The effect of small changes

[fisicx]

Those who have known me for a while know I'm pretty pants at building pretty sites. However I do an awful lot of testing to see the effects different settings make.

I've tried all sorts of colours and combinations, some worked some didn't. The orange theme proved quite successful with a bounce rate of about 40%. I've now made two minor changes: the logo and the colours and font of the headers. Bounce rate is down to 15%. If I filter out the UKBF visitors, bounce rate on 2 days was 0%!

So here's a tip for everyone. Don't just sit on your laurels, experiment with your site. Play with the colours, fonts, margins, padding, spacing, widths and so on. you may be surprised at the difference a few small changes can make.

[Dawg]

Why is your H1 in a default visited link colour?:)

[fisicx]

All part of the testing! The heat maps show nobody is clicking on the H1 so I'm not too concerned.

Going to be experimenting with differing inline link styles next - do some psycology and make them purple to see if that encouraces clicks.

[SFD]

You seemed please with a 0% bounce rate but what does that actually mean, how does it benefit you?

[zigojacko]

You seemed please with a 0% bounce rate but what does that actually mean, how does it benefit you?

Well for starters it means traffic is staying on the website and reading the content whereas previous bounces wouldn't be...

It may not convert, but it's a step in the right direction nonetheless.

[zigojacko]

All part of the testing! The heat maps show nobody is clicking on the H1 so I'm not too concerned.


What do you use for heat map overlays? I find the GA one had compatibility issues with JS on the page.

The only other one I use is with CrazyEgg, I'm sure there are better ones out there though.

[zigojacko]

You're right though, sometimes the smallest of changes can increase/decrease click thru's, conversion rates, bounce rates; Sometimes the obvious is staring you right in the face but it is certainly worth split testing with the small changes as you mention before hacking away at the site structure and design to improve website stats.

[fisicx]

Well for starters it means traffic is staying on the website and reading the content whereas previous bounces wouldn't be...

Exactly. Increasing conversions means lining up all the ducks: For example:

Ranking > Generating Clicks > Optimising landing page > Call to action > Conversion.

Bounce rate is part of stage 3 - if the landing page is optimised to meet the needs of the visitor the bounce rate reduces and the changes of moving onto stage 4 increase.

The only other one I use is with CrazyEgg, I'm sure there are better ones out there though.
Same here. Dead simple to use and cheap as chips.

[SFD]

Does a bounce rate of 0% not mean your visitors couldn't find what they were looking for so went elsewhere on your site looking for it?

I can see a reduced bounce rate coupled with an increased conversion rate as being beneficial but not a reduced bounce rate on it's own.

[MASSEY]

Where does most of
your traffic arrive from graham, organic results or ppc?

[fisicx]

Where does most of your traffic arrive from graham, organic results or ppc?
A mix of organic and referrals. Most never land on the homepage, judging by the searches most are looking for help so my task was to keep them for longer so they look around and pick up the phone or send me a message. The site is a bit like a testing station, I tweak single pages to see the effects of adding or removing certain elements.

[fisicx]

Does a bounce rate of 0% not mean your visitors couldn't find what they were looking for so went elsewhere on your site looking for it?

I can see a reduced bounce rate coupled with an increased conversion rate as being beneficial but not a reduced bounce rate on it's own.
I agree but it the fact they are clicking on links even if the landing page doesn't meet their exact needs is far better than having them bounce off.