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5 Great Strategies To Scare Away Visitors from your Website

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Scare Away Visitors

Are you looking to scare away visitors from your website? If so, you’ve found the right article! Let’s take a closer look at some errors you can make that will get your visitors to leave without looking back.

1. Writing copy filled with spelling or grammar errors

You can often slip an error or two by your visitors. Most probably won’t even notice, and those that do are often willing to forgive small errors. Make any more than one or two minor errors, however, and your readers might not be so forgiving.

This rule sounds obvious, but unfortunately, it is broken time and again. If you don’t have confidence in your proofreading ability, find a friend who does or hire some help.

2. You have long, uninterrupted paragraphs filled with information

Online readers are interested in getting their information as fast as possible. People aren’t interested in how well you write. They’re interested in how what you write can help them.

In order to be effective, keep everything in as simple language as possible. Simple language allows you to communicate your message more clearly to a larger audience. Your ability to communicate to your audience will ultimately determine the success of your website.

3. Your copy is self-centered

Many websites fall into this trap. If you find your copy using the words “I” or “we” more than “you,” then there’s a problem.

Remember that your visitors only care about the value your company can provide for them. You may think that your company’s experience, history, and mission are fascinating, but few other people do. What makes your company great is what the general public thinks of it.

4. Listing facts about your products, services, and company

Simply describing the key features of your products, services, or company is not enough. In some cases, this type of copy has its place. However, most often it does not.

If you want your visitors to buy or return again to your website, you’ll have to write better copy. Instead of listing the features, describe the value using your product or service offers to your customers. When your visitors understand how they can benefit, they’ll be much more likely to buy.

5. Avoid keyword stuffing

In the past, using a higher keyword density could significantly increase your site’s rankings. In today’s search engine optimization environment, a keyword density between 1.0-2.0% is all you need. Google is placing increasing emphasis on quality content and decreasing emphasis on following the right SEO formula.

If your visitors can identify your target keyword when reading, then your copy needs revision.

Writing Poor Web Copy is Easy

So now you’ve learned some ways to write poor web copy. Unfortunately, there are about as many ways to write poor web copy as there are people to write it.

But, at least you’ve learned a little more, and now you have a beginning foundation for writing great web copy.

