Why your websites don’t work for you – Part 1

It’s been a while since I actually penned down my thoughts, or should I say, typed voraciously into my keyboard! Well, all the while I have been hammered by questions from people who have the best website design yet don’t really have too many takers in terms of visitors. So, coming back to my favorite topic, web design, I came across this golden question voiced by webmasters - ‘Why your websites don’t work for you’. This series is planned in 4 parts. Here, we shall take a look at situation 1 out of 3 main problem areas with a detailed solution in my 4th blog of this series.

High Bounce Rate:
Why do visitors leave the website immediately from the page they land upon? There can be many reasons for the same. A cluttered website with too many elements such as graphics and animations can force a visitor to jump to another site. Navigational issue is another reason wherein visitors may jump to another site in the absence of a clear navigational structure. For example: an informative website will have users seeking authentic content. However, if the design and navigation does not direct the user appropriately, the obvious action would be to visit some other website.



In the above image, there is a heavy usage of color and graphics. As a user, it does not make one explore the site further. Imagine navigating through this website! Are you really motivated to stay on such a site? This is one of the main reasons why there is a high bounce rate of users.


This example (above image) is a sight to drive users….away instantly! Even if the website has interesting content, I wonder how many would read text out here. There is a heavy amount of text, images are sparse, the fonts are uneven in size and the overall look is messy. The rest, you can guess easily!

Overcoming High Bounce Rate
Engaging visitors on websites is an effective solution to reduce bounce rate. This does not mean you need to load websites with heavy graphics and animations! The effective use of interactivity helps to keep users on the page itself. Instead of using a web page like a complete creative canvas and ‘spilling’ your creativity on it, interactivity can be used to highlight areas of interest. A product portfolio can be showcased through interactivity such as 3D Flip Book. This will not only engage users on the page, it will also ensure your message reaches the target group effectively.

In our next blog post of the series, let us take a look at the second problem. I shall also dedicate one entire blog to present solutions of each problem with examples. (Make sure you don’t miss that!) Looking forward to hear from all budding web designers to know the kind of problems faced while designing a website.