Tips for Decreasing Your Website’s Bounce Rate

Maximizing your website’s effectiveness is about two things: driving traffic to the site, and keeping them there. Research has shown that the longer a user sticks around on a company’s website, the more likely it is that they will eventually convert. This is one of the few digital marketing facts that is seen across all industries and with businesses of all sizes.

Bounce rate, or the percentage of visitors who leave a site after viewing only one page, is an important metric to consider when evaluating your website. Lowering bounce rate can be accomplished if you know which aspects of your site need the most attention. Here are seven tips you can start doing today that can help decrease the bounce rate from your business’s website:

1.      Keep Up with Content Creation

You want your website to be a place where users can go to find useful, informative content. If your site has a blog – and it should – it’s important to keep content fresh.

Another reason to stay on top of content creation is that you’ll develop a good library for your audience to consume. Quality should always be favored over quantity, but if you aren’t pushing out new posts regularly, it’s going to have a negative impact on your bounce rate.

2.      Make Navigation Easy

It shouldn’t take a map to navigate your website. It’s important to keep this in mind when deciding which tabs will end up in your header.

Because you’re so familiar with how everything functions, it can be challenging to recognize the components of your site that could be simplified. Ask a friend or colleague to browse through various pages and ask for their recommendations for how you can make things a little more intuitive.

Websites are constantly competing for an audience, and one way to keep potential customers coming back is by making it easy for them to find the information they’re seeking.

3.      Link Internally

Not only is linking internally a good practice for SEO, but it can do wonders for keeping people from leaving your site to explore other topics.

For example, if you’re writing a blog post that proposes a solution to a problem and can link to one of your blog posts that gives a deeper explanation of the problem, you’re a one-stop-shop for everything on the issue!

We’ve all fallen into the proverbial “rabbit-hole” on an interesting website. Design your blog posts and internal links in such a way that your audience might experience that phenomenon on your site.

4.      Check for Broken Links

Broken links can show up on your site for a number of different reasons – and not all of them are the owner’s fault. If you want to increase the trust website visitors have in your business, regularly check for these broken links.

Aside from just the pages you’re linking to on your own site, make sure any external pages are functioning properly.

As a general rule, any time you put a link to your site in a social media post or on someone else’s website, double-check to make sure it’s working. If your first impression to a potential customer is a broken link, they’re probably not going to have a positive perception of your business.

5.      Incorporate Social Media/Google Reviews

One of the best things about social media and Google My Business is that they’re interactive. Both platforms provide a place for you, the business owner, to get your voice out there. On the flip side, customers can state their opinion via reviews that show up on Google.

Today’s website platforms make it easier than ever to have your social media channels and Google My Business reviews embedded right on your site. Why is this so important? Because it means customers don’t have to go searching around the internet to learn more about your company!

Consider your own purchase journey. It typically starts with a Google search (hello SEO), a website visit, and then looking up reviews. By hosting Google reviews right on your website, you’re making it easier than ever for your audience to get the whole picture.

If your business utilizes social media to stay connected, you can also embed your timeline on your site. This means everyone who views your website can have easy access to your social presence, which can have major benefits in terms of building a real connection with your audience.

The final reason to host your Google My Business and social media profiles on your website is that it gives you a consistent stream of new content that otherwise wouldn’t be on your site.

6.      Improve Loading Speed

You might have the exact information a user is looking for, but if it takes too long for them to see it they’re going to go elsewhere.

Consider how long is “too long” for a web page to load. If you can read that sentence faster than your landing page loads, you’re falling behind!

Nailing down exactly which components of your website are causing speeds to slow down can be a challenge, but plenty of program options exist to help you out. If you’re just looking to make some quick changes without complete a full diagnosis, start with optimizing images and compressing content. Remember, the bigger the files on your site, the longer it’s going to take to load in full.

7.      Keep Mobile in Mind

As the digital world continues to trend towards “mobile-first,” your website needs to keep up with the times. It makes sense in theory, but what exactly does mobile-first mean in application?

A few key factors of a mobile-friendly website include:

• Button sizes that are large enough to be easily functional on a small device.
• Not including flash, which slows downloading speeds and doesn’t agree with the mobile experience.
• Standard fonts that are easily read. Remember, the bigger you can reasonably make the content on your website, the better.

Conclusion

Just like a store owner doesn’t want people walking in and leaving right away, you should you’re your website to be a place people can enjoyably browse around.

If you’re curious about what a “good” bounce rate is, most industry experts say that anything between 26 to 40 percent is great, 41-55% is average, and anything over 70% needs attention.

If your website isn’t keeping users around past the first page, get in touch with us today to find solutions.