Last Updated on May 4, 2020 by ellduclos

How to Keep Your Audience on Your Blog Longer

Have you ever heard of bounce rate? Well, if not – it pretty much is the rate that people stay on your blog/website before leaving. The idea is to keep your bounce rate lower! & not to mention,one goal you should also have is getting your readers to continue to keep coming back for more!!! So how can you keep your audience on your blog longer?

I began to think to myself, hmm what do I look for when reading other blogs? What keeps me coming back for more, and what helps keep me on a website longer?

Today I am going to share some of my favorite tips that will help to keep your audience on your blog longer and how to help improve your bounce rate!

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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links – you can read my disclosure here.

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1. INTERLINKING

This is one of my favorite tips to give when it comes to keeping your audience on your blog longer. Inter linking your content is SO important. If you aren’t already doing this, It’s TIME TO START!! To put it simply, interlinking content is when you “link” to previous content that you created throughout your current post. This makes it so that if someone is enjoying your current post, they can click and read another post that is related.

There are a few ways you can interlink your content.

First: you can highlight key sentences throughout your post and link them to previous related posts.

Second: After paragraphs you can add a “Related: (previous post name)” and link to the post that way as well.

Interlinking also helps improve your SEO. (fun fact) 

2. RELATED POSTS

If your theme doesn’t already allow you the option to display related posts at the end of your articles, then you should install a “related posts” plug in. This will make it so that at the end of your articles it will display your previous posts that relate. A great way to keep your readers around.

 

3. LESS ADS MORE CONTENT

I don’t know about you but if a website has a ton of ads I usually don’t bother. Don’t get me wrong,it’s great to monetize with ads but if your post is majority ads and almost unreadable then you are probably missing out on a lot of traffic opportunity. Most people can’t stand ads. SO – Less ads, more content. If you want to keep your audience on your blog longer, don’t bombard them with ads.

There are plenty of ways to monetize besides ads, keep that in mind! Check out this post that goes into detail on making money with your blog.

4. SPEED TIME

There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a site to load. If your site speed time is slow, then it’s time to fix the issue. Many don’t have the patience to stick around waiting for a site to load. You can test your site speