Let’s admit one thing here. Most of us are lazy and we are lazy to do something even if we think it is going to benefit us.
In life, we often look for shortcut to success and this is like in the DNA of every human beings.
So now, if you are reading this post, most probably you are having some unsatisfactory bounce rate and looking for quick solutions.
That’s great because you are on the right track!
I had been working on my bounce rate as well and here are 6 things that you can do quickly to improve your bounce rate.
Use the caching technology
One of the element that cause your bounce rate to be high is your site’s performance. As a result, do some caching here to speed up your site.
You don’t have to go into all the sophisticated configuration because you are not looking on the solution to completely optimize your site.
What you are looking here is to quickly speed up your site and you can refer to my guide on how to install and configure the WP Super Cache plugin.
I’m sure you can do it in less than 5 minutes.
Simplify your navigation
Don’t confuse your visitors!
If there are some navigation at top or side bar of your site which is not appearing to be useful, remove them or put everything at the footer.
Keep the number of your navigation options low so that your reader don’t have to think too much clicking your site.
Install related post plugin
I highly recommend using the YARPP plugin where you can place 3-5 of your related content at the end of your post.
There are some bloggers who like to use the image thumbnail instead of plaintext like me but I still prefer simple text simply because it is fast when it loads.
So, try to display some related content at the end of your post to attract your visitors into clicking more of your relevant post.
Occasionally, it is effective as well to manually insert a list of 3-4 related post in the middle of your content.
Remove distractions
Remove all your affiliate banner.
I had been putting lots of affiliate banner before and they don’t really work unless you write some valuable content to support your affiliate product.
Keep your advertisement reasonable as well. Don’t flood it with only advertisements until your visitor find it difficult to read your content.
Try to measure it in the way that every 800 x 600 of your page has only 1-2 advertisements. In short, just don’t over-do advertising.
The search box is important
If you think the search box is not important, then you are very wrong about this.
Let say that you had written an extremely useful content on how to improve Google Adsense revenue, as a first time visitor to your blog, what I would do next is to search for all your contents that are related to Google Adsense.
Because I think you had just produced a wonderful content, I do not want to miss any of your great masterpiece previously.
So by having me to search for your content, you will end up with a better bounce rate, isn’t it?
Have a Mobile Responsive site
Is your site mobile responsive? Is this important?
Well, of course it is. Do you experience that your search engine traffic decreased during weekends? That is normal because people usually don’t stay on their computer during weekends.
But, because they don’t stay on their computer, doesn’t mean they don’t use the internet.
Today, you will realize that people are actually browsing during weekends on their mobile. If you want to have a better traffic on weekends, you need to start thinking of using a Mobile Responsive theme.
That is why I choose to use the Generate Child Theme of the Genesis Framework for this blog simply because it is Mobile Responsive! If you don’t believe, try browsing my site with your mobile device.
Conclusion – The effort needed
I don’t think you need a few days to implement these six changes to your site.
If everything is smooth and you know the basic of WordPress, it can be done in less than an hour or it could take 2-3 hours if you don’t really know the standard WordPress skills.
What else have you done to improve your bounce rate lazily?
Stay tuned for my next post on how to properly interlinks your site for a better bounce rate.
Alan,you are so right about your points.I want to add here some more important things mean what do you think about theme background color and fonts because they make first impression and all is depend on that.
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Hi Alan,
I like the concept that you have highlighted. This truly happens. I specially like the point of simplifying navigation and removes distractions. These are the most important things which mostly increases the bounce rate. Thanks for the share!!
Aditi,
I appreciate your comment about what you said here.
I am not so good about to make a blast by website but want to ask you that theme and fonts have some value or they are worthless ??
Bhushan recently posted..Travel Software Development api integration
This is a great list. One of the things that I’ve found really helps improve the amount of time visitors stick around on my money sites is to interlink the articles. So instead of the visitor just quickly reading and bouncing, I give them other options they can take to gain even more value from the articles.
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Hey Alan! Thanks for the informative share, at this day and age when people are always on the go, it would be a good idea to make your blog mobile responsive. Distractions are also a no-no, being too focused on selling your products through numerous affiliate banners is a big turn-off.
Yeps, Mobile Responsive is really important here.
It’s true that we should completely veer away from confusing our readers with too many complicated and useless icons and plugins that seldom work to our advantage. My bounce rate is typically high before I decided to get rid of these distractions. Thanks for the share–right on!
Of course that will help 😉
These are great points, Alan. Simple and easy to apply. Thanks for this useful info.
You are welcome, Richa. Thanks for commenting.
There is no doubt that blog’s performance has some effect on bounce rate. So, I use Hyper Cache and DB Cache Reloaded Fix to cache my blogs to improve loading speed.
Resizing web browser is the easiest way to test the responsiveness of a theme.
Chan Huu recently posted..Getting Traffic to Your Blog by Following 7 Simple Tips
I had never tried those. Are they part of W3Total Cache plugin? I remember seeing them somewhere, Chan Huu.
Hi Alan,
They’re 2 cache plugins, not a part of W3TC. There are some articles mention Hyper Cache and DB Cache Reloaded Fix; they’re really effective when they work together. If you don’t mind, I’d like to send you an articles about them.
Chan Huu recently posted..Global Traffic Machine Review – Full Details with Screenshots
Well, Chan Huu. You could write a unique article for this blog and I will publish it on behalf of you. You can refer to my guest post guideline for more information.
http://www.bloggingfever.com/want-to-write-for-blogging-fever/
Hi Alan,
Sorry for the lateness in reply. Thanks for your invitation about guest blogging; I’ll write an unique article for your blog when the time is right 😀
Nice day 😉
Chan Huu recently posted..Getting Traffic to Your Blog by Following 7 Simple Tips
Sure thing, Chan Huu. Let me know when you are ready 😉
A good bounce rate is imperative to achieve success for the websites and the blogs. These are great and effective tips to enhance the bounce rate. In my opinion, removing distractions and installing the related plugins are very helpful in this arena. Thanks for providing these handy tips.
You are welcome Aayna. Thanks for your comment there.
This is a facet of blogging that we are sometimes confronted with–getting rid of clutter, unnecessary plugins and the like will definitely simplify the experience for our readers. This way, we can be ensured that they will stay engaged. Thanks!
The keyword is stay engaged and you are right completely right about that.
Thanks for your comment there.
These are really great points you have mentioned. Bounce rate is definitely a good metric to see whether your blog is doing well in terms of viewership and content that interests your target market.
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That’s right. Thanks for your comment Stacey.
Hi Alan! It’s true that affiliate banners can be distracting and even detrimental to a potential reader. My bounce rate is awfully high so thanks for this timely share!
Agree with you as well. Thanks for your comment.
Hey Alan, engagement should be a facet of blogging that we must go after as bloggers. The moment our potential readers see that we have nothing interesting or of value to offer, they can always refer to other blogs that will give them the experience they are yearning for. These tips are simply practical and undoubtedly effective. Great Job!
Thanks for your comment there, Calra 😉
Having a mobile responsive site is the most wonderful thing you could do to your site. This can work wonders with the bounce rate. Thanks for the great share.
Indeed, yes. Thanks for your comment there, Fatima.
Bounce rate is a good determinant how each page or post in your website performance is. The article above has lots of new concepts laid out for those who have problems with their bounce rate.
Thanks for your comment, Sandra.
Very simple strategies that work. The website speed concept is super important. Studies have shown that if a website doesn’t load in 3 seconds on a smartphone, 80-90% of smartphone users will leave the website! And if its not mobile responsive, 100% of them could be going out the door!
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