The success of your website can be determined by a number of things. From site traffic to page sessions, length of sessions to unique visitors, the KPIs are nearly endless.

However, one of the performance indicators a business should really be looking into is its website bounce rate.

What is bounce rate?

The bounce rate of your website identifies how many users leave right away without exploring other pages or engaging with the content you have. They bounce.

Sure, the early 2000s slang, “bounce,” isn’t what Google Analytics is referring to, but truthfully, it’s all the same.

Harsh, right?

What is a good bounce rate?

Regardless of how perfect your website is, it is bound to a have a bounce rate of some kind. Realistically, a good bounce rate is one that was better than the week before. Any time that number lowers in comparison to prior weeks, you’ve made progress.

However, if you’re just now diving into your Google Analytics, a forty to sixty percent bounce rate for most industries is doing ok. If your percentage is higher than sixty percent, it’s time to get to work.

How do I better my bounce rate?

First, we highly suggesting hiring an SEO expert and/or digital marketing expert. Enrolling a professional when it comes to analyzing your bounce rate (and other KPIs) can greatly increase the chances of bettering your site as a whole.

There are several ways that a business can lower their bounce rate. Many are technical, but many are also visual and engaging.

Site speed

If your website is slow to load, your users will abandon your site without a second thought. Every second counts. If a user could be clicking elsewhere in the time it takes your site to load, it’s too long.

If you’re unsure if your website is loading quick enough, use Google’s free pagespeed tool.

Should this tool render you some rough results, we can get you in touch with one of our web experts to assess the problem!

Encourage engagement

Don’t be shy. Ask your users for their opinions and thoughts after a blog post. A page refreshes once a comment has been made, resulting in another page viewed.

Consider the calls to action you’re using throughout your website. Are they telling your users what to do next? A good call to action entices your user to visit your contact page, read another blog, visit your services page, etc. It’s ok to tell people what to do and where to go on your website.

For more ways to lower your bounce rate, check back on Friday for the second part of this two-part series!