Are you loosing new visitors to your website?

There is no doubt that good internet marketing will attract people to visit your website. The bigger issue however, is how do you keep them coming back and how do you encourage them to stick around and read your content, staying for longer? This is the Holy Grail. In technical terms it is referred to as the ‘Bounce Rate’.

The bounce rate is the speed by which a user leaves your website after they have arrived. If you have a very high bounce rate (40% +) then you are not keep their attention. Low bounce rates (- 40%) are an indication that you are grabbing your user’s attention and keeping them interested enough to stay on your site and read your content. This is a very good sign. You should be aiming for a bounce rate of around 20 – 30%.

So then the question must be, how do I keep them around for longer? Here are a few simple suggestions to help you –

Attracting the right audience is the key to making improvements that are meaningful and lasting. If your marketing is targeting the wrong people, you will get the hits but not much more. Make sure your SEO and internet marketing activity is properly targeting the people who are looking for you!

Your content must be immaculate at all times. It should be interesting, unique and new. Don’t be tempted to spin articles and repeat the same old information over and over. People will not be inclined to follow you or keep returning.

The design of your website is also incredibly important. Do you have calls to action on every page? Does a new visitor to your website know exactly who you are, what you are selling and how they can buy your products? They should be able to answer these questions for themselves within the first minute of landing on your website. Within that first minute they should also be able to clearly see where they should click to find out more, or buy or ask a question. Does your landing page of home page do this? If not, it is strongly recommended that you change it. This will have a direct effect on improving your bounce rate.

Make sure you monitor your progress using Google Analytics. It is a powerful tool with many features which will help you identify exactly how you can get the best form all your SEO, marketing and promotional activity online.