Bounce rate is one of the most important statistics for marketers to keep an eye on. If your bounce rate is high, it means that people are leaving your website after viewing only one page. This can be a sign that your website is not providing what people are looking for, or that it is not user-friendly.
For inbound marketers, a high bounce rate is very scary. It shows that they’re not attracting enough qualified traffic to effectively convert them into leads and ultimately into sales.
Fortunately, there are a few simple steps that can help combat this issue and improve the user experience.
1- Optimize page speed
Most marketers assume that if their page’s bounce rate is high, then they must have poor quality content. However, in many cases, the issue is not with the page’s content but with the user experience and the website’s page load speed
One of the most common problems with a web page is taking forever to load. As for users, if a web page can’t load in two seconds or less, they’ll leave (in fact, one study found that as page load time goes from one second to three seconds, the probability of bounce increases by 32%!)
According to another study from Radware, a connection delay of 500 milliseconds can result in a decrease in engagement by 8% and increase frustration by 26%.
Fortunately, there are a few simple steps you can take to improve page speed:
- Reduce image sizes. Large images make your website slow and hurt SEO performance. Reduce the file size of your images before uploading them to your website.
- Optimize your code. Make sure you’re using proper coding techniques and that your pages are well structured. This will help reduce the number of requests made to the server, which will improve page speed.
- Minimize redirects. Redirects add time to the page load process, so try to avoid them if possible.
- Use a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN will help speed up the delivery of your website’s assets, such as images and CSS files, to users around the world.
If you follow these tips, you can dramatically improve your page speed and reduce your bounce rate.
2- Include a clear Call to Action
You should also consider what action the user wants to take when they consume content. Once you know what the user wants, then create a compelling call to action (CTA) to help them take that next step.
Even though it would be great if you could include several calls to action on a single page. However, the more CTAs you include on a single page, the more likely it is to confuse and overwhelm your users.
For example, if you have a blog post about the best ways to improve your website, your CTA could be:
“Want to know how to improve your website? Get more tips here.”
If you want to learn more about improving your website, this CTA is clear and directs the user to a specific page on your website where they can find more information.
Including a clear and compelling CTA is one of the most effective ways to reduce your bounce rate.
3- Use a useful internal linking structure
Bloggers, often use internal linking to help users navigate their site and find related content that’s relevant to the topic they’re currently reading.
Internal links can help you keep people on your site and reduce bounce rates. The more relevant the content, the better chance a user will stay on the page and click through to another page.
Ideally, you should choose a logical and relevant linking strategy. For instance, if you take a look at some of our SEO guides or blog posts, you’ll see that we often link to other topics that are related to the original post, such as SEO ranking factors and keyword research for SEO.
However, you should avoid overdoing it with internal links as this can frustrate users who are reading your content.
For example, if you’re writing a blog post about common mistakes to avoid when creating CTAs and include a link to a post about creating effective CTAs, that’s helpful. However, if you include a link to your home page in every paragraph, that’s overkill and it will confuse your readers.
4- Remember readability
When you’re writing your content, it’s important to remember readability. This means that your content should be easy to read and understand.
You can improve readability by using short paragraphs, lists, and headings. You should also use simple language that is easy to understand.
Additionally, make sure you include plenty of white space around your text to help break it up and improve readability.
You should also consider breaking up your content with images, videos, or graphs when needed. This will help break up the text and keep users interested in reading the rest of your content.
By following these tips, you can create content that is easy to read and understand, which will help reduce your bounce rate.
5- Have a good website design
The website’s design is your best chance at forming a good first impression. If the design is confusing and hard to use, people will leave your site before they even get started.
A poorly designed and poorly-optimized website can cause visitors to quickly abandon your business. Visitors will not spend a lot of time on a website that is hard to navigate or has difficulty in trusting. On the other hand, an attractive and well-designed website can make them stay longer and provide a great user experience for visitors.
When designing a website you should make sure to:
- Use a simple and consistent layout
- Use easy to read fonts
- Avoid using too much animation or flashy graphics
- Reduce the number of ads on a page to reduce clutter
- Make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices
6- Use relevant keywords
Keywords are an important part of any content marketing strategy. By using relevant keywords in your content, you can improve your search engine rankings and help people find your content.
However, you should avoid keyword stuffing, which is the act of filling your content with so many keywords that it becomes difficult to read.
Instead, you should use keywords strategically throughout your content. This will help improve your search engine rankings while still providing valuable content for your readers.
By doing so, you can create content that is both valuable and keyword rich, which will help reduce your bounce rate.
7- Limit broken links
Broken links are often a sign of a poorly maintained website. When users find broken images, videos or other content on your site, it can be very frustrating. This is especially true if they’ve been trying to access the content for a long time and are having trouble doing so.
When users find broken links on your site, they’ll probably leave before they even have a chance to explore more of what you have to offer.
For this reason, it’s important that you regularly check your site for broken links and fix them as soon as possible. You can use a tool like Screaming Frog to help you find and fix broken links.
By keeping your site free of broken links, you can reduce your bounce rate and keep users engaged with your content.
8- Create a 404 page that is helpful
A 404 page is typically a landing page that informs users that the page they were trying to access is not available.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t include helpful information on your 404 page. For example, you could include a search bar so users can find the information they’re looking for.
You could also include a list of popular pages on your site or links to your most popular products or services.
A proper 404 error page can help reduce the number of users who leave your site after encountering a 404 error.
9- Blog regularly
A lot has changed since the inception of blogging. Today, 70% of marketers are focused on delivering high-quality content.
One of the best ways to improve your website’s bounce rate is by regularly blogging. When users know that a site is updated frequently, they are more likely to return often.
For example, if you’re a travel blogger and only post once per month, it’s unlikely that users will return often. However, if you post every day or two, your readers will know there is always new content available.
You don’t have to blog every day, but it’s a good idea to be consistent with your posting schedule.
You can also create a blog that complements your website and includes links to your site. This will help you drive more traffic to your website and reduce the number of users who bounce back after visiting a single page.
10- Identify Your target audience
The goal of any digital marketing campaign should be to identify the characteristics of the ideal customer.
Getting to know your audience is an incredibly important step of any digital marketing campaign, in fact, it is an important step of any marketing campaign in general.
Not only do you need to know the locations and demographics of your potential customers, but also their exact interests and goals.
Just like the relevant keywords mentioned above, the site should have relevant content across all its sections and should be targeted to the right users.
Targeting should not be too broad to get the most out of its users. Instead, it should be focused on a specific group of users.
Wrap up!
Using these tips will help you create a website that is both valuable and engaging for your users while reducing your bounce rate.
If you have any questions about how to reduce your bounce rate, feel free to get in touch and our team will help you out.
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