Some days I hate the drive to work. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job as Web content writer at NetStrategies. But those traffic lights — there are 24 of them between my house and workplace. Some days I sail right through and other days, ugh!

Waiting at traffic lights (and believe me, in Northern Va. people spend hours waiting in their vehicles) made me think about the Internet. When I hit those traffic signals wrong, I immediately look for other routes to the office. I like to keep moving.

In much the same way, when I surf the Internet seeking a product or information, I cannot stand to wait. If a site takes more than a few seconds to load, I revert back to the search results and try another vendor, or if while shopping in a site I encounter a glitch during checkout, I exit and leave my shopping cart full. That split second of hang time is enough to make me pause and stop before selecting “buy.”

What red traffic signals irritate visitors on your Web site and cause them to exit? Many factors affect customer satisfaction on a site. Your mechanics, DNS, host, navigation, content, calls to action, eCommerce, design, and so much more integrate to provide a positive experience to a visitor. A successful Web site then goes a step farther; it employs sound analytics to track a visitor’s experience within your site. Quality content draws that prospect through your site to conversion.

Visit your own company Web site often and look hard for those red lights. My next posting suggests a couple of writing tips to improve your content.

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