Bounce Rate the Problem with the Photo Capsule You Need to Know About

1. 57

   HomeArtist1posted 10 years ago

   I know traffic is a problem everywhere it seems; I'm not talking about low traffic, here.
   
   We all need to be aware of the HP's photo capsule may be affecting our bounce rates.
   
   There is a real problem if you use the photo capsule for anything-- even the intro photo. I'm NOT referring to the images *inside* the Amazon capsules, just the photo only capsules.
   
   
   Because quality traffic/reader satisfaction relies on download speed, user-friendliness and links that work, I believe the way the photo capsules function is much of the reason we're not keeping what traffic is received. 
   
   HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE PHOTO CAPSULES:
   
   When visitors reach our hubs they see photos. And said photos have the user-friendly little hand pointing on those photos. Visitors BELIEVE that by clicking on the photo, they will be taken 'somewhere' to see/learn more about said photo.
   
   Afterall, that's how the rest of the internet works, so that's what they expect; that's what they want.
   
   Herein lies the BIG problem. Instead of the 'understood' hand sign taking our readers to an EXPECTED place where they can learn more, they get a regurgitation of EVERY photo on the hub and are met with "see all 7 photos" (or however many photos).
   
   And like I did when I first visited HubPages, they get confused.
   
   Now, with speed, working links and user-friendliness being critical to all visitors, our readers become confused and may think: (a) the link is broken--the site isn't properly maintained (b) they (the user) don't know how the site works or (c) we, the writer don't know how to make the photos work as they should.
   
   So, they leave. And quick. People have absolutely ZERO patience when it comes to a site's usability.
   
   What's more:
   
   Because the intro photo also has this same mechanism, we can be sunk with our readers' confusion before they're past the intro photo.  It's proven that 'clickability' anywhere on a product module's text is a higher producer for sales, so I believe this photo-dead-link issue warrants a real look see.   
   
   I love the professional format of the site but I truly believe this may be  a serious issue with overall user satisfaction and the major reason for crazy-high bounce rates.   
   
   What do you think (sans sarcasm, please).
   
   Posted this in the wrong forum and couldn't edit it. So sorry for the repeat.

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   1. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      What you are describing is a photo slideshow.
      This is a deliberate feature.

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      1. 57

         HomeArtist1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I understand it's deliberate now that I fully know the site's workings but can it be disabled?
         
         I was very confused by this anomaly as a visitor to the site about a year ago. It seems very counterintuitive to readers looking to click through to see a product.
         
         I see its value for nonrevenue sites like travel and hobby blogs
         but having that feature here in the intro and when we need to enlarge
         an Amazon image as I mentioned, earlier is confusing. 
         
         There is good input about this same thing on the other forum:
         ( http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/126314#post2666775).  I made a mistake and put this post here but can't take it off if; it needn't be in two places . I'm sorry about that.

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         1. 59

            iphone5amazon1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I Agree with you, HubPages should use if possible any CDN to optimize the images, it can improve the experience and decrease the site load time.In my personal experience i myself had quit using a lot of websites due to their slow speed, i think Google also prefers websites which can load quickly. HubPages is missing a lot of traffic by not linking images directly to the source, they could link the images to internal Hubs if external links are not good in the eyes of untrustworthy Google.
            My Hubs now have a high bounce rate than before, as per Alexa, HubPages speed is Average.
            http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/hubpages.com

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      2. 75

         Marie Flintposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Then please deliberately offer it with an OPT OUT. Thank you.

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         1. 78

            Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Marie Flint, I know your comment was directed to Matthew, but wanted to say I would love to have an "opt out" choice. After years of writing online, I am hard pressed to remember any other site with informative content, that offers to show all of the photos in an article right up front. I am "put off" by it, for lack of a more succinct way to phrase my feelings.

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         2. 57

            HomeArtist1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I would love to  opt out, too. Based on what I know about advertising and what little patience people have when perusing anything (web, books, houses for sale, clothing stores . . .) you have but one split second to please your visitors.
            
            The slightest indifference and you've lost your audience.

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         3. 75

            Marie Flintposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Here's the message I got from Matt from Hub Pages' team when I directly asked whether an OPT OUT option would be initiated:
            
            No, we have no plans at this time to change the way slideshow and images are handled in Hubs.
            
            Thanks,
            Matt @ Team HubPages

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            1. 57

               HomeArtist1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Perhaps if I understood the logic behind such repetition I could better work with it.
               
               Does adding a slideshow of the same pictures:
               
               enhance readers' experience?
               speed up download ?
               help with a hub's navigation?
               help readers relate to accompanying text?
               add visibility to search engines? 
               
               I'm not being smug, here; as I mentioned, I'm **not** a tech-savvy writer and I'm always eager to learn the logic and mechanics of such an important aspect as photos. Readers expect images, so knowing the 'whys' would sure be helpful for me to better work with what's here.

