We often can understand how engaging a blog is, by just noticing the bounce rate of the blog.The bounce rate indeed is a major factor that shows how engaging and informative the content on your blog is, and how well it is enjoyed by your readers.
If you’re reading this article, it’s because you’re seeking ways to decrease the bounce rate of your blog. But before actually thinking of reducing the bounce rate of your blog, it is important to know What Bounce rate is after all.
What is Bounce Rate ?
In simple words, bounce rate means the percentage of visitors who only visits a single page on your blog, and then goes off your blog. They may either close the tab of your blog, may redirect to any other site etc., after just viewing a single page of your blog !
Why Is The Bounce Rate Of Your Blog Increasing ?
After knowing the definition of Bounce rate, the next question that will arise on your mind will be, why is the bounce rate of my blog increasing ?
Well, here are some possible reasons :-
- Your content is not effective: By the term “Not-effective” I mean your content maybe irrelevant to the topic, badly formatted, incomplete, or simply not what the reader is seeking for.
- Poor Site Navigation: Numbered page navigation, related and random posts widgets etc., on your blog allows readers to flow from one page to the other. If your blog lacks proper navigation structure, then it might be the main reason of why the bounce rate of your blog is increasing.
- Lots Of Pop-Ups: Another major reason for increase in bounce rate, is the inclusion of lots of popups on your blog. I have lately seen many blogs with pop-up’s including advertisements and subscription boxes, that pop-up from time to time, giving a bad impression for the readers.
- Bad Theme: Theme design and layout is the factor, that gives a first impression about your blog to the readers. If your blog is poorly designed, or if the layout is bad, then no reader will like your blog !
The points mentioned above, is some of the most common reasons of why the bounce rate of your blog might be increasing. Now, let’s find out how to reduce the bounce rate of your blog.
How To Reduce Blog Bounce Rate ?
The lower the bounce rate, the better your blog is ! And below are some ways to decrease the bounce rate of your blog:
- Great Content: The content of your blog, is important for every aspect of your blog, and so is for decreasing the bounce rate. If the content of your blog is engaging, interesting, and informative then no reader will leave your blog, without checking out the rest of your blog posts.
- Reduce Pop-Up’s: By reducing the number of pop-up’s on your blog, you’re giving your readers a hassle free environment to read and navigate through your blog posts. And hence, you’re readers will engage more on your blog.
- Show Related Posts: You can use widgets like LinkWithin, to show related posts below your blog post, so that your readers can flow into other pages after reading the current post. Interlinking is another effective strategy to attract readers to your other blog posts.
- Attractive Design: Always keep the theme of your blog simple, elegant and reader friendly. Install numbered-page navigation and give proper widgets and resources at proper places on your blog’s theme to get a professional look. As I said earlier, blog’s design and layout is an important factor, as it’s the factor that gives the first impression about your blog to the readers.
- Open External Links In A New Tab: We often point towards external links on our blog posts. But most of us, does not point that link to open in a new tab. Hence if the reader clicks on the external link, he/she is directly pointed towards the external link, leaving our blog. Hence always redirect external links to open in a new tab !
So dear bloggers, above are some effective ways to reduce blog bounce rate. I’m pretty sure that if you follow these steps, you can easily and effectively reduce the bounce rate of your blog !