I'm not sure the title of this thread properly describes the problem I'm having with bounce rate but had to start somewhere. I have two websites, both are below in my Sig. Both are similar layout. One uses the article dashboard script and the other wordpress. Both are article directories and have a lot of content. The problem I'm having is one has a bounce rate of 86% (wordpress) and the other 20%(article dashboard script) and the time a visitor spends on each site is one minute vs four minutes. Why such a difference when both are so much alike? What can I do to improve both sites?
I would hardly say these sites have a "similar layout". But this is counterintuitive to me. I would guess that Ezgoarticles.com is the one with the high bounce rate. Ezgoarticles.com displays an almost full-page ad, and the ad I happened to see was extremely spammy-looking. That would make me immediately want to leave your site. Articleinformation.com, on the other hand, shows a single, discrete banner ad in the upper right. Yes, it looks a little clunky, but I'd be more inclined to actually explore that site. Have you looked at the traffic sources and the nature of the traffic? Often, bounce rate is less a function of design than it is a function of the way visitors find your site. If they find it through a natural link that gives them an accurate impression of what the site is, they'll explore your site. If they just clicked through and the site isn't what they're looking for, they'll leave. Idle traffic for random, bored people (like stumbleupon) often has a very high bounce rate.
BTW you misspelled "contact" on articleinformation.com, and you have the default "This is an example of a WordPress page" which screams unfinished / uncomplete site. Run a spell-check on these sites and actually complete the sites before coming here asking for help. Otherwise you're just wasting your own time. Get your act together before you try to promote your site. Promoting an unfinished site will just make you look bad. Finish the site first, before promotion, and you will have much better results! Good luck!
Thanks for pointing out the spelling mistake and the criticism on my sites. Sometimes a I can be blind to the most obvious things.