Bouncy Bouncy
Thursday January 10th 2007, 21:45 pm
Don't worry this isn't a post about how I did an aerobics class without a sports bra, I'll spare you the details of that little episode, I'm sure you'd rather here about the bounce rate of LoveGirls.co.uk anyway! For those who don't know what a bounce rate is, it's when a visitor on your site only visits 1 page in a given session, a bounce can be caused by:
* Closing the browser / tab or typing in a new URL
* Clicking the Back button and leaving your site
* A session timeout, where no actions are taken after set time period (usually 30 minutes)
For LoveGirls.co.uk the bounce rate until recently was around 40%, I consider this average for most sites. However, the SEO efforts finally started to kick in, the site now gets 400 visitors a day from Google, just over a quater of it's daily traffic but it's caused the bounce rate to rise to 57%
So how can I reduce my bounce rate?
I checked the most common exit pages which were in the funny pictures and gallery sections, I added back and next buttons so people can easily browse through other pictures. For articles I added tags so visitors can easily find related content.
Because of the extra traffic Google sends the site I won’t be losing sleep over the increased bounce rate, but I will keep looking at new ways to keep users on the site.
Any suggestions?
Leave A Comment
Showing 20 out of (24) Comments
Posted by BillyWarhol, at 06:41 on Wed, Feb 20th
LOLLLL
Bouncy Bouncy Sells!!
;PPP
I was trying to figger out who was in yer EntreCard Ad?
Posted by Shelia, at 06:35 on Wed, Feb 13th
I don't know how long LoveGirls has been on the internet, but I\'ve found that within the first year, as people are discovering a new blog, the bounce rate tends to be high. But after the blog gets more established and has a core of regular readers, that bounce rate tends to be minimal.
LoveGirls has some great articles and is a very upbeat blog. I can\'t imagine that you'll keep a high bounce rate for long.
Posted by 1 Million in 365 Days, at 00:41 on Wed, Feb 13th
My bounce rate is really high due to all that Entrecard traffic. I am a really new blogger, so I'm still learning a lot of stuff. Hopefully I'll reduce my bounce rate too!
Posted by Bruce Cat, at 15:50 on Thu, Jan 24th
I too get a lot of bounce rate, but mostly from entrecard users :)
Posted by Joe Tech, at 17:53 on Thu, Jan 17th
Move the "Rate It" stars right under (or over) the photo... just the stars, though. Make them stand out more, too. The light pink on white is hard to see. Make the act of rating the image also move the visitor to the next image. My theory is that this should not only get more pictures rated, but it should drop your bounce rate down, too.
Posted by StanHayes, at 05:32 on Thu, Jan 17th
I usually write longer articles, but I wonder if that keeps them there longer or makes them bounce even quicker because the article's length is too daunting.
Posted by Gary R. Hess, at 15:00 on Wed, Jan 16th
It's natural that organic traffic has a higher bounce rate. It isn't always a bad thing. The user comes to your site, finds what they want, then leaves.
Posted by shy guy, at 13:07 on Tue, Jan 15th
First time visit this blog...
Nice to know this blog
Posted by Calxenia, at 11:52 on Sun, Jan 13th
Adding the next button is a great idea. I will try it on my site. Thanks.
Posted by Leon, at 07:22 on Sat, Jan 12th
I don't really pay attention to my bounce rate. I just want my content to be seen enough to attract some readers.
Posted by Gurl in tha City, at 23:55 on Fri, Jan 11th
I never really made an effort to address my statistics or even understand page views. I guess I need to start paying attention. Re: Alexa, I read that it wasn\'t reliable? Any truth to this?
Posted by Stephan Miller, at 17:14 on Fri, Jan 11th
I have noticed that Entrecard contributes to bounce rate. While my Alexa rank has increased, the pageviews per visitors has decreased. I am not complaining. About half the Entrecard traffic is good. Everything has a trade off.
Posted by mcangeli, at 14:06 on Fri, Jan 11th
Count me in as another hoping for some video proof of the bounce rate!
From galleries and photos, there isn't too much you can do to cut down the exits outside of adding a preview of the next or previous photos and providing a way for people to get to them.
Articles/posts are easier as you can add the related links and other information to them.
Posted by Debo Hobo, at 13:09 on Fri, Jan 11th
Being a newbie this piece of info is really helpful. Thanks:)
Posted by Scott, at 12:39 on Fri, Jan 11th
This is a great example of really digging in to and using your statistics to help shape your site and make it a better resource for your readers. Great post.
SB
Posted by soundtrackgeek, at 07:57 on Fri, Jan 11th
Aha! So that's what the bounce rate is. I see I have some work to do to reach 40% or even 57%. some great ideas here. Thanks for the information!
Posted by SEO News, at 06:37 on Fri, Jan 11th
If you did have a video of you doing aerobics with a sports bra, I bet your bounce rate would be WAYYYYY lower. lol.
Seriously though, you could try a related articles section under each post. Or another really good trick is to link to old related posts in the beginning of your posts.
Posted by Asif, at 06:37 on Fri, Jan 11th
Nice post. I also second the notion of adding related links.
Posted by Ellie Blunt, at 02:45 on Fri, Jan 11th
Excellent thoughts! I find I occasionally reference past post, so when I do, I make sure I link to those as well. Also, if I do a series of related articles that take a few weeks, I may recap with links as well.
Hope it helps.
Posted by Jason, at 01:02 on Fri, Jan 11th
Good point. I need to make sure I check my bounce stats more often. I must admit though, I was interested in that aerobics class without a sports bra..................................just saying.
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