If you would like to encourage visitors to spend more time on your website, you need to consider their experience once they land on your site.
This user experience is the overall impression that a visitor has while interacting with your website and you want to make it a good one from the get-go.
Users have particular expectations about how a website should look and function. A reader who lands on your site forms an opinion in less than one second.
They leave quickly when they realize that a site doesn't meet their expectations or it's too difficult to find what they came looking for.
Why Do We Want Users To Spend More Time On Our Website?
There are many reasons why we want users to spend more time on our website.
If we sell products online (digital or physical), we want people to buy from us. If we're selling services, we want them to hire us.
The more time users spend on your website, the more likely they will purchase from you.
We also want to build brand awareness for ourselves and our company. We need to build trust and familiarity so visitors come back to us instead of going somewhere else when they need what we are offering.
Google considers dwell time as one of many ranking factors to determine where a particular keyword shows in the search engine. You want the reader to stay and even click around your site for a while.
You'll need to analyze the data collected on your site so you can see which pages people are visiting. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are two free tools that every marketer should be using.
We have gathered a few tips that will help keep your visitors on your website longer.
Because Google considers bounce rate and dwell time as part of their algorithm to determine where you rank on the search engines, we'll go over some things you can do to keep visitors engaged and interested once they land on your site.
Design
You want your design to be pleasing to the eye, using the psychology of colors and fonts to peak the interest of your target audience.
Try to keep it simple
You can kill many birds at once by keeping your site simple. It is not only visually appealing, but it also makes navigation more intuitive and allows the purpose of your page to stand out.
This likely contributes to faster load times which also encourages visitors to stay awhile.
Stay modern
Websites need to feel current. If a page looks like it was developed in the 90's, it's not likely to look trustworthy. Keep your aesthetic modern in order to maintain credibility with your particular online audience.
Make it visually appealing
This is an obvious one, but visitors won't stay on pages that don't look good. Defining what makes a visually-pleasing website is not difficult when you truly know who your target audience is.
But it's always a good rule of thumb to keep it clean and uncluttered and don't add too many colors. Choose a base color, one or two accents. Never use more than three different fonts.
Intuitive Navigation
People won't stick around if navigating through a site isn't straightforward or if finding something takes too long.
Imagine a person who reads an interesting piece of content from you and decides they'd like to know more about your business.
They shouldn't have any problems finding your 'About us' page.
The most important pages should be added to the navigation bar. These could be the homepage, your products and services, about us, contact us and any legal pages necessary. Common practice is to add the legal pages in the footer section, and category and silo pages in the top menu bar.
Internal Links
Always include internal links. Besides making it easier for readers to find what they want, it allows the search engines to crawl your site more efficiently as well. Another ranking factor in the search engine algorithm.
Use contextual links (links that use text to create a hyperlink) leading to other relevant pages on your site. You should link at places where visitors are most likely to want additional, related information.
You don't have to go overboard. Two to three per page is fine but it will also depend on how big your site is and what your readers want to know.
Using a Related Contents section below your blog posts can increase the number of pages your users visit and the amount of time they spend on your website. An eCommerce website featuring Similar Items will help users look at more products and choose the best one for their needs.
Internal links improve navigation and define the site's structure. Google considers a page to be more important when it there are internal links pointing to it.
Scannability
As you are browsing online and visiting different websites, start taking note of what you look at first and how you check out the content. In many cases, you don't just start reading the content.
You skim through quickly, checking out other headlines on the page to determine their credibility.
You check out the sidebar or scroll to the footer to check out their credentials and decide if they are trustworthy enough for you to continue reading.
We've trained ourselves to look at websites in this way so we don't waste our time because there is a lot of garbage and clickbait out there, vying for our attention.
It's a fact that users spend only about six seconds reading your website's content.
They scan the page for important words and phrases.
If your content is made up of huge walls of text, filled with long sentences and paragraphs, visitors will click off and find something easier on the eyes.
Here are a few tips to make your content more scannable:
Font size and line spacing should be optimized for easy reading. Never make your readers strain their eyes. It is so simple to do this and you will see your engagement metrics start to improve.
Adding visual breaks to your content makes it easier to read. Keep your sentences short and each paragraph could consist of only one or two sentences. Use lots of white space.
Create engaging subheadings to keep your readers interested. A well-crafted subheading not only provides a visual break in your content, but will also pique a reader's interest, preventing them from clicking away.
Consider using bulleted lists so your reader can scan your content for the most important points, quickly and easily.
Most readers do not want to wade through endless lines of text. They prefer pages that make the point clearly with bold subheadings, and short paragraphs.
Make it easy for them to scan the page and quickly find what they're looking for.
Fulfill Your Headline's Promise
It's one thing to get clicks on your headlines, but if you want people to stay on your website longer, your content must fulfill the expectations of the reader.
Your headline shouldn't promise something your content doesn't deliver. This is considered clickbait and will annoy your visitors.
Start with your headline. Naturally, you'll have a general idea of the topic of your article. You should then take that basic idea and craft a killer headline before you even begin writing.
