One website traffic analysis metric that every site owner should be aware of is bounce rate.  Your website’s bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who enter your site and “bounce” [leave your site] rather than staying and viewing other pages within your site.  Bounce rates can be used to help measure the effectiveness of an entry page, or other pages within your site.  The lower the bounce rate a page has the better.  If your website has an appealing look and feel to it, and users can navigate through your site with ease, then chances are you have a low bounce rate.

High bounce rates can be very irritating, especially if your dishing out a significant amount of money on SEO and PPC to get visitors to your site – you don’t want all that money to go down the drain.  If your website has a high bounce rate, don’t worry.  There are many things you can do to lower the bounce rate of your website, and I’m going to share five of those things with you below.

Design

Do yourself a favor and look at your website.  Do you really find it appealing?

While most of your site’s visitors aren’t graphic designers, they sure can pinpoint a poor design, and that’s a big turnoff for consumers.  If your site has a high bounce rate, then reevaluate your site’s design and look.  You’d be surprised how much of a difference an attractive website can do for your business.

Load Time

Have you ever visited a website that took forever to load?  It’s flat out annoying, and chances are you immediately “bounced” out of the site.  That’s why it’s important to make sure your site’s load time is fast.  A slow-loading website is not only bad for a site’s visitors, but it’s also seen negatively by Googlebots, which collect documents from the web to build a searchable index for the Google search engine.  Page load time is one of many factors that Google takes into consideration when ranking websites [along with bounce rate].  The faster the page load time, the better the rankings.

Navigation

Consumers want to find information quickly and efficiently, and thus it’s important to make sure your site has a clear, easy-to-use navigation.  Whatever you have that’s making users come to your site, make sure it is easily accessible from the get go (your homepage).  If users can’t immediately find what they’re looking for on your site, they will bounce.

Responsiveness (mobile-friendly)

In one of my previous blog posts, I expressed how important it is to have a mobile-friendly website.  When consumers are on-the-go, they use their mobile devices to browse the Internet.  This is why it’s extremely crucial that you have a mobile-friendly website.  Your website’s bounce rate will significantly decrease if it’s mobile-friendly.

If your site’s bounce rate is too high, I would strongly consider evaluating these four things to see if your site needs some attention.  That’s all I’ve got for this Friday afternoon.  Thanks for reading!

The post 4 Ways to Lower Your Website’s Bounce Rate appeared first on Clix.

If we combine the rapid growth of mobile Internet usage, as well as consumer behavior on mobile devices, it only makes sense that businesses invest in mobile websites.  Well, what exactly is a mobile website?  It’s a site constructed exclusively for the mobile experience, and includes features such as click-to-call and click-to-map, making it easy for users to contact and find your business–instantly.  It’s basically a straightforward version of your traditional website that’s made specifically for users on-the-go.  Studies show that mobile-friendly websites generate about a 75% higher rate of engagement per visit for mobile users.  The image below depicts the difference between a mobile website and a desktop website:

As you can see, the mobile website has a much cleaner look and is a lot easier to read.  When consumers are in need of immediate information they turn to their smartphones, and thus having a mobile-friendly website is crucial for your business’ success.

Mobile-friendly sites have a positive impact on consumer disposition

Mobile websites give users a positive experience, which in turn increases revenue.  Studies show that 51% of consumers are more likely to purchase from businesses that have a mobile-friendly website.  However, a negative user experience can hurt a business.  Consumers are less likely to come back to your website if they had a bad overall experience the first time around.  Just like with desktop websites, a non user-friendly mobile website can give a company a negative image.

“30% of all Google search queries for restaurants come from mobile”

-Google Internal Data

Mobile usage is booming

Mobile devices are being used by consumers while they’re at home more than ever before.  Rather than having to go to the family computer to attain information from a website, consumers are simply relying on their smartphones to conduct searches.

So, not only are consumers using their mobile devices while on-the-go, but they’re also using them even when they have access to PC’s and laptops.  This is because mobile devices are great for multi-tasking, and allow for greater productivity.

Consumers take instantaneous action on mobile-friendly websites

With features such as click-to-call and click-to-map, users can quickly contact a business with almost no delay. Click-to-call rates are extremely high, especially with consumers who know exactly what they’re looking for and are ready to purchase.  Having a mobile-friendly website enables consumers to contact you and get to your business–promptly.  Having these certain features available on your mobile site will, without question, increase revenue for your business.

If you’ve been contemplating on whether or not your business needs a mobile-friendly website, then ponder no more.  With mobile Internet usage projections where they are today, it only makes sense that you invest in a mobile website for your business.  Just stop and think how often you use your mobile device, as well as what types of things you use it for.  Do you see what I’m saying here?!

Want to see some mind-blowing statistics regarding mobile usage?  Check out this presentation I made for one of my previous blog posts:

The post Mobile Websites: Three Reasons Why They’re Important appeared first on Clix.