Minimising Your Bounce Rate: Top Ten Tips

There is no doubt that, whatever the business, a great deal of effort goes in to the creation of a website and the establishment of a strong online presence but no matter how good we may be; there are two dreaded words that can pop up at any-time and hinder even the greatest of efforts…bounce rate.

What Is A Bounce Rate?

The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave a website after visiting only one page and although there is no set time within which a bounce can occur, it is often agreed that the web user will click off a site within a matter of minutes.

 

Common Causes Of A Bounce

There is no, one set reason for an onsite bounce but the general rule of thumb is that, it has occurred because the specific landing page or perhaps even the website on a whole, has failed to satisfy the requirements of the customer.

• Flawed web design and usability- Is your design appealing and up to scratch? Is your website ready to load across all browsers and devices?
• Ad Copy- Does your PPC advertisement match the landing page your customer will be directed to? The reason for a click will no doubt be because your client has a use for the products and service on offer and if your landing page does not offer what is expected, you can be sure that your customers will quite quickly turn off.
• Content- Is your onsite content up to scratch? Poor quality content that provides little or no service will fail in drawing in your customers.
• Title and Meta Description- Displayed by the search engines, these two seemingly minute details can play a great part in onsite success. Your user will click your title in hope to reach what you have advertised so ensure that your title and descriptions match what your landing pages have to offer or you risk a high bounce rate.

Improving Your Bounce Rate

However high the bounce rate may be on your site, improvements will take time however the gradual effort can greatly minimise your overall rate and in effect, greatly improve the success of your website.

A low bounce rate can yield:

• Increased traffic and page views
• Higher chance of onsite sales
• Improved possibility of customer retention

 

 

Top Tips…

Want to improve your bounce rate? Here are our top tips…

• Loading Time- Ensure that your website takes, at most, a few seconds to load or your visitors will get bored of waiting.
• Minimise Advertising- Banner ads can cheapen the look of a site and turn off your customers so keep these to an utter minimum.
• Links- Often, if links open in the same window, visitors can get frustrated so ensure that any opening links are directed to a new video, allowing users to stay on your site.
• Internal Linking- Ensure that a clean and appropriate internal link path is established to allow easy navigation through your site. It is agreed that your user should be able to get from your landing page to making a sale within a few clicks, so make it as easy as possible.
• Layout- A responsive layout will ensure that your website is ready to load according to different devices and with mobile usage on the rise; having a website ready to scale itself to any browser and device will greatly improve your success.
• Clean Intentions- Do not attempt to trick your onsite visitors into anything, keep your links clean and your landing pages appropriate and highly functional and don't try to use misleading headlines or you not only risk the wrath of your customers but Google's latest algorithm updates.
• Visual Impact- Is your site well designed and laid out? Keep your user in mind by ensuring simplicity in navigation and portray an image of quality to ensure you intrigue, rather than turn off, your user.
• Quality content- Make sure your content passes basic grammatical tests and ensure a friendly, clear and warm tone remains throughout and above all, determine whether your content offers something of value in order to retain your visitors for as long as possible.
• Date- Keep all content, images, resources and anything else as up to date not only for the purpose of Google's latest algorithm but your users as 'Data collected January 199' would put even the best of us off.
• Search Box- Keep in mind that in today's fast paced society, your users will want immediate results so does your website offer the capability for this? A search box will ensure that even the most impatient will be able to immediately scour your website.

Remember than Bounce rate is also a ranking factor so maximise your success in 2013 by minimising your bounce rate!