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{ 30 Responses }

  1. Abhi Balani says:
    LOL, I enjoyed reading this. I guess, mainly what I see is Keyword stuffing and grammatical errors. It's looks like the post is written just for making KEYWORDS.
    • John Britsios says:
      Lets see if your comment was an expert or wannabe nature: 1. Where do you see keyword stuffing in the article? Ripping out the stop words, the highest density has the word "copy", which is 2%. You call that high keyword density? If yes, time to go back to school. 2. Since you claim that the grammar of the article is bad, would you please be so kind point out those grammatical errors? Thank you.
      • Abhi Balani says:
        First of all, I'd like to clear it to you that, my comment was not an expert nature. Next- What are you trying to show/prove by asking me these questions? That you are an expert and I'm not? huh? So, I made it clear at the starting of this comment. 1) I never said, I SEE keyword stuffing in the article. And you are not to tell me to go to school or somewhere. I know where to go and what to do, very well. (I'm not rude here, don't mind if you feel so.) 2) And grammatical errors, to be honest, I was very BAD when I started writing on blogs, online. May be, because of keyboard typing and so, mainly. I meant, like using "its" in place of "it's"; using lowercase "i"; individually; and missing space after commas, full stops and so on. Even I'm not very good at all this but improving constantly. Fine? Mr expert teacher.
  2. kezanari says:
    Self-centred copy what powerful tip for me. I never really realised about using the words I and me Could turn people of the content. I will definitely be using the word you all yours more often thanks for that Golden tip
    • Abhi Balani says:
      Same here, Kezanari. I'm taking this tip along with me, too. And now moving to your linked article. Feeling very curious to know what's there.
  3. Thomas says:
    I think it would be a great deal to get your content converted into other mediums of sale like e-books, e-magazines and other books. As it is you need to get some good business for your content so I think choosing other mediums and reusing the videos and audios will help you to save some money in creating new content for your books. Think smart and work smart, not just work hard!
  4. Diana Grant says:
    This is really true! Thanks for sharing this.. Great contents can really attract clients to your website.
  5. James says:
    Who would want to do that? I mean every businessman strives hard to ensure that they get more customers and good amount of traffic over their website. There is no businessman who would want their visitors to go away from their website and so I think it would be good if we try to avoid the mistakes that are mentioned above.
  6. Mary MacDonald says:
    Grammar is a problem not just on our websites, but everywhere around us today. I'm far from perfect, but sometimes I feel like some kind of intellectual genius after looking at various forms that everyday folk complete. Frightening.
  7. Lennart Heleander says:
    Hi John, What scares me most is when a blog is full of ads and pop-up so it looks like a flashing Christmas tree.
    • John S. Britsios says:
      @Lennart sorry for that, but I do not own this blog. I am just a guest blogger.
  8. Kay Elisabet says:
    I especially agree with no. 2. A post written like yours, with short paragraphs and headlines, is just more appealing. Apparently most people skim when they read things online (they've done tests). I know I do this. I'll usually skim through an article, reading headlines and first sentences. If, by the end of it, I've decided it's worth my time to read, I'll go over it more carefully. If it consists of long paragraphs skimming is harder, so unless the subject really interests me, I'll skip skimming/reading it entirely!
  9. Maddy says:
    Writing Just for Search Engines is another tip to Increase bounce rate.
  10. Jamie Northrup says:
    All great tips, in #2 you could also mention to make the large points of the paragraphs stand out, since a lot of people don't have time or the desire to read the whole thing, give them the key info quickly. You can use H2/H3 tags, or even just bold the key ideas.
    • John S. Britsios says:
      @ Lil for headings and subheadings I obviously use h2/h3 tags on my blogs: Too bad that I forgot to mention that in my article. But at least we are on the same page. :)
  11. jason says:
    I agree if you are just pounding out keywords in large blocks of writing you'll lose your audience fast. One thing I try to do is break everything up and keep it as interesting as possible by cutting out as much filler as I possibly can. Great post, i'll be bookmarking this. Cheers.
  12. Tushar says:
    the title was hilarious and surely the points mentioned are very true and valid. Well said and thanks for share
  13. Roy Powell says:
    The title of this article attracted me. I learned a lot. I do sometimes make the mistake of writing about the features - and though the value that can be obtained from the product or service is there, the focus of the article might be wrong. Great post. Thanks!
  14. Sanat says:
    Another important point I want to share - Never try to show how rich and stylish your English is. Using bombastic language, inflated expressions are not sought after by web readers. Who care how fashionable words you choose while writing English, people need information that flow in the simplest way.
  15. neng says:
    Agree It All.
  16. Cristian Balau says:
    I prefer using offensive language in every article as well as editing every single comment to make people look silly. It this doesn't help...well I don't know what will! Ok, serious now, another great turnoff, at least for me, are huge pop-up banners...
  17. Mani Viswanathan says:
    Agreed with all the points John, except the 4th one. I think, in a product/services post you got to reveal all the details of the product so as to ensure that the reader is impressed with it and goes on to buy it. Regardless of that, it can be said very clearly that this post isn't a poor copy. :P
  18. Hannah Hamilton says:
    I can agree with the author that writing bad copy is easy. But following his advice will help enhance your writing. Making reading your writing a bette experience for the reader.
  19. Prepper says:
    Yep, I definitely write those "long, uninterrupted paragraphs" that I'm sure is boring many of my blog's readers. I've recently begun trying to put in images between the paragraphs to spice things up. Would you happen to have any times on how to deliver a large amount of content or a very deep train of thought without resorting to writing these huge paragraphs?
  20. Azhar says:
    Helping contents always increase readers for a website. It is reality that Google has did a lot changes for the ranking of a site. Because of Google Panda Update Quality contents are very necessary for a website.
  21. jim syyap says:
    My two cents--too much advertising, flash scripts, pop-ups. No matter how esteemed the writer is, I will vote down that site. I can always find what I am looking for someplace else.
  22. Michael says:
    John - My favorite is "You have long, uninterrupted paragraphs filled with information". You should add: "And it's incredibly difficult to convince you to break the copy into paragraphs of three to four sentences each!" Thanks for your effort.
  23. Brad says:
    Agreed,easy way to lose visitors.
  24. Jon Anscher says:
    I agree, editing documents is so important. I can't believe how bad some articles are out on the internet. It's an easy fix that can mean the difference between me thinking your company knows what their doing or not. I also find the whole keyword things interesting. When you look at services like Siri, we are really getting closer and closer to a point where web searches can be looking for meaning instead of words. Wouldn't that be cool? A Siri-powered search engine :-).
  25. Amie Marse says:
    I really like how you put, "If your visitors can identify your target keyword when reading, then your copy needs revision." I've never seen it written quite like that but it is the whole issue. So many of our customers get caught up in SEO and the little tricks and it's important to remember the end goal for Google. It isn't to rank your site, it is to be the most relevant search engine out there. They don't want to go the way of Alta Vista, which is why they keep tweaking the algorithm. Anything that makes the user experience better, or anything that keeps your site more relevant will eventually help your SEO. Sorry... that was a bit of a rant but, eh :) Thanks for the post :)