Most people these days know that websites are not like baseball diamonds in cornfields. If you build it and don’t market it, no one will come. When readers come to your site, if they don’t stay you will struggle to reach your website goals.
Fortunately, you can reduce your bounce rate (people that come and immediately leave) and increase your conversions. Many of these techniques are fairly quick and simple.
Here is a quick guide list to help you:
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Make it simple.
Users don’t want to struggle to find menus or figure out what your site is for. Make your user experience and navigation easy to understand.
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Keep the important stuff above the fold.
If people don’t see what they want when they land on the site, they’re going to look somewhere else. “Above the fold” means visible without having to scroll down the page!
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A big button that says “click here”.
Isn’t sophisticated, but it works. Tell people explicitly what you want them to do.
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Work on loading speed.
You want your site to load as quickly as possible. Visitors get tired of waiting for your site to load and will go elsewhere. This is especially true on mobile devices.
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Create great, user-focused content.
Your website should be a carefully curated collection of what your visitors want to see and how you can fix their pain points.
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Mix it up.
Articles and blog posts are great, but videos and images are compelling content tools too. Create slideshows, animated explainers and to keep visitors engaged and interested.
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Use graphics and images to make your sites interesting and engaging.
Make sure they’re high quality and well suited to your message you want to get across.
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Add customer testimonials to your site.
People want social proof. They’re far more likely to stay on sites (and eventually make a purchase) if they see that people trust you.
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Keep your site fresh and interesting.
When people land on a site that’s out of date and old fashioned, they assume it’s a forgotten relic, and look for sites that are modern and up to date.
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Follow the golden rules:
Clear fonts, high contrast, and easy to find and navigate menus. You can get creative with a lot of things, but you don’t want to mess with the usability of your site.
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If you don’t already have an SSL certificate, get one.
Websites with SSL protection tend to rank higher because Google now favors secure sites. Users are savvy enough to look for the lock these days.
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Always include a call to action.
Your blog may draw readers to your site, but if you don’t tell them what to do, they might wander off.
These are just a few of the things you can do to improve your site, cut your bounce rate and improve conversions, and they’re some of the easiest. Try them, and track your results. You may find you only need minor tweaks to get a significant impact.
Author: Mike Gingerich, President of web firm Digital Hill, Co-Founder of TabSite .
Digital and Social Media Marketer, Speaker, and Business Consultant. Part geek, part marketer, total digital junkie! Seeking to add value, make the complex simple, and leave a positive impact.
Follow me on twitter: @mike_gingerich.
