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How can I reduce my bounce rate?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by Stu--, Jun 18, 2009.

  1. rfss4

    rfss4 Peon

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    #21
    Just going to throw it out there your site somewhat looks like a generic "spam" landing page when you type in random domains. People may think that's where they've landed and move on.. Adding a new feel to your theme like others have said should help you out.. Get firebug to optimize your load times
     
    rfss4, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  2. lifeplayer

    lifeplayer Notable Member

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    #22
    To improve the bounce rate, you need to make your loading speed faster, add more unique quality content. And get more targeted traffic. That's the way to improve the bounce rate
     
    lifeplayer, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  3. 3DProf4online

    3DProf4online Peon

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    #23
    Yes, load time also plays a very important role for users.
     
    3DProf4online, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  4. vigneshjothi

    vigneshjothi Peon

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    #24
    catchy titles with good quality content can reduce bounce rate..
     
    vigneshjothi, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  5. bebani

    bebani Peon

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    #25
    Use google website optimizer to reduce the bounce rate. Create multiple pages and let your visitors decide what they like. If i where you i would test the page with a headline and move around the layout and see what works.

    Also a thing to consider is how you get people to your site. If your bounce rate is low it is like people saying "this is what i expected" So be consistent with what you write in your ads and show on the page.
     
    bebani, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  6. jacksons

    jacksons Peon

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    #26
    site is taking too much time to page load .. and also put gud content on your site .. it will helps you lot .
     
    jacksons, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  7. Stu--

    Stu-- Active Member

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    #27
    Are you all saying the content is not good?
     
    Stu--, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  8. MayaLocke

    MayaLocke Peon

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    #28
    Target your audience better. People are clicking through but not finding what they are looking for. If you are optimizing for generic terms make them more specific.
     
    MayaLocke, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  9. 3DProf4online

    3DProf4online Peon

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    #29
    Yes, it is very important to find out the thing that people like very much!
     
    3DProf4online, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  10. GameFriends.com

    GameFriends.com Peon

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    #30
    Hi Stu,

    This advice should make a lot of sense and help you out. I'm redesigning my homepage for some of the same reasons I'm about to give you.

    I love the idea of the box on the left for the Featured Content but the box is just too big. Also, you will want to put text above this box. People read left to right and will read the information as things load (if they have a slow connection). So some text above the content box such as a title of what's in the box would help, as well as making that box smaller so readable text is on the page when they first come there.
     
    GameFriends.com, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  11. digitalX

    digitalX Active Member

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    #31
    it seems that the main problem is loading of your site as it take time to load and lack of the material that people like.
     
    digitalX, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  12. Stu--

    Stu-- Active Member

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    #32
    Thx GameFriends. I've ditched the feature box for now. It looked good but just slowed the site down too much and also I agree that people need things to read. Now my site looks too boring if anything, although I still have to improve the logo. As for the content, the main page is always going to be varied, in order to keep a wider variety of people on the site. A large % of people come to an article page that is aimed at them so this won't be an issue. The main page is just for "everyone else". I mean, it is a broad topic, so I have to live with this.
     
    Stu--, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  13. jillvrill

    jillvrill Peon

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    #33
    Slow loading and un-attractive to the eyes. Looks like one big advertisement instead of any usefull content.
     
    jillvrill, Jun 22, 2009 IP
  14. franktang00

    franktang00 Peon

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    #34
    I started a thread a while back on a quick service online to help you pre-test your content at www.markiter.com:

    http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1385597

    Google Optimizer is good, but it is very time consuming, and it requires you to test with real traffic to your site. You could potentially be wasting this traffic if you are showing them less optimal content.

    Markiter is a service that lets you quickly pre-test headlines/images/video etc, and they find the respondents to provide feedback, instead of wasting the traffic that comes to your site.

    It's worked for me.
     
    franktang00, Jun 23, 2009 IP
  15. xjessie007

    xjessie007 Peon

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    #35
    Sorry, the site looks more like a spam site than a real content site. If you want to reduce bounce rate, provide more better content. Your layout is very unattractive. Use so-called heat map (see here for heat map) to position ads and content blocks.
     
    xjessie007, Jun 23, 2009 IP
  16. Stu--

    Stu-- Active Member

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    #36
    I'm pretty bored of this thread now. I change the site to speed it up and now everyone says it's ugly or a spam site.

    The content is great. It's genuine and insightful, people on normal websites tell us this all the time. I think DP people have just been exposed to too much spam.

    Thanks for the good advice that some of you have given, but I'm really not interested in hearing that it's slow and spam looking any more.
     
    Stu--, Jun 23, 2009 IP
  17. kbeus21

    kbeus21 Peon

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    #37
    Perhaps the keywords are not the right match for your websites content. Just curious how many ads pointing away from your site do you have? This could also affect the bounce.
     
    kbeus21, Jun 23, 2009 IP
  18. brian-hancock

    brian-hancock Peon

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    #38
    Bounce rate varies by type of site as well as referral source. To get a measure on how your bounce rate compares to others in your niche, use Google Analytics benchmarking feature. In some categories, a bounce rate of 40% is normal...

    The bounce rate can also have to do with how people are finding your site. Sometimes sites with lots of content get many visitors via long tail keyword searches that aren't exactly the audience you were intending to target. You can either dismiss this or try to revise the pages they are landing on.

    Good luck!
     
    brian-hancock, Jun 23, 2009 IP
  19. Trazer

    Trazer Greenhorn

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    #39
    I visited your site through the index page. First impressions was that the top half of the page, i.e. above the fold it looked quite bland and there may have been a subconscious element that the colour scheme reminded people of some parked domain landing pages which are usually full of ads. I think the fact that you have an Adsense ad box on the top right corner reinforces that idea.

    I was also about to click away from your site, but out of curiosity I scrolled down, and that's when the page came 'alive' because I could see clear content now, real photographs, article headers, and I found something of interest and clicked through to the article and read it all. I liked the content, I found it quite helpful in one of my own situations, and I would like to ask if you wrote that yourself and if you did and were willing to offer some advice for a specific situation? Probably better in a PM though.

    Anyhow, I wouldn't take the criticisms personally - but what I would recommend is working on the design of the top half, to make it more colourful with distinct contrasts and more content at the top, i.e. featured articles, or a javascript slider that shuffles through the top5/10 pages on your site, with photos, to help people see what content is on offer. The blurb about what the site is about could probably be shifted to a thinner column on either side. Fresh content should be the first point of focus.

    Wish you the best in any case. Peace.
     
    Trazer, Jun 24, 2009 IP
  20. Stu--

    Stu-- Active Member

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    #40
    Thank you for the kind words Trazer. Nice point about the colours being subliminal, I'll look into that.

    Thing is that I've made a lot of changes to the page over the past week based on people's suggestions. It's not perfect but it's getting better and I appreciate the comments.

    I had a javascript slideshow but it just slowed the site down too much. It's currently about as optimized as I can possibly get it, and it's still right on the edge, so that javascript thing is a definite no no. Yesterday I had the recent content at the top and someone said that it looked like a spam site and that I should post decent content.

    Also I complained about not earning enough on Adsense (in another thread) and people said to move the ads to where they are now. Now people complain that it looks spammy. Talk about fine balance.

    Anyone reading this thread wanting to improve their bounce rate, you're seeing a real life case study, that's for sure!


    @ Trazer: As for chatting about the issue you read about, feel free to PM me. I co write most of the articles with another colleague, others are all mine alone and some are all his. We pride ourselves on good content.
     
    Stu--, Jun 24, 2009 IP