How to Optimize Your Website to Decrease Your Bounce Rate

A successful website is optimized for many things beyond search engine ranking. It’s silly to focus on SEO and overlook things like conversions, engagement, and bounce rate because search engines favor websites that are valuable to users.

SEO should never be your #1 goal but even if it is, increase your chances of sustainable placement in search results by following these steps to lower your bounce rate.

Market to the right people.

Rather than trying to hack into a competitors database of loyal customers to reach a targeted audience, work on building your own crowd of brand lovers. Identify who your best customers are. Find the common characteristics that make those customers have chosen your brand to earn their loyalty.

Stop trying to market to everyone, or make everyone happy. Also, be sure to qualify new traffic. This might increase your bounce rate at first but with more strategic marketing campaigns you can be sure to only attract the eligible and interested visitors to your website.

Be different.

You are not the only option.

No matter what you do, you will not be the “best” option either.

Everything is relative so the best you can do is be different. Instead of trying to mirror different competitors and relevant websites, show visitors something they have not seen before.

Be professional.

One of the greatest telltale signs of a company’s credibility is the quality of their website. Most people are going to be cautious about investing their hard earned dollars on a product or service offered by somebody who clearly cuts corners and this can be seen by an unprofessional website. From sloppy design to generic templates with minimal customization, unprofessional web design is the biggest turn off and cause for a high bounce rate.

Don’t be boring.

The second biggest turn off about a website is being boring. Internet users have less patience than usual, and no tolerance for dry textbook fluff or lifeless web content. Conversions will also increase the moment you become unforgettable.

However you approach the “don’t be boring” angle, be genuine about it. Your visitors will probably become customers and they will continue to expect the same tone that stole their attention.

Don’t disappoint.

Take all the previous tips and roll them up into this one. Marketing to the right crowd, standing out with a professional website that is not identical to any competitors, and capturing attention is an effort that you must be willing to maintain consistently.

Also, don’t make any promises or claims that you aren’t capable of keeping. That’s pretty disappointing too. Be real and set the standards where you can consistently exceed customer expectations instead of letting them down.