A high bounce rate can be deadly for a free website, particularly one looking to commoditize: one of the surest routes to success is by getting a high percentage of visitors who read more than just one web page on your blog. Obviously, great content is the best way to entice visitors, but even great content requires smart planning and design. Here are seven ways to cut down on your blog’s bounce rate.

1. Draw attention to your most popular posts. On your primary landing page, include a list of popular posts you’ve made. Whether their appeal is comic or tragic in nature, highlighting your best work will increase chances of visitor retention.

2. Excerpt your blog posts. Long posts can be intimidating to visitors and make your main page seem too long. Try to display only the first paragraph or so: if that’s not enough to entice them, then they can scan down to the next excerpt, which may prove more appealing.

3. Organize your posts by categories and list the categories on your front page. Using categories is a quick way of alerting readers to the types of posts you write. Even if the first few posts listed on your free website aren’t up the visitor’s alley, his interest may be piqued by one of your other categories.

4. Include a link to your home page on each separate web page. If a visitor arrives at your website through a specific blog post, you want to make sure that she can easily find more content, and that means linking to your home page.

5. On each individual blog post, include a list of related posts. Incoming traffic that winds up on an individual post is more likely to bounce away from your personal website. By giving visitors options for more content that are related to the piece that got them there in the first place, you make it more likely that they’ll keep reading. Some platforms will allow you to do this via a plug-in; otherwise, you can include related posts manually.

6. Keep your landing page simple and navigable. Hosting a variety of flashy widgets and banner advertisements is a sure way to generate bounces. Instead, provide visitors with a clear path to your best content, and make sure that they can easily find all the variety that your site has to offer.

7. Use a tagline to succinctly summarize your blog. It’s easier said than done, but coming up with a pithy one-sentence line that describes your blog will pay dividends. It will tell the reader what to expect from your blog, and whet their appetite for more of your writing. In addition, it will make it easier for visitors to describe your site to their friends and social media contacts.

High bounce rates are usually the product of free websites whose authors don’t pay attention to web page design. Making your blog easy to use and visually appealing will go a long way toward generating repeat visitors and toward getting visitors to spend significant time reading your posts. By following the above steps, you’ll be well on your way there; in fact, all you’ll have to do is create the content to match.

Author Bio: Maria Wixman can teach you How To Build Your Own Website with WIX.com I have been in the online marketing industry for over two years and love all things related to e-marketing, writing for the web, SEO and SEM. I\’ve been working for a large company that specializes in web design, and love how dynamic this field is.

Category: Internet
Keywords: Free website, website, websites, free websites, web page, personal website, hosting, web page design