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            2. 78

               Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Again, I would simply love an "OPT OUT" feature, so we could encourage visitors to read the context of the hubs without simply skimming through photos.
               
               On my own websites, which I have had for years, people would be overwhelmed if they could see all of the photos in the beginning, or midway through the site. One site of mine has about 1,000 photos on it. No one would stick around long enough to read what was written there.
               
               Is not the purpose of the photos to enhance the reader's viewing experience?
               
               Can anyone tell me why there is a reason to opt to view all of the photos at one time?
               
               I am not trying to beat a dead horse - I believe the above two questions are legitimate ones.

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         4. 86

            hypnodoctorposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I agree. There should be an "opt out" option or a "create a slideshow" option instead of just doing it for every single photo capsule. This is confusing for non-Hubbers that randomly visit hubs from search engines.

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      3. 82

         PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Clicking on the photo used to give the reader an enlarged version of the photo which helped when detail was desired. I liked that feature.
         
         I can't see where viewing the source would do much good for people like me who primarily use their own photos. The source is on my hard drive. Of course, if I moved the source to my blog or Photobucket or the equivalent perhaps that would drive some traffic off site which is what I think the moderators do not want.
         Peg

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   2. 84

      Lee Hansenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      As a new user to Hubpages, I had exactly this experience with confusion. It's poor information architecture if a feature/action confuses the reader and leads to the wrong conclusion or unexpected destination.

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2. 86

   kerbevposted 10 years ago

   I agree here.  I think that sometimes we may want a photo slideshow, but sometimes it is unnecessary and pointless.  I would often rather the image be a link somewhere (most often the source). 
   
   I think a slideshow photo module should be an option, but a regular photo module with a regular link is needed as well.

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   1. 57

      HomeArtist1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I think you've summed it up best. While it may make sense to some to repeat the photos (I don't know of an instance where one would need to have the *same* photos repeated again and again). I could see one image serving as a slideshow if one so chose.
      
      I sure would like to opt out--especially with the intro 'spoiler' photo where readers 'get the goods' up front. Why bother with the rest of the hub when they can see it all in the intro?

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3. 78

   Shades-of-truthposted 10 years ago

   I agree with HomeArtist1. When I first encountered it, I was confused. Often, I will skip an entire article, if I have already seen the photos, and they do not interest me.
   
   Several of my hubs have a lot of photos, and I would rather not have the viewers see all of them in one "shot". The purpose of the hub, is for our readers to read them.
   
   I rarely object to a feature on sites where I write, but the "view all photos" thing cannot be beneficial, nor conducive to encouraging one to read the context of the hub.

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4. 86

   Pcunixposted 10 years ago

   Seems to me that years back you had to opt in to slideshows.  I have no idea when that was taken away.

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   1. 85

      Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I remember. I opted out back then because I didn't feel that slideshows were appropriate for my hubs, and still don't.

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      1. 78

         Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I wish that option was still available. I want slideshows for certain hubs, but only farther down on the pages - and with particular related photos.
         
         A reader who is has arrived at HubPages from an internet search engine, is evidently looking for information on a particular subject. In my opinion, they are not likely to want to look at every single photo that is on that hub, at one fell swoop.
         
         I believe it takes away from the professional appearance of the entire site, and deters people from continuing to stay on a particular page.
         
         Is anyone else aware of any frequently-visited site that implements the "view all photos" function? I am not insinuating that unique features are objectionable - just this one.

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5. 82

   Sam Montanaposted 10 years ago

   I agree with PegCole, on most websites, when you click on a picture, it just takes you to a page with an enlarged photo and on other websites, the photo isn't clickable at all. Taking a person to a list of all photos really doesn't serve any useful purpose to anyone.

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   1. 86

      Pcunixposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well, no, there are situations where a slideshow is nice.  But mostly, yeah, pointless.  I can't imagine why HP thinks the exact opposite.

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   2. 57

      HomeArtist1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      When I first visited the site about a year and a half ago-just checking it out--I thought the Hubber made a mistake with the images, kinda like keyword stuffing with the same thing again and again. I opined it was some way of getting a better score or higher up on search engines.
      
      While I acknowledge that thought was my own ignorance talking, not many people know about IT, either and most likely readers think the way I did.
      
      Does anyone know the benefit of the repeated slideshow? Perhaps I could work with it better if I knew. Maybe arrange things differently, use less images, etc. I'd appreciate any input.

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6. 99

   aesta1posted 10 years ago

   The first time I read this thread, I did not understand what you're talking about. But then, it happened to me and I got confused. I just left thinking that the hub was all slides. Now, this explains why the bounce rate is high for my hubs. I hope they'll put back the option to keep out of this.

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