7 Clever Ways To Fix A High Bounce Rate On Your Website

Guest Post by Michelle Deery

There are few better metrics to measure your website’s performance with than the bounce rate. Essentially, the bounce rate refers to the number of users directed to your site who click away after viewing one page. And while bounce rate goals vary with every site, there is no doubt that a high bounce rate points to your website needing a serious redesign.

Here are 7 clever ways to fix a high bounce rate on your website.

Choose The Right Theme

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One factor that has a significant effect on a website’s bounce rate is the website’s theme. Countless themes are available on a variety of platforms. But only responsive themes lead to decreasing the bounce rate.
For instance, Shopify has a lot of wonderful, optimized themes that can help reduce bounce rates.

Limit The Number Of Ads

A sure way to turn off users is by having an overabundance of advertisements, including popups. Not only do ads take a long time to load (and this is especially true for those that use images or videos), they also distract from your website’s content. A HubSpot study found that 57% of people dislike online video advertising that appears before the content loads.

After all, the last thing users want is to be bombarded with dozens of ads, as this is likely to cause them to bounce.

Optimize Page Load Time

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Nothing is more frustrating than having to wait for a page to load. In fact, page load time is one of the foremost factors in a website’s bounce rate, with 47% of consumers expecting a webpage to load in two seconds or less.

There are a number of free tools online that measure your site’s speed in order to determine if it’s loading fast enough. Check out Pingdom, if you want to discover what your website’s load speed is.

Some of the factors that can lead to slow load times are outdated code and too many images.

Enhance Your Content’s Readability

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If you’ve ever visited a website that’s overloaded with text, you probably know how taxing that can feel to read. And when users feel overwhelmed, there’s a good chance they’ll click away and search for an alternative.

To ensure that users enjoy their experiences, format the content so it’s easy to read. For example, the company MightySkins uses a well-designed theme for its Oculus wraps, and its product descriptions aren’t in dense paragraphs.

This usually means adding the correct spacing between paragraphs and using subheadings to separate different sections. Your goal should be to create an amazing user experience for your visitors.

Make Sure Your Content Is Relevant

In a world that’s constantly evolving, it can be difficult to stay up-to-date on relevant topics. But this is necessary when you own a website. When users search for information, they look for the most relevant data. And if your website’s content is outdated, this can lead to a high bounce rate.

The best way to ensure users have access to the information they seek is to continually monitor changes within the industry on which the site is based and to update posts accordingly.

Use A Call-to-Action

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There is perhaps no better way to increase your site’s conversion rate than by utilizing a call-to-action section. And this is also true regarding the bounce rate. A call-to-action is a web feature that uses strategic language to help entice users to take a particular action, such as seeking additional information or making a purchase.

For example, a call-to-action may say something like “If you’d like to know more about our product, click here!” With language like this, there is an increased chance that users will click that section and be directed to another page, thus decreasing the bounce rate.

Open External Links In New Tabs

If you’re familiar with SEO, you may know that link-building is a powerful way to rank a website higher in the search engines. And because of this, many sites use linking techniques within their content. And while there is nothing wrong with linking to external pages, these pages need to open in a new a tab. Otherwise, the user experience is interrupted.

The primary problem with opening links in the same tab is that users then have to click the back button. This takes time and is annoying. To ensure users don’t prematurely click away from your site, download a plugin that automatically sets all links to open in a new tab or window.

In Summary

As it’s been shown, a high bounce rate can be detrimental to your website’s performance. Consequently, you need to take measures to ensure your visitors enjoy their browsing experiences. There are many ways to fix a high bounce rate. One of the most important is making sure to use a well-formatted theme that’s been optimized to load quickly. Additionally, try to limit the number of advertisements on your site, so you don’t overwhelm users.

Furthermore, if you want to keep visitors on your page, try adding a call-to-action where they can click for more information about your products or services. Lastly, remember to limit the number of links within your pages’ content. This way, visitors won’t be distracted as they read your copy.

About the author:
Michelle Deery is a team member and content writer for Heroic Search in Tulsa.
She helps businesses improve their online presence by writing educational and engaging content.