Does your bounce rate leave you feeling a little flat? Let’s talk about how to reduce your rate and encourage your visitors to stick around. For the sake of clarity, let me define the term “bounce rate.” Bounce rate refers to the number of people who pop-over to your sight and leave as quickly as they came. They didn’t click on any links, peruse the beautiful pages you created, or respond to your call to action. So, what do you do?

For starters, you want your site to become “sticky.” You want your visitors to be engaged in a way that compels them to stick around longer. But, how do you do this? I’m going to share 5 actionable steps you can take to get more visitors to spend more time on your site…

BUT, before getting started with the steps below. Make sure you check your analytics and note your current bounce rate. Then, you need to determine what “good” bounce rates are for your industry and set a goal for your bounce rate percentage. Check out this article if you need some pointers. Okay, let’s get started!

  • Make sure your site is mobile-friendly. Your mobile site should be clean, concise and quick to load. Most users expect a page to load within 2 seconds. If yours is scrolling for longer you are losing your visitors before they’ve even had a chance to see your content.
  • Optimize for relevance.Most sites provide data for your sights’ key words and how they rank. Make sure your content is aligned with the purpose of your site and what your visitors are searching for. 
  • Include a clear call to action (CTA). Pick the ONE thing you want your visitors to do and make sure every page directs them to this action. If visitors get lost or uncertain they are more likely to leave. 
  • Keep pop-ups to a minimum. Pop-ups are useful but not if they are overwhelming and repeatedly interrupting your visitors from engaging your site. These distractions will drive away your visitors before they can even get to your CTA.
  • Make your site easy to search.  Visitors want to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Do the work for them so they only have to tap a button or two to find what they want.

As you make these changes, make sure you only change one at a time and regularly track your data to find the perfect combination to decrease your bounce rate and increase your engagement!