signing up as an affiliate for this theme because I think it will help a LOT of people in the IM space. Google it. I'm sure if you type in flex sueeze you'll find it at the top of google. Your site will then sound amazing and look even better.

[dreamtab]

Originally Posted by Chris Thompson

Tab - your site looks MUCH more professional now. WAY nicer.

Let me make one new suggestion. Check out FlexSqueeze theme for wordpress and consider using that instead of whatever you use now. It comes with a great toolkit for IM websites and squeeze / sales pages. I just installed it on a new site and I love it so much I'll be re-doing my headers to fit into the new theme. So awesome.

$129 for an unlimited-site license (so you can use it on any sites you want). Since you are also offering Web Hosting and wordpress stuff, you could also check out the guys' $299 developer license - I think it allows yout to deploy the theme on other people's sites. Anyway I'm actually considering signing up as an affiliate for this theme because I think it will help a LOT of people in the IM space. Google it. I'm sure if you type in flex sueeze you'll find it at the top of google. Your site will then sound amazing and look even better.

I am aware about the FlexSqueeze, its great! but I prefer website without database. Its much easier to manage your files.

I have added a new Top Navigation Menu bar and I think this will help me reduce the bounce rate.