over 80% of my visitors stay on one of my sites for less than 30s, obviously this is not a good thing! How would one go about getting visitors to hang around more. Obviously i need to improve my writing, but does design play a part too?
People will stay if they find what they want. Design only really plays a large part if it's bad, to be honest - if it's so garish it hurts the eyes, or hard to read, for example.
Good design is important but no as important as your website contents. If they find your contents is just what they're looking for, they will stay longer. And they even click on related link that is on your site.
You are talking "bounce rates" as well as visitors not exploring "deep" into your site. I would start by looking at what your site is trying to do: 1. Is there a clear purpose that your visitors will understand? 2. Is it easy to scan a page and see what I need to read? 3. Are there clear calls to action to help me understand what to do next? 4. Is the content interesting? 5. Is the design appropriate? 6. Can I see links clearly and differentiate between those that will take me away from the site and those that will take me deeper? Good luck.
Design plays a minor role in this. They would only leave the site if (1) the site looks unprofessional or (2) you used blinding colors or layout. But it is really the content. If they feel contented by what you have offered they will explore further in search for more useful articles. However, if your content sucks. then they will simply leave. Remember, online readers are skimmers. We look at things at the top. That's hy lists and subcategories always work with us. Make your articles interesting enough for people to read further. This is the only way I know that will decrease bounce rate.
They've probably found all that they want on the page they landed, and simply closed the site. It could be the opposite too. A good navigational structure may see an improvement in the number of pages that your visitors visit.
Well it depends on your content and your traffic sources, if you improve the targeting of your traffic through increasing search engine traffic and create content that makes people want to stick around, they will.
points 1 3 6 are bang on! having some input from here i have realised a major flaw in the setup of my sites navigation! cant belive i never spotted it but i shall try and fix it now and hopefully