Headlines serve as promises you make to your readers. The goal is to communicate clearly what you're going to provide the reader in return for their time.
We tend to make promises before delivering on them. By writing your content first, you are forced to reverse-engineer your promise. By doing it the other way around, you can expressly deliver on the promise you made in the headline, which ultimately helps maintain your content's crispness and consistency.
Use Engaging Videos
Since viewers prefer watching videos over reading text, use video whenever possible. Did you know that video marketing helps grow revenue for companies by an average of $1 million annually.
Can your visitors access video content on your site?
Around fifteen years ago, website visitors had to endure an auditory assault in the form of auto-playing videos.
Fortunately, the way that videos are integrated into websites has greatly improved since then. Auto-play is something most of us have abandoned.
In today's world, designing a website with videos means enhancing the visitor experience. We don't want to annoy them and have them click away.
The idea of educating, informing, and entertaining website visitors using video has become common among businesses. As a result, homepage videos (often explainers or promos) have gained popularity, as have videos on a variety of other pages, including product and service pages, about and career sections, landing pages, resource hubs, support centers, blogs, and more.
Brands can use video to increase dwell time, improve rankings, boost conversions, and get engagement. Video benefits both the visitors and website owners.
Reduce page loading time
Reducing your site's load time is an essential part of keeping your visitors on your site longer.
Regardless of the quality of the content, if your visitors won't wait for it to load, it's worthless.
One second of delay in the response time of a web page can negatively impact conversions by 7 percent. You are likely losing money if you do not take page speed seriously.
Compression of your images is one of the most important steps you can take on your site to reduce loading time. Your images will have a great impact on the loading time of your site.
It is possible to reduce the size of images if they are unnecessarily large by compressing them. There are free plugins available for WordPress users, including WP Smush It or Imagify.
Another step you can take to reduce your site's load time is to use a content delivery network (CDN).
A CDN consists of a global network of servers distributed throughout many different locations to reduce loading time. Your CDN service will cache the files on your site to deliver them to your site visitor from the closest server.
For WordPress users, Cloudflare is among the best free CDNs. There are very few players in this industry that offer a free plan. With 115 data centers, Cloudflare offers speed, scalability, and protection against simple DDoS attacks. Over 100,000 WordPress sites use its plugin.
Always Have A Call To Action (CTA)
Your visitors should be prompted to take action immediately after reading a blog post. This will keep them engaged with your content.
You know yourself that after you've found what you want when you visit a site, you just leave the site and probably forget that you've ever been there after a few hours have passed. However, what happens when you visit a site and they offer you even more value with the promise of something you need.
When you add a compelling call-to-action (CTA), this will encourage visitors to stay on your site longer and even give you their email address if you offer them something of high value.
To begin with, you need to ensure that readers notice that call to action.
A CTA is an element on a page that encourages users to take a certain action. It could involve signing up for a newsletter or an event, downloading a guide or eBook, or getting a discount code. Call To Actions should be strategically placed and crafted so that users can't help but notice them.
Static CTAs placed below the content area of your post tend to be ignored by most visitors.
Inline text, banners, or pop-ups can all be used as call-to-actions.
You may personally think popups are terrible, so therefore, you won't use them on your site. Visiting a page and seeing popups that interrupt you right off the bat is irritating and could cause you to click off the site immediately. Here are a few ways to gently get your readers to respond.
Slide In Opt-In Forms
An opt-in that slides in after they've been on the site for a bit will grab the audience's attention without annoying them.
You can grow your email list most effectively with targeted popups. The Lightbox Popup catches the attention of your visitors and fades your other content into the background. This is why it converts so well. You can improve click-through rates and grow your email list in no time using this type of popup.
Exit Popup
If most visitors who abandon your website never return, your marketing efforts are wasted.
When using exit intention popups, as soon as the visitor is nearing the tab to close the page, the pop-up appears offering them something valuable.
You can use exit popups to grab visitors' attention without bothering them as they aren't disruptive.
If you have an eCommerce store, using exit popups reduce shopping cart abandonment and increase conversion rates.
These are a few ways to use exit-intent popups to keep your visitors on your site:
Provide visitors with the option of chatting with a support agent
Recommend popular or similar products
Offer an irresistible lead magnet in exchange for joining your email list
With exit-intent technology, you can anticipate user behavior and display a targeted campaign just as they are about to leave.
You can check out this great article on Hubspot, detailing the 14 Best Call to Action WordPress plugins available, including some free options.
Use Email Marketing To Invite Them Back To Visit
As mentioned earlier, you won't benefit from the traffic that lands on your blog if your visitors leave and never come back.
Using email to promote products, educate customers to keep them coming back, and encourage sales is known as email marketing. Companies can use email to target specific customers interested in their products or programs. They can also use email marketing to build brand awareness and loyalty among customers.
By collecting email addresses, you can contact your readers anytime you want. Marketing your products or services becomes easy once you build a list. But, you should be providing value as well.
Here are some steps to create an email list:
Set up an opt-in form on your website. People who visit your website for the first time and like what they see will want to stay up-to-date on your brand. Set up a form for newsletter signups.
