There are few things as dismal, for either a business owner or web designer, as taking a look at an analytics report and seeing a high number of “bounces.” These represent potential customers who came to the website and left without clicking on a single link.

While bounces aren’t necessarily always a bad thing – someone could leave your website because they found exactly what they were looking for or decided to just call you instead of looking through your pages – they almost always represent missed opportunities. Even worse, with Google’s new AI-driven engagement tracking tools in place, a fast exit from your website could even hurt your search engine positioning.


The more immediate impact of a high bounce rate, though, is that buyers aren’t hanging around your pages long enough to be persuaded that they should work with you. That means missing out on opportunities to win business. So today, we want to look at some simple and straightforward ways you can keep visitors on your website for longer…

Optimize Your Pages for Speed and Mobile Compatibility

A majority of web searchers are now finding companies and vendors through phones and tablets. And, surveys have consistently shown that all internet users, and particularly those using mobile devices, won’t wait more than a couple of seconds for a website to load. That means your pages need to be optimized for speed and mobile functionality, and that your web hosting plan needs to offer fast and consistent service.

Give Your Visitors What They Want Most

Think carefully about the kinds of customers and influencers who will be visiting your web pages, and the ways they find their way to your content (search engines, social links, PPC ads, etc.). Using that information, you should be able to determine which topics or ideas are most pressing to them. Once you know that, you can set up your content in a way that appeals to their immediate needs. You should be striving to give buyers the information they want, rather than forcing them to read about the things you have to sell.

Don’t Annoy Your Potential Customers

Sometimes, high bounce rates are a symptom that customers are simply annoyed with your pages. If you have pop-up ads, broken links, or long blocks of text that aren’t divided by white space and/or subheadings, you may discover visitors will leave rather than endure whatever it is that’s bugging them. The more “interruptive” your web pages seem, the more frequently you’re going to bleed traffic from your site.

Keep Your Menus and Navigation Simple

No matter how well your website is organized and optimized for search engine visits, many people who arrive on your pages won’t find the exact resource or answer they were looking for directly in front of them. They’ll have to click through a couple of menus, or a search bar, to locate it. You should ensure those navigational tools are as simple and straightforward as possible so users won’t become frustrated and take their attention elsewhere. Think about the easiest ways to move people towards the ideas and resources they want and then remove all obstacles between those resources.

Need a Business Website That’s a Real-World Business Tool?

If your website has a high bounce rate, or just isn’t helping you to generate the kind of revenue and attention you’ve been looking for, now is the perfect time to start getting better online marketing advice.

Contact us today so we can schedule a time for you to talk to our creative team. We’ll get to know your business and website. Then, we’ll make recommendations you can use to keep your company growing!