Fixing Your Bounce Rate: 9 Ways to Keep Visitors on Your Website Longer
It can be challenging to get visitors to your website but it can be just as challenging to make a good impression in the first 50 milliseconds and keep them there. Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors that leave your website (or “bounce” back to the search results or referring website) after viewing only one page on your site.
Working on your bounce rate helps you to website visitors on your site longer so they can learn more about your products or services.
People have shorter attention spans than ever before, so it’s essential to do everything you can to get your point across and make your pitch before your visitors bounce.
Being familiar with your bounce rate is essential, and many business owners are in the dark about this statistic. Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase before but don’t know how to improve on this metric. I understand it can be overwhelming to nail down exactly how to keep visitors engaged on your website for a more extended stay. That’s why I’m here to help.
In this article, I will discuss with you our top 9 ways to keep your visitors on your site longer and improve your bounce rate.
What is a good bounce rate?
Google refers to a bounce as a single-page session on your site.
So, if a user stays on 1 page for 30mins but never goes anywhere else, it’s still a bounce.
A landing page on your site from an ad or Instagram generally would be a bounce as people rarely go from that page to other pages on the website.
A “high bounce rate” is a relative term, and it kinda depends on your goals, and what kind of site you have.
Clean Design
When it comes to web design, there’s such a thing as too much. Websites with boatloads of distracting features — encourage users to spend less time on your site, become frustrated or lost more easily, and ultimately click off of your site in a hurry.
Keeping images just above the fold ensures that anyone using either mobile or desktop browsers can see relevant content right away without having to scroll down.
Make Your Pages More Readable
Maintaining good readability by keeping text large enough to read and broken into short enough paragraphs to keep the attention of your readers is imperative to engage them.
All of us have seen sites that are hard to read. Make sure all your pages on the website can be easily scrolled through and understood. Don’t make your visitors scroll endlessly when looking for relevant information on your page. Place important links and information above the fold, and make sure your menus are accessible from anywhere on the page.
Again, ensuring your page isn’t too busy contributes to this goal; a busy page will only distract from whatever content you’re trying to share with your readership! Instead, use large white space thoughtfully throughout your content to structure and draw attention to what you want your visitors to focus on.
Quality Optimised Website Images
Imagery plays an important role in making your site visually engaging. Not only does your imagery need to be clear and well placed, but it also needs to be optimised for the web to ensure your pages load quickly.
Image optimisation is the process of saving images and delivering them in the smallest possible file size without reducing the quality of the image. You’ll want to optimise your pictures before you publish them on your website.
Most high-quality images are also high-resolution images. They are more prominent in pixels, pixel density, and file size. And, while the process sounds complicated, there are many image optimisation tools and WordPress plugins that automatically compress your images without any visibility loss.
Keeping file sizes minimal and using imagery that is relevant to your site and doesn’t immediately conjure the phrase “stock image” in the minds of your visitors should be at the heart of your image selection process.
By optimising your images you can:
- Improve SEO rankings
- Improve the speed of your website
- Reduce bounce rate associated with slow page load times
A slow-loading page is a recipe for a high bounce rate, so ensure that your images are a high enough resolution to be clear and crisp, and adequately compressed to save space. Use JPEG format for all images that don’t require transparency or overlays, as this image format is capable of maintaining fidelity while reducing file size.
For images that do require transparency, PNG image format is suitable.
Utilise Video
Users on Youtube look at hundreds of millions of hours of video every single day. Utilising the platform to host your video content is a great way to share engaging media with your visitors and reduce the load on your pages and servers.
Ensure the quality of your video content is uniformly high, and encourage your audience to interact with you by commenting on it and contacting you.
Use Internal Links
Utilise internal links to your other relevant content. If you feature a blog, there are countless opportunities to link to related content on your site that pertains to individual topics that readers may be interested in or have questions about.
This allows your visitors to “go down the rabbit hole” and dive deeper into topics, engaging with your content for longer. In addition, it establishes you as an expert in your field.
Provide Content Upgrades
Many people offer content upgrades on their websites, and you can give users an option to get extra, premium material when they do something that interests or excites them.
This could be opening a new account with your business or purchasing items from your store — whatever action you want your visitors to complete.
Have Content Worth Commenting On
Since blogging started, comments have become a way to judge how users are engaging with your website. Comments are also an easy way to get more engagement on your website. So, how is it that you can get people to comment on your content? The best way is to ask a question at the end of your post or article. Add your opinion and then ask people what they think, and respond to comments to engage with your audience.
Include Success Stories
People love success stories. Whether they are yours or from an inspirational person, success stories have much more of a chance of getting a lot of attention. We all like to see people reach their goals. We find these stories motivational, which makes us want to share and engage with them. Use this to your advantage on your site.
Demonstrate Credibility
People want to know why they should put trust in your website and business. Including photos of your team in action on your website instantly improves your credibility. Include bios and testimonials on your pages for supporting information that personifies your brand mission.
Linking to your social media can also be helpful. Add trust marks such as Google ratings and certifications to your website. It gives people the confidence to give their business to your website.
Let me help you fix your bounce rate
Work with me and let’s turn your ideas into a more elevated and profitable business with the power of a search engine optimised WordPress website.
I hope you found this post on fixing your bounce rate helpful
until next time,