Make a physical signup sheet for this. Whether you have a physical store or you attend an event, when you're surrounded by people who are into what you do, make it easy for them to sign up.
Take advantage of social media to get your signups. In the absence of a substantial email list (or if you would like it to grow), tap into your social media following. Promote your signup form on your social media accounts.
Here are some ways to increase your subscriber base:
You can run a contest or offer a discount. We strongly believe that offering people an incentive to subscribe to your email list—and contests work well. Give some lucky new subscribers a prize or give a discount code for a first purchase if they join.
Ensure your emails can be shared easily. When you write compelling emails with plenty of valuable information, people will be eager to share them. Make use of features such as share buttons to spread the word about your emails quickly.
Create a landing page. Your landing page is one more way of growing your email list. Landing pages allow you to attract more subscribers by using appealing imagery and compelling content.
Create An Irresistible Offer (Lead Magnet)
Essentially, an irresistible offer is something you tempt your website visitor with in exchange for their email address. Your subscribers must opt-in to obtain this offer, and that is why it is called a lead magnet or opt-in offer.
Normally, people are more likely to provide you with their email address if they receive something they actually want and need in return.
Giving your visitors free gifts is a great way to build your email list and promote your paid products or services. For example, you can help your users learn more about you and your company by offering a free trial to your product or an eBook teaching them how to use your product.
Let’s dive into some ideas for your business so you can get started now and have something free to share with your audience.
eBook
The most popular form of opt-in, nearly every business can create one, and the best part is that you can give it away for free to subscribers and sell it to non-subscribers on Amazon.
Digital Workbook
What services do you offer? Consider giving prospects a digital workbook to help them complete the first step of working with you? Put together a workbook of the top 10 questions they should ask themselves or that you would otherwise ask them during your discovery session.
eCourse or Workshop
You can do this to demonstrate your expertise. You can either piece together a preview of an eCourse based on some of your previously published posts, interviews, and articles, or you can extract some great gems from a paid course. It is also possible to write one from scratch and make it truly unique.
Offer Free Chapters From A Paid eBook Or Course
How many books or eBooks have you written already? Here's your opt-in! Just share a couple of chapters from your book or course. This makes for great publicity, allows your readers to experience your writing, and is a ready-made opt-in offer.
Downloadable Cheat Sheets
Templates and cheat sheets make things easier, faster, and more efficient. Don't they? Make your customers' lives easier by creating some valuable cheat sheets or templates. Looking for inspiration? Create a cheat sheet or template that answers customer FAQs.
Downloadable Checklist
In addition to templates and cheat sheets, customers love downloadable and printable checklists, because they help them not to forget any crucial steps.
Audio Recording
Is it common for you to conduct interviews? Maybe you could compile your most popular interviews and offer them as a free download? Easy!
Video Recording
Interviews and tutorials in video format are incredibly popular. Putting together tutorials or recordings for your prospects is simple if you don't have any video hang-ups. You can make a demo video showing how you use your product in fun and interesting ways if you have one. If you provide a service you can create a video showing how it benefits customers.
Free Physical Product
Using this option may not be possible for everyone, and it lacks the instant gratification that a digital download offers, but it can be used in conjunction with a digital product.
As well as sending a CD in the mail, you can give them a link to download the video recording right away. Alternatively, you could give them an audio excerpt of your book and a physical voucher to buy it in a store.
Create a Personal Rolodex
Coaches and consultants will enjoy this one. When you share your rolodex, your customers/prospects will be able to find trusted vendors and service providers based on what resources you use and recommend.
Downloadable Printable
A business relationship need not be boring. You can make it fun by sharing free and fun desktop wallpapers, quotes they can print out, and arty printables they can frame.
Gift Card Contest
Rather than creating the opt-in offer, this one is provided for you. You don't need to do anything! One of your subscribers could be given a gift card from an easy-to-access store every month with a contest you hold.
Offer Members Only Resources
Wouldn't it be nice to have a section of your content available only to subscribers? They can receive a password they can use to access the content or register to gain access to the members' area.
Offer Subscriber Special Deals
Special offers for members-only or subscribers can be a great way to encourage membership. For example, subscribers can receive monthly discounts. You get more sales, your customers get an awesome deal. A win-win situation!
Offer a Free Consultation
Free consultations, also known as discovery sessions or pick-my-brain sessions, are great opt-in offers that help you and your prospects connect.
Customize Thank You Pages
After engaging with your call to action, if your thank you pages don't offer anything interesting, then they can't do their job.
There should be more to your Thank You pages than just a simple confirmation. When your new sign up reaches this page, this marks the moment a lead moves from cold to warm.
Make the most of this opportunity to engage visitors to your site by offering even more relevant and helpful content.
You can also upsell related products on your 'Thank You' page if you're running an e-commerce company.
As well as increasing customer engagement, this can increase revenue per customer as well.
You should now have some insight into how to keep visitors on your site longer. Grab the attention of those abandoning visitors and turn them into customers using the tips we've shared.