Simple ways to get readers to stay awhile
Getting visitors to come to your blog is one thing. Getting them to stick around is another.
The longer you can keep your visitor’s attention, the more likely they will be to share your content on social media sites, comment on your posts, click on your sponsor’s ads or subscribe to your list. Ultimately, it’s in your best interest to find ways to improve your blog so that these things can happen. Here are 4 very simple ways you can do it.
1. Link to other posts/pages on your blog
This is the number one way to increase the time visitors spend on your site. When you link to other places on your blog from a post, it gives the visitor something more to read, therefore potentially increasing page views (the number of pages a visitor clicks on before leaving your blog).
This can be accomplished many, many ways, but one good technique you can implement is to link keywords in your post to a relevant page or previous post. This will also improve your blog’s search engine ranking for those keywords – but take care to not overdo it.
You can also try using a related posts plugin, such as LinkWithin, to auto-generate and display relevant internal links at the end of your posts.
2. Keep your blog focused
One of the main reasons for high bounce rate is irrelevancy. If people are coming to your blog expecting to read about a certain topic, make sure your posts are relevant to that topic. Otherwise, your visitors will walk away. If you find yourself wanting (or needing) to publish a post that’s a little off-topic, just make that clear in your post. Say something like, “I know this post is a little off-topic, but…” so your visitors will know that it’s an exception. They will probably stick around to find what they were looking for.
3. Use excerpts on your home page
This is not only a good technique for increasing page views and the length of time your visitor stays, it’s also just great blogging technique. When you use excerpts, you give people who land on your home page a nice overview of several articles, and they will mentally bookmark the ones they want to come back to during their visit.
The most important reason to use excerpts is that it will improve visibility into your other content. If for some reason your latest post doesn’t intrigue someone who visits, perhaps your other ones will. They won’t see them, though, if your home page can only fit the latest post. Consider either using a theme that truncates your home page posts automatically, or making good use of the More tag, which will truncate the post at a position that you determine.
4. Improve your navigation
Your visitors won’t be able to read your other content if they can’t find it, so it’s essential that you use good navigation on your blog. Try using an Archives widget or create an Archives page, or display your categories in the sidebar or footer. The last thing you want to create is a black hole, which happens when a visitor comes to a post through a link but then has nowhere else to go but off your site.
All of the above are simple, easy-to-accomplish tips for improving your visitor’s experience with your blog. Essentially, if your site has lots of great content that is easy to find, your visitors will stick around to read it, bookmark it for later, pass it on or decide to subscribe so they can keep up with you. If you have any questions or want more specifics on how to do any of the above, please feel free to reply to this post.
Spring cleaning the blogosphere
It’s spring. That means that the flowers are blooming and your house is overstuffed with neat gadgets and other trinkets you picked up over the past year. After you have managed to tackle the clutter inside your home then you must tackle the clutter on your blog.
Defining the clutter
Clutter can come in many forms. I would identify it as any elements on your blog that are unnecessary for basic functionality or widely unused elements by users. For example, if your audience doesn’t make use of social media then it wouldn’t be wise to waste the space on promoting your Twitter account.
Keeping a clean blog is important
Clean interfaces will improve user experiences. It allows your readers to navigate and read content without the confusion caused by unnecessary elements on the page. Clean interfaces will reduce bandwidth usage and decrease load times.
Google has recently shown the love for simplistic design by now factoring load times into search results. Google wants to deliver content quickly and effectively. This change makes it even more important that you remove the clutter and let your content take center stage.
1. Removing unnecessary plugins – Plugins can add functionality to your blog, but with the vast amount available they can quickly become a way to increase load times and clutter your blog. Take your blog back to the basics by delete some plugins.
2. Reducing the space between the top and content area – Studies have shown that users spend 80% of their time within the fold. By reducing the space between the top of the page and content area it improves the chances readers will view more content.
3. Cutting out useless imagery – Imagery can help users quickly identify with content but don’t overdo it. Cut out all imagery that isn’t necessary. It helps reduce load times, bandwidth usage, and articles could appear higher on search results.
4. Revamping or deleting old content – Make sure to revisit old content because search engines drive traffic to even older pages. You should start by making content relevant and updated to current standards.
A clutter free blog is a happy blog. It promotes users to read content and reduces confusion. Google and other search engines realize that people are inpatient. They want content quickly. When managing your blog don’t get caught in the latest trends.
Keep your blog simple and clean.
