10 Tips on How to Reduce Your Websites Bounce Rate
So ideally you want people to visit your website, and then stay for longer periods of time, browsing different parts of the site and then converting to clients or making an enquiry. When this happens, your bounce rate is reduced.
To help reduce your bounce rate, follow our ten tips listed below. One thing to consider, before we start, is the reason behind your increased bounce rate. More than likely, you’re either acquiring the wrong kind of traffic to your pages, or you’re finding the right traffic, but those people are finding exactly what they are looking for in one page. If it’s a case of the latter, then a higher bounce rate isn’t really an issue. If you believe that you’re attracting the wrong website traffic, or that your site itself is an issue, then you may find the following tips very useful.
1. Avoid Pop-Ups and adverts where possible.
Pop-up and static adverts can be off-putting to many website visitors. They can disrupt the user experience and get in the way of the main objectives of your website.
2. Make sure you have clear and obvious navigation, throughout the website.
If you want people to continue looking through your site, then you need to make it easy for them to do so. A complicated, confusing navigation can easily deter people and make them look elsewhere.
3. Make sure your website design is up to scratch.
Poor design is becoming less tolerable – especially as good design is easy to come by. Your website should contain attractive content, in the way of graphical treatments and readability.
4. One of the main aspects of a website which can severely increase bounce rates is speed.
Loading times are highly off-putting, especially to those of us who are a little impatient. With internet speeds ever increasing, it doesn’t take much for someone to look elsewhere for something a little quicker.
5. Have you used responsive website design?
With more and more of us using different platforms to access the internet on a daily basis (smart phones, tablets and so on), it is important that your website displays correctly across a number of screen sizes.
6. Internal Search Function
Does your website contain a lot of information? Then you can make it much easier for people to find what they are looking for by providing an internal search function. It allows visitors to locate specific areas of your site both quickly and easily.
7. Make sure you have helpful error pages.
Sometimes, regardless of how hard we try to prevent it, people will come across a 404 page or similar within your website. Make sure that you have a useful 404 page to direct people back to the home page of your website.
8. Split up large chunks of information.
This includes images and text. A bulk of information across most of a website page can really put people off. Break up your content so that people can easily navigate their way through the pages, instead of taking one look at it and leaving.
9. Make your purpose clear.
Ensure that you are making your message obvious for visitors. The longer it takes someone to figure out the aim of your website, the more likely they are to leave. You only have a few seconds to make a good first impression – let people know what you’re all about as soon as you can.
10. Good SEO
Above all, good SEO can really help reduce bounce rates. It allows you to direct certain traffic to a particular page or area within your website. It also enables you to track visitor behaviour, so that you can discover what it is that’s really bringing visitors to your site – and improve on it.
Of course, a combination of all of the above will have the best impact possible, within your website. For more information on how to improve bounce rates, contact the professionals at Varn. We look forward to hearing from you.
