Anyone who has Google Analytics knows that the bounce rate is often a pretty low number. The bounce rate refers to the rate of website viewers who view a landing page (it doesn’t matter what page) and then leave the site. You can look at the numbers as a whole or you can break it down page by page. In any case, the number may not be to your liking. It’s a common occurrence, but there are ways you can improve your bounce rate by changing a few minor details on your website.
- Make every page pop out. Sounds simple enough, but it’s not the easiest concept to grasp. If your page is rather plain, I.e no color, no graphic, no incentive, then your page is plain. In other words, improve the design. While you’re at it, improve the grammar. No one wants stay on a page that “looks” boring and poorly written. Some examples to make a page pop out are to:* Add a video plugin to your site.
* Include a survey about your business that you want to know.
* Add an incentive that is worth the potential customer’s time to flip through your pages.
* Include a graphic or two (if that page doesn’t already have one).
* Rewrite your pages to be grammatically correct.At all costs, you want to make the user experience one that’s worth their time. Studies have shown that you have less than five seconds to make an impact on a first-time viewer before they decide to stay on the page and view more pages, or simply leave. Make those five seconds count.
- Speed counts. There’s nothing more frustrating than having a slow website. Nothing says goodbye quicker than a slow page. If your web page takes more than 10 seconds to load, there’s a deeper problem than losing someone on your site. Check all your plugins and errors on the page to determine if there are any loose ends you’re not seeing. It’s not a bad idea to have a friend or family member check the page loading times for every page. This does not take very much time and it is extremely valuable in knowing how your website is loading.
- Utilize an internal search feature. Make sure the search feature is shown quickly on the site. Oftentimes, a first-time visitor leaves because they can’t find what they’re looking for quickly. With the addition of a search feature, it encourages the visitor to at least search for a particular term or item keeping them on the site for longer.
You want your bounce rate to be relatively low. This not only help with the conversion rate, but it helps you in the future, too.