Drawing visitors to your website is one thing; getting them to stick around and read your content is a whole other matter. If you find that visitors are leaving your website as quickly as they can, it could be due to one (or more) of the following five common reasons:

1. Your site takes too long to load.
This could be due to large graphics files, too many page elements, or an overly-complicated webpage layout. It could also be due to the web host you’re using, as hosting services put various limits on the amount of bandwidth you can use.

2. Pop-ups.
Few things are more annoying to web visitors than being confronted by a cascade of pop-ups. These days many people regard pop-ups as intrusive, and as a sign that your site may be unscrupulous or low-quality. Unless they are an essential part of your site, avoid using pop-ups.

3. Flashing graphics.
If you present visitors with headache-inducing flashing banner advertisements, you can expect them to leave your site fast. Flashing graphics are not just irritating to potential customers; they may also cause visual problems for some people, and these people are unlikely to ever return to your website.

4. Animations.
You may think it’s cute to have little ants wearing top-hats dancing across the screen, but try to imagine how distracting that will be for your visitors. Remember, you want visitors to read what you have written; any distractions will only draw their attention away from your content.

5. Video and audio files.
If you must include video or audio files on your website, make sure they don’t autoplay when visitors come to your site. Not only does it slow down the loading of your webpage, it will also frustrate visitors as they search for the mute button.

Photo credit by johnnyberg.