It can be a huge project to start a website from the ground up, especially if you are not going with WordPress easy version. But it can all be for nothing is visitors are not staying.

There can be many reasons that everyone is leaving you after a quick glimpse and some of the reasons are out of your control, but be aware that there are some that you CAN control!

I can’t give you a completely new guide on this, but I came across some pretty compelling reasons and decided to share the top 5 with you, of my own choosing. So here we go!

1. Design

Word on the net is that 94% of first impressions are design related! So first impressions are really important I would say. There is no way to spread your message out there to your targeted audience is everyone is bouncing of your website in a blink of an eye. Through great design you can make your audience stick long enough to actually see what you have to offer.

An unprofessional and messy looking website will make everyone feel like they are in the wrong place and they will leave without a second thought. Most of the time website will be considered the reflection of your products, so you get the picture. Make it a priority to hire a good designing team (or think about it hard yourself) and take the first step into the right direction.

2. Mobile Optimization

Mobile phones are used at any time of day and night. According to some surveys, the use of mobile search engines on the Internet has grown from 2010 to today by more than 400%, which is why it is expected that in 2018, the use of smartphones will reach over 90% in the US and UK markets. Optimized sites are easy to use, content and images are adapted to the screen size and contain buttons that are consistent with the device itself (for example, a call or email button, i.e. tap-to-call, tap-to-email, folders, etc.), in other words, must have a responsive design. You can do the mobile customization test that Google offers in its developer service - here. 

3. Website Loading Speed

Today’s average internet user has a short attention span so won’t wait around for a slow loading site.
We live in an instant world where patience is almost a forgotten relic of a time set in black and white. Billions of dollars in micro-transactions are lost each year in stores worldwide as consumers lose patience and either take their business elsewhere or lose the impulse for their spontaneous purchase. The same is happening with your potential customers if you have a crawling website.

4. Navigation

Raise your hand if this has ever happened to you: You arrive on a website looking for a specific piece of information, only to get caught in a seemingly endless maze of poorly laid-out navigation options.

Not only is unclear navigation bad for your on-site user experience, it’s bad for your SEO as well.

The golden rule of navigation is this: Think through your site’s setup as if you were your own customer. If you were totally new to your website, how would you expect to find the information organized? What steps would you take to find the information that’ll answer your questions?

Rearrange your navigation to take your user’s needs into account and you'll stop losing potential sales due to bad content organization. If you aren’t confident that you can rearrange your content according to consumer expectations, use a service like UserTesting (or even better, Drunk User Testing) to uncover potential trouble spots.

5. Video and Sound Auto-Play

Feature I hate the most I left for last. There is nothing more irritating than going on a website for a certain content and the website forcibly plays a video or a sound message without you being able to choose do you want to hear it or not. I would never ever go back to such a website! It is disrespectful to user and not to mention it can scare the crap out of you when your speakers are not in low volume. Please never ever have this feature on your website.

Here are some of the sources I used for the article:

16 Reasons Why People Leave Your Website

Why You Should Optimize Site for Mobile Search?

7 REASONS WHY PEOPLE LEAVE YOUR WEBSITE