90%+ Bounce Rate-What Did I Do Wrong?

darbok

10 years ago

would really have to see the webpage to comment.

Thanks
1 reply

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pogospring 10 years ago

Sounds like the traffic you are receiving is garbage and likely not human. I get a lot of this on some of my websites, tends to be auto-posting time-wasters and IM wanna-be's looking for a quick link.

Take a look at your Analytics and find out where the traffic is coming from, share with the forum so we can all learn
- Thanks
- 1 reply
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- clausont 10 years ago
  
  Hmmm, Well, I think I need to learn how to use Analytics better.
  It shows 76.86% from Google but almost all shows "(not provided)" so I don't know the keywords that it may be using. The referrers are some social networks (facebook, Reddit, Stumbleupon) and a blog that we do once in a while. I wasn't sure if I should post the link to the site, but this is the site: CrocSkechers - Best Gourmet Coffee | Coffee School | Barista Training
  Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  clausont 10 years ago
  
  Lol! I have to laugh at myself just a bit. I have been getting a bit excited to see the traffic increasing a bit more and more, and hoping the Adsense will do more than 1 cent or two cents at a time. In this time, I had forgotten to check my Amazon Affiliate account. I checked it this morning to find (to my delight) that there have actually been a few small sales. The total is only about $14US, but that is better than I have done so far.
  Still , I am excited. Now back to work.
  
  Thanks
  
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Webbro

10 years ago

Hey, I have had a look at your website and to be honest I don't think it is the overall look of your website that is causing the high bounce rates. Yeah it is not the most attractive website but its ok and for what it is, I think you should look more closely on what keywords you are ranking for, just search keywords on Google and go through pages to see where you are ranking as I think this may be where your problem lies. Bringing mostly the wrong type of traffic to your website.

Affordable Website Design Surrey

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Webbro

Hey, I have had a look at your website and to be honest I don't think it is the overall look of your website that is causing the high bounce rates. Yeah it is not the most attractive website but its ok and for what it is, I think you should look more closely on what keywords you are ranking for, just search keywords on Google and go through pages to see where you are ranking as I think this may be where your problem lies. Bringing mostly the wrong type of traffic to your website.Affordable Website Design Surrey

Thanks Webbro - I really appreciate the input. I will go through the keywords and see if I can rank a bit better. As far as the looks of the site, any suggestions? I'm all ears

Thanks

Thanks
1 reply

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McKattry 10 years ago

Well if you're still looking for an opinion, and please don't take this wrong, but your entry page is boring. But it's really not just that, it's intimidating. It's a huge block of text, and very few images to draw my eye, or break it up. When I go there, what I see first is an Alligator, and a huge ream of text. Yikes, what's this about? Well the name says CrocSketcher's, so maybe some kind of shoe or sporting good? No, no. if I look closely I can see that you're writing about coffee. Maybe I would have already had a clue if I had been organically searching for coffee. Nonetheless, your site doesn't SELL. When I go to a site, I want to immediately see the information that tells me what the site is about and why I'm there.

My first thought if I'm looking for coffee shouldn't be "Am I in the right place?"Ask yourself "Why would someone stay on this site?" Are they there to buy? Do they want something? If they should be doing something, buying, signing up to a list, whatever, do they know how or where to do that? You have a few seconds to catch and hold a consumer's attention. Give them something to do with their eyes, or you're going to lose that attention and they'll try google hit #2 #3 and #4 instead.

The upshot...Honestly, looking a little closer on your site, it looks like it may have some good info. So, First thing that I would do, is change the header and add images, the more the merrier, but make your site LOOK like coffee. Make some changes in color, and in the placement of your sign-up. I think if you follow my suggestions, and spice things up a bit you'll get a better response rate, but if you really want things to pick up, try Googling "a/b testing", and "copywriting", and I think you'll find the skill set that you need.
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- clausont 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by McKattry
  
  Well if you're still looking for an opinion, and please don't take this wrong, but your entry page is boring.
  
  McKattry - your evaluation is brutally honest. That is EXACTLY what I wanted. Thanks!
  Ok, to go through your evaluation. I am new to Affiliate Marketing (internet marketing) but not new to building websites according to customers specs.
  "your entry page is boring" - I have to agree with that myself. I was discussing that a couple of days ago. If it is boring to me, it must be excruciatingly boring to customers. There is good information on th page, but as you say, "Too Much".
  Would it be a good idea to use excerpts on the front page rather than a huge block of text?
  
