May 6th, 2011
The bounce rate is a metric used in web analytic packages and can be very useful when analysing the success of a website. Basically the bouce rate tells you the percentage of visitor who leave a site after only visiting the page they landed on. This can occur for many reasons such as:
- The visitor clicked an external link on your page
- They simply closed their browser
- They clicked on one of your adverts
- They clicked the back button or decided to visit a different site
- They found the information they were looking for on the first page.
- Its a single page website
- They just wanted your phone number/ address.
Normally the lower the percentage the better, as it means that visitors are interested in your sites content and want to read more. However a high bounce rate doesn’t always mean that the site is failing you, as said above there are many reasons why a visitor can leave without visiting other pages on your site, and not all of them are negative.
What is a high bounce rate?
Websites are normally quite bouncy to start with as its important to give enough information on a page so that visitors get an instant answer and then decide from there if they want further information. An average bounce rate is normally around 55%-65%, with 40%-50% being considered low.
March 27th, 2011
FES International is a leading provider of fluid transfer solutions to the offshore industry. We were approached by them to redesign their existing web site as they felt it was dated and a new look would help their business. As well as the revamp, blogging software was installed so that they could keep their visitors up to date with all their latest news.
July 20th, 2010
The New Northumbria Hotel comprises of Scalini’s Restaurant, Osbornes Bar and Louis’ Restaurant forming one of Newcastle upon Tyne’s hottest night spots.
The project involved revamping the existing websites, giving them a modern, stylish and connected look. All four websites use content management systems ensuring content is fresh and up to date.
June 16th, 2010
Amanda Williamson is a mobile hairdresser that specialises in bridal hair design. She came to Sleeky looking to not only create an online presence but also to create a brand that captured the elegance of the hairstyles she creates. After much discussion over what would be best for her site, she opted for a 10 page information site, with 2 galleries and a built in booking form for her bridal hair service. We created the branding and the site to match creating a site that is easy to navigate and elegant in it’s simplicity.
June 14th, 2010
Why are we limited by the font?
A website relies on the person who is looking at it to have the correct font on their computer. So while you might have a lot of fonts on your own computer there is no guarantee that everyone who goes on to your site will have the fonts that you like on their computer. This will cause a problem when they view your site, as it will show a different font which might not looks very good on your site and could also break the layout.
This is why “Web Safe Fonts” are most commonly used, and while they can be a little boring because most sites use the same ones, there is a reason for them. This is because they are found on pretty much every computer be it Windows, Mac or Linux, which means that when a site is viewed the user is guaranteed to see the site how you meant for it to be seen because they will have the right font.
Why not just use images for the text, that way any font could be used?
While images are fine to use for small amounts of text, like for headings and sub headings, it is not a good idea to do this for a lot of it. Here are just a few of the problems you might encounter if you did use images for all your text:
- Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing will see all this text simply as an image which will mean that indexing a site that uses just images will be hard as the search engine cannot pick up on keywords and place your site ranking in a high position is unlikely.
- Some visitors could have images switched off when viewing sites, which means all they will get is a blank page.
- Some visitors will use screen readers and rely on the text being spoken to them, which can’t happen if it is all an image.
So while your site might not have the fonts that you want to use on it, you will get the most out of your site by sticking with a fonts that everyone has. This way you know your site is being viewed correctly, it is user-friendly and search engines will be able to see what your site is about.
