How To Improve Your Bounce Rate and Keep Readers on Your Blog

The term 'bounce rate' is commonly mentioned by bloggers and it is believed to be an important measurement of how well your blog is doing. However, do you actually know what it means and how you can improve your blog's bounce rate? Today, I've decided to share with you everything I know about bounce rates, from what they are and ways to easily improve them, so I hope you like this post.

WHAT IS A BOUNCE RATE?

Your bounce rate is the percentage of single-page sessions on your blog, so this covers all of the people who have viewed your blog and not interacted with it. Ideally, your blog will have a low bounce rate, meaning users will click on links, view new posts and keep interacting with your blog after initially viewing it. Usually, blogs that aren't very user-friendly or have design issues will have higher bounce rates as users won't progress onto other pages, either due to them not knowing how to or not being compelled to continue reading.

WHY IS A BOUNCE RATE IMPORTANT?

Essentially, your bounce rate shows how many people liked your blog enough to progress onto another page or section of your blog. If a person reads one post and doesn't like what they see or hear, they'll probably leave your blog and, therefore, cause your bounce rate to go up. Therefore, a low bounce rate loosely shows that a lot of people want to read your posts and enjoy your content (I say loosely as there can be other factors affecting your bounce rate, regardless of whether users like your content or not).

HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY BOUNCE RATE?

To improve your bounce rate, you want to ensure that as many users as possible stay on your blog after visiting and that they go on to click on other pages or view different elements of the website. There are various different ways you can go about this, such as:

Adding multiple pages - If your blog consists of a single page, there aren't many other places that they user can visit, meaning they won't make as many clicks. You can simply change this by adding pages such as 'About Me' or 'Contact' that the user can visit. Ensure that these are in a visible place and I can guarantee that a lot of your readers will take a look at them.

Redesign landing page - The landing page of your blog is what your readers will see when they first visit your website. They will form a first impression based on this and it could affect whether they continue to read your posts, so make sure that this page of your blog looks the best possible. If that means adding an eye-catching header, more visual elements or a unique template, do whatever it takes to create the right impression, and I can guarantee that your readers will remain on your blog.

Adding navigation - If you want your readers to stay on your blog then you need to present them with places to go to. By simply adding navigation, which can be implemented through a search bar, categories or an archive, you are giving the readers a wide variety of places to visit and therefore increasing the likelihood that they will stay on your blog. If you don't add these elements, however, your readers won't have anywhere to visit and are more likely to leave your blog after one click.

Gadgets such as related posts and popular posts - When I visit a new blog, I love seeing what content is popular with their audience or if I've read a post that I really enjoyed, I like to see what they have on offer that is similar. By adding these gadgets to your blog, it persuades the users to read them when they wouldn't have otherwise. It's also a way of showcasing your content and giving a brief overview of a post, allowing them to be enthralled before they even click on it.

Urging users to comment - Believe it or not, comments also class as another click on your blog and, therefore, help your bounce rate to decrease. At the end of each post, it's a good idea to ask your readers a question that they can answer in the comments as this is an easy way to interact with your audience while keeping readers on your blog for longer.

Read more in blog posts - I made a decision a while ago to have an excerpt of text from my blog posts on my landing page and if the user wants to read more of what I have on offer then they have to click a link to do so. Although this doesn't work for some people, I feel as though I can easily monitor how many views each post has and it also benefits my bounce rate.

I really hope that this post has helped you and I'd love to know your tips for improving your bounce rate, keeping readers on your blog in the process. Thanks for reading and I'll be back on Sunday with a new post.

Love from Daisy x