  "Domain name" This is something I have been concerned about. I was originally going to do a shoe website (you are correct) but changed to coffee and decided to use the "crocskechers" name to try to build a brand as most of what I hear is that Google wants "brands" these days. Do you have any suggestions on the domain name? (Change it, leave it, change the website "brand name" etc) I have noticed that even Google seems to think it is a shoe website and I have been tempted to do the shoes after all.
  
  "change the header and add images". Sounds good - I will work on this first off.
  
  "Add Images" Will adding images adversely affect the load times? I was trying to add images, but keep them to a minimum. Perhaps too much.
  
  Thanks again for the good, honest evaluation - I really appreciate it!
  
  Thanks
  
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copilu0

10 years ago

I recommend you to use posts excerpts on your page and display around 10 posts with excerpts+featured image on your homepage.
Also
- you can put your products Buy button closer to the top.
- better site header
- your slider looks ok but I think will look better with a background color, or at least put some text there about your products and a See More button
- use a favicon
- some links on your pages are seen as a Threat by my antivirus

The bounce rate problem is also because your keywords. I didn't check this but maybe you are indexed for the wrong keywords.Maybe your visitors are looking for something else

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont 10 years ago

Thanks Copilu0 - I am pretty weak - no REALLY - weak in the keyword understanding. I am learning how to figure out the best keywords to use, but have a long way to go. I am working on a new header as I write this. At least the header will be coffee related. I may switch out the theme also. I will work on the slider. I just added the slider back in - it links to the Amazon product in the picture. I will redirect that to a product page then.
Can you tell me what pages your antivirus shows as a possible threat? I have not heard that one before. I will look into that if I know what pages to check.

Thanks
- Thanks
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copilu0

10 years ago

I don't remember exactly the page for that infection. It a was a link to another site in one article but is very possible to be a false positive so you don't need to worry about that.

Thanks

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We Design

10 years ago

Firefox blocked popup window on your site.
(popup took me to facebook)
Try to remove it.

Thanks

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We Design

10 years ago

Oh, and I would recommend to change header image.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont 10 years ago

Originally Posted by We Design

Oh, and I would recommend to change header image.

More info? Reason?
Thanks
- Thanks
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infamous dave

10 years ago

I don't see a clear call to action on the homepage. What do you want me to do next? You have to instruct people how to move through your funnel.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont 10 years ago

Originally Posted by infamous dave

I don't see a clear call to action on the homepage. What do you want me to do next? You have to instruct people how to move through your funnel.

That seems so basic and yet I completely missed it. Thanks for the input here - I appreciate it!
- Thanks
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abidasaalim

10 years ago

Good design + unique content is a need of website and it will decrease your bounce rate.

Add tips, videos, infographic type content and share it with users.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont

10 years ago

Originally Posted by abidasaalim

Good design + unique content is a need of website and it will decrease your bounce rate.

Add tips, videos, infographic type content and share it with users.

Thanks - abidasaalim. Any suggestions on what to change on the website design or layout? I appreciate the input.

We have made huge changes to the website since the fiorat post largely using the information here in this thread. Today the bounce rate is right in the 65% area down from 90% - 95%

Thanks Everyone! I am still working on it so please feel free to keep the suggestions and comments coming!

Thanks

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Adamlee123

10 years ago

The website is looking very good and eye catching. I want to suggest you that there are many products you display in home page. You need to show some of your popular products here and display other products on other pages. Hope it will look pretty because no one can do scroll down. Best of luck.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Adamlee123

The website is looking very good and eye catching. I want to suggest you that there are many products you display in home page. You need to show some of your popular products here and display other products on other pages. Hope it will look pretty because no one can do scroll down. Best of luck.

Thanks Adamlee. Do you mean that the scrollbar is not working correctly? I have not experienced that so far. If this is the case, has anyone else noticed this?
Thanks

Thanks

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WannaBeGeekster

10 years ago

For the virus on the page check Google Webmaster Tools. They will notify you if you have malware.

You definitely need to do shoes. The url and the content are totally contradictory. That makes people not trust your site really. Plus you are losing out on all of the benefit of the two primary keywords in your domain name. Even though Google says they are not giving as much "juice" to domain keywords anymore, it is still a good idea to keep it topically relevant.

Listing products like you do can work for you, but I would put it on a subpage and not necessarily the home page.

Keep us posted on your changes and earnings!

Thanks

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Socialseotasks

10 years ago

Private message us with your URL so we can take a look at your page and maybe give you an opinion on whats going on... Affiliate marketing can be so much fun and at the same time frustrating if things are not going right, we'd love to just see what you're up to and if we can help in any way!

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Socialseotasks

Private message us with your URL so we can take a look at your page and maybe give you an opinion on whats going on... Affiliate marketing can be so much fun and at the same time frustrating if things are not going right, we'd love to just see what you're up to and if we can help in any way!

Thanks Social - the url is in the tread - http://crocskechers.com

Thanks

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victoriamon

10 years ago

HI!

All we know that Bounce Rate is high means your website is rjected by the visitors. Simply says you are getting wrong visitors. If you want to increase your traffic with lower Bounce Rate you need to be specific as well as get goal in mind to target the one who can have interest in your website.

Also i have seen the website you need to work on design as well and give users choice to choose rather putting all at once.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont 10 years ago

A lot of good suggestions. I guess I really made a mistake when I started this site when I decided to go with coffee instead of the shoes I originally intended to do. It will be easy to add shoes to the site and slowly change over to shoes, but is there a way I can preserve what I have done with everything so far and put it all to a properly related domain name? I sort of hate to lose the last two months of work and scrap it all.
Especially since yesterday our traffic had doubled from the day before (but no orders).
Thanks
- Thanks
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sitewalls 99gb hosting

10 years ago

Hi Clausont, for me the home page is to long to scroll down. And once you click the product image, it gives you a blank page with only that image on it. Maybe better if you link that image to the product page so the visitor stay longer, at the current state if you click image, it will show you blank page with the image only and visitors have to click back to return to your site.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont

10 years ago

Originally Posted by sitewalls 99gb hosting

Hi Clausont, for me the home page is to long to scroll down. And once you click the product image, it gives you a blank page with only that image on it. Maybe better if you link that image to the product page so the visitor stay longer, at the current state if you click image, it will show you blank page with the image only and visitors have to click back to return to your site.

Thanks for the input Sitewalls - the home page is very long. I don't think I really expect people to scroll through the whole thing. But I'm not sure how to get the site ranked without using a lot of text to make use of long tail keywords.
Youe mention of the images not going to the product was spot-on. I hadn't checked that (or not thought of it). I have changed the product images on the home page so that they now go to the product page on Amazon using cloaked links. Thanks for pointing that out.

Thanks

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RDB85

10 years ago

Bounce Rate is important but people seem obsessed by it. You could try some split testing or change the design in bits, alter your site content. Small changes can have a big impact.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont

10 years ago

Originally Posted by RDB85

Bounce Rate is important but people seem obsessed by it. You could try some split testing or change the design in bits, alter your site content. Small changes can have a big impact.

Thanks RDB - I realize that bounce rate may be a bit misleading at times. If people find all they want on the home page, bounce rate will show higher if I understand correctly.
I will have to learn a bit more about split testing - it was mentioned in this thread by one other person also, but I have not started it yet. I will do that.
Thanks

Thanks

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brettb

10 years ago

Yes maybe get a new header image. Try somebody on Fiverr if you need a designer. I found a wonderful designer on there for $5.

Other than that, brainstorm some new ideas. Your blog looks like a blog from 2010.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont

10 years ago

Originally Posted by brettb

Yes maybe get a new header image. Try somebody on Fiverr if you need a designer. I found a wonderful designer on there for $5.

Other than that, brainstorm some new ideas. Your blog looks like a blog from 2010.

Hmmm, - ok will give it a go. I have to admit, I'm not much in the design area. Can you pm me (or post publicly if you prefer) the user on Fiverr that did your header image?
I am open to all suggestions on the layout of the website also. I know I need to do something different with the sidebar, but really don't know what to do there.

BTW: Bounce rate is down to the 56% area as of yesterday. All of the suggestions here are working to better the site. Thanks All!

Thanks

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ventureprofits

10 years ago

Provide content that people need. If you provide value to people, not only will they come back, but they will tell other people as well.

Also, do a bit of SEO on your site. Get it ranking.

Thanks

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mehrishaly

10 years ago

Revamp your website design and content and try to make more user friendly.

Thanks
1 reply

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clausont 10 years ago

Originally Posted by mehrishaly

Revamp your website design and content and try to make more user friendly.

Any suggestions on how to do this?

Thanks
- Thanks
- 1 reply
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- clausont 10 years ago
  
  Just a side note: I add a new article every 2 or 3 days. I think I am learning a bit on how to write articles that are more interesting to people at the same time.
  One question: Most of the articles I am writing are added as a "page" rather tha a "post". If I add as a post, it will appear on the home page. I don't know which is better: Separate Page or post on the front page.
  Suggestions?
  Also please let me know what I should do differently with my sidebar.
  
  Thanks again everyone.
  
  Thanks
  
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90%+ Bounce Rate-What Did I Do Wrong?

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