Welcome back to Earningdiary. Enticing visitors to spend plenty of time on your website can make the difference between selling a product and a fleeting visit. The attention span of Internet users is not very long, and this can make it difficult for webmasters to retain visitors. However, a few key changes to your site can really grab the attention of users and increase the chance that a visit will result in revenue.
Avoid Chasing Users Away
The first steps to keeping users on your site that little bit longer is to avoid doing anything that makes them leave. Surprisingly, many websites fail to get the basics right and lose their visitors very quickly as a result. You may not even be aware that this is happening. If you always access websites on a desktop computer, you won’t know if your website breaks down on a mobile device, thereby putting off any users who access it on their phone.
Basic user experience is also important. Don’t put hurdles in the way of completing actions, and try to predict which paths a visitor will take based on what they are trying to accomplish. If you have a lot of competitors, frustrated users will simply try a different website. Intrusive elements such as bothersome advertising and pop-ups can also put visitors off. It is often a case of balancing commercial needs against user experience, and your website should get both elements right.
Provide Engaging Content
Many websites are there simply to provide the ability to sell products or services, but why let visitors go as soon as the transaction is complete? If your website provides interesting content, visitors can stay on your site for longer, making it more likely that they will remember your business and come back or even triggering a second transaction. High-quality content is surprisingly hard to find on the Internet, so this is an easy way for your website to stand out.
Engaging content comes in different shapes and forms, and you should choose the most relevant type of content for your site. This could be written content in the shape of blog articles that tie into the product or service your business is selling. If the content you provide is interesting enough, visitors could spend an extensive amount of time reading on your site, which has obvious revenue-generating benefits.
Not all sites are suited to extensive written content, however. Some businesses will do better to consider attractive photography that can be affordably acquired from stock sites such as Dreamstime, while video footage can also be extremely effective at engaging visitors. It is common for websites to provide stunning content free of charge in the interest of enticing visitors to stay on the site for longer and to return.
Further Ideas For Keeping Visitors On Your Site
There are plenty of other options to keep visitors interested in your website. Discussion forums are a popular tool, especially if your product or service has a large fan base or community. Even though a discussion forum can elicit positive and less positive feedback about your business, many companies find that they are ultimately worth operating.
Social media linking is also helpful when it comes to keeping visitors engaged. Your website can publish the feeds of your social media pages, including widgets that allow users to directly comment and share using their own social media accounts without needing to visit the social media site in question. Discussion forums and social media interaction create a closer bond with your visitors by encouraging them to offer their own personal input.
Entertainment elements such as games and quizzes are another popular way to get visitors on your website to stay that little bit longer. Whether it is a custom-developed game or a slight modification of an existing, popular game, think about which interactive elements you can add to your site. These would typically be more appropriate for business-to-consumer websites, but a B2B site could benefit from an interesting knowledge quiz.
Regularly Refresh Your Site
Finally, one of the best ways to keep visitors interested in your site is to regularly revamp it. Do not use the same old design for ten years; instead, freshen up the look and feel regularly. Although you might not want to completely redesign your site every six months, think about regularly introducing some new elements. A frequently changing site encourages visitors to come back more often than they otherwise would, which is as important as getting visitors to stay on your site once they are there.
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