Estimated reading time: 2 mins
The blog bounce. It happens to every blog on the internet (this one included!), but that doesn’t mean that it’s any easier to deal with. Combating it is vital to ensuring your blog continues to grow and generate income, but…
Hang on. We should probably address the most important question, shouldn’t we? Let’s get to it.
What Is A Blog Bounce?
A blog bounce is when a user comes to your site, but doesn’t stay on the site for any length of time and doesn’t follow any internal links. They come, they read, they vanish.
Why Does It Matter?
When you were first launching your blog, you likely just wanted people to come to your site. That’s not enough when your blog is in its junior years, however. You want readers to stick around, become engaged, increase your pageviews, subscribe, and connect with your blog in a way that makes them keep coming back. A one-off visit isn’t much use to you in the long term, especially when things like advertising revenue are largely based off traffic numbers. One visit is good, but you want them to stick around for longer.
Why Might Readers Be Bouncing From My Blog?
There are a number of reasons why readers might not be lingering on your blog. Here are a few potential culprits you’re going to need to ensure you’re not guilty of:
Slow Load Times
Few new readers are going to stick around and wait for your blog to load. If someone clicks an internal link, you want to be sure they’ll get to the new page ASAP.
Non-Mobile Optimization
Not having a responsive blog theme like those discussed on https://www.webfullcircle.com/mobile-website-design/ can mean that users won’t want to stick around. More and more people are using their phones or tablets as their primary method of accessing the internet, so your blog has to be able to cater to their preferences.
Too Much Information
The days of blogs clogging up their sidebars with a thousand and one different buttons and links are long-gone. If a reader sees this, then there’s just too much information for them to process. They then leave your blog in search of easier-to-read pastures.
Errors
Occasionally, a bounce won’t be because of anything you have done — or not done — at all, it’s just a mistake from the user or a strange search result on Google. Don’t presume every single bounce you experience is because of this, though. If you have a significant bounce rate, then you’re still going to need to work on improving it.
How Can I Encourage Readers To Stay?
There are a variety of different tactics to help encourage readers to stay on your blog; https://neilpatel.com/blog/13-ways-to-reduce-bounce-rate-and-increase-your-conversions/ has some good suggestions to get you started. Also look over the issues mentioned above, as rectifying even these simple areas can make a big difference.
So while the blog bounce might be inevitable for some viewers who have just landed on a page irrelevant to their interests, you can bring the number right down with dedicated work to reduce it.
