20 replies to this topic

[Hughv]

No luck at all searching the windows folders.
I tried disabling java, and you're right.
What's the chance that that is the reason for the 25% bounce rate?

Another interesting clue: I have renamed the /js/protoculous.js script on the server to protoculousold.js.
How is it possible that this script is still functioning?

I would search for href="java script:Effect.toggle('enter','appear')
If you do, you should be able to use putty and connect to your web site address.
It's been a while since I used grep, but you should be able to do something like:
grep "href=\"java script:Effect.toggle('enter','appear')" ./ -R
from your root public html directory
As soon as the site is viewed, the user receives the "splash page".
The link to "enter the site" uses javascript to switch to the homepage. What this means, is any user without javascript enabled cannot close the splash page and get to the homepage, and is essentially stuck.

Edit: looks like the forum adds a space in "javascript", make sure that is removed.

[Mhoram]

If you have shell access to the server, run the command I gave earlier within your web directory, and it should tell you what files contain that code.

What's the chance that that is the reason for the 25% bounce rate?

No way to tell exactly, because there are three actions that will count as a bounce:

User without Javascript enabled can't access the site and bounces.
User with Javascript says, "Ugh, a splash page," and bounces. (That would often be me.)
User with Javascript clicks Enter, sees the home page, and bounces.

The W3C says 95% of browsers have Javascript enabled these days, so unless you have a very unusual audience, most of that 25% falls into the second two categories.

Do you think a 25% bounce rate is bad?

Edited by Mhoram, 13 February 2010 - 06:07 PM.

[Hughv]

If you have shell access to the server, run the command I gave earlier within your web directory, and it should tell you what files contain that code.
No way to tell exactly, because there are three actions that will count as a bounce:

User without Javascript enabled can't access the site and bounces.
User with Javascript says, "Ugh, a splash page," and bounces. (That would often be me.)
User with Javascript clicks Enter, sees the home page, and bounces.

The W3C says 95% of browsers have Javascript enabled these days, so unless you have a very unusual audience, most of that 25% falls into the second two categories.

Do you think a 25% bounce rate is bad?

A 25% bounce rate sounds bad to me, but I don't know what's typical.
I managed to gt this splash page eliminated by modifying the global.css file to hide the page. I still have no idea how it 's generated, but the problem is solved, if not neatly.
Thanks for everyone's help.

[chrishirst]

there is no "typical" "bounce rate"

See ->
http://www.webmaster....html#post27884

'cos it's a similar question.

[Jill]

A 25% bounce rate sounds bad to me, but I don't know what's typical.

It's actually very low. Many would kill for that.

[Mhoram]

That's what I was thinking. None of my sites or clients' sites have bounce rates anywhere near that low. Of course, not all bounces are bad, since a "bounce" is a single-page visit. If someone hits one of my book reviews, clicks the link to buy the book from Amazon, and then goes away, that's a bounce, but it's not a bad thing. It really depends on the purpose of the individual page: does it link only to internal pages (meaning a bounce must have backed out or closed the window/tab), or does it have revenue-generating off-site links on it? If the latter, then bounce rate is meaningless, and you'll have to use other methods to determine how well the page is working for you.

FWIW, on the Wikipedia page for "bounce rate," a Google guy says it's really hard to get a bounce rate below 20%.