One of the things that you have to understand is that it isn’t enough that you have visitors. You also have to take a closer look at your retention. Do they visit other pages? Or maybe, they just choose to leave the site the moment that they see your homepage? Nowadays, the bounce rate is a crucial part of every online marketing campaign. As rule of thumb, you want the bounce rate to be around 26% to 40%. So how do you reduce the bounce rate for your website? Here are some strategies that you might want to check.
1. Fast Loading Time
First, you want to check if the website can load fast. If it isn’t even loading within 2 seconds, expect a good number of your visitors to stay. Fast internet comes with a price. People are no longer patient to wait for your website. And given the reality that there are a number of competitors out there, you can expect them to simply ditch your site if you can’t show them what they are looking for. Google is also considering loading time when it comes to ranking websites.
How do you make your website to run fast? Perhaps, you need to check your hosting. There is a chance that the host is geographically far from your usual market. This means that if you have an Asian market, it is better to find a host within Asia. Next, you also want to consider your site’s code. Perhaps, have a back end web developer check your site’s code.
2. Visuals
The World Wide Web caters to our visuals. You have a lot of people watching videos in 4K, and those who love to look at their Instagram feed for the very same reason. If you opt to make your visitors stay, invest in a visually appealing web design.
In addition to this, there are some aspects of web design that can ruin the visual experience for your visitors. For instance, you want to find the right colors that complement each other. Also, you need to make use of the right photos that can match your overall branding.
3. No Pop-Up
Let’s admit that pop-up advertisements can be your means of getting your customer’s information. Or it can also be a way to increase your site’s income. However, based on a user’s perspective, this is something that you want to minimize or avoid completely.
To give you an idea just how much people hate pop-ups, in 2013, there was a study saying 70% of users online hate popups. Though it can provide you additional income or it can be a good way to grow your emails, it can also be your site’s downfall. In fact, only 14% of consumers are most likely going to respond to a popup advertisement.
4. Call-to-Action
A lot of users don’t have an idea of what they should be doing next in your content. Some will just scroll and explore different pages, while others will just leave when they don’t find anything interesting on your website.
Now, a call-to-action can make a huge difference in your website. What it does is help guide your audience on what they should be doing next. Should they be going to a specific product that you are offering with a discounted price? Or should they read the latest post that is similar to the page that they are reading? Regardless of your goal, you can guide your visitors to navigate on your website.
The secret is to have a strong call-to-action that can get your visitors interested. You want your audience to make a purchase or at least consider what you are offering to the table.
5. Highly Informative Content
One reason why people found your site is because of your content. By now, you may have known that Google’s algorithm prioritized websites that have high-quality content. Keep in mind that high-quality content can also keep your audience browsing through your published content.
What makes good content that can get people to stay in your site? A lot of people tend to just scan the page. One of the things you will consider is your voice. Having the right voice can potentially get your audience’s attention.
Aside from your voice, you should also invest in contents that are engaging to your audience. Keep them interested by the way you write. It may take a bit of practice and even trial and error, but it is a skill that can be developed through time.
Also, content doesn’t just mean that you stick to texts. You can also include videos, infographics, and photos to get people’s attention.
As for your content, it should be published in a regular manner. This way, you have more posts to offer to your audience.
6. Make the Website Compatible with Mobile Devices
People check websites via their smartphone and their desktop. In fact, mobile traffic has already surpassed desktop traffic in some places. It only means that it has become a norm to have a website that can be readily viewed and used regardless of the size of the screen.
And not only should you worry whether or not the website design is going to fit in different screens, but you also have to make sure that you consider user-experience especially on mobile. You want to know which portion of the desktop design should be taken out while how should you make navigation easy for your visitors?
Buying Followers
There was a time when brands, especially on Instagram, have been going after bot accounts to make their following look big. Unfortunately, it can become a problem in the future. For instance, it becomes difficult to know whether or not you are attracting your market or not. Also, keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to turn followers into customers.
What social media marketing managers should be doing is to work slowly but surely. It means that you should focus on capturing the attention of your legit audience. To do this, you will need to rely on your content.
7. Develop Credibility within Your Niche
Lastly, you want to have a solid reputation if you want your audience to stay. Given the number of other websites out there in your niche, your credibility matters. One great way to increase your overall credibility is by being transparent about your sources. Make sure to lead your audience to your sources.
Also, if you are selling products to your audience, be sure that their information is safe. This means that they don’t have to worry that you are going to sell their email to other companies in the future. And also, it can help reduce the dilemma of consumers whether or not to buy a product from your company.
To gain their trust, you will also need to have a professionally made web design. And of course, you should also include your phone and other pertinent information about your company.
Failing to Check the Analytics
Just like anything, you will have to know your numbers. You need to at least have an idea of whether or not a campaign is doing well or not. Try to take a closer look at your engagement, sales, and even a jump in the number of people following your social media accounts. By checking the analytics, you know whether or not the campaign was effective. You can have a reference for your future plans too if you consciously take a closer look at your numbers regularly.
Social media marketing is a tricky subject that businesses need to take seriously. In fact, it holds so much potential that you can grow your business using this online marketing method alone. Be wary of these mistakes and see if you are committing these things in your campaign. You will be surprised by the positive outcome that it can produce once you start to eliminate these things.
Conclusion
Getting your traffic to grow is already hard enough. What you have to realize is that getting your audience to stay on your website can be tricky. Though there’s no generic approach to this problem, these are some of the most common solutions that might want to implement. Of course, don’t forget to take a closer look at your statistics to figure out which strategy works best for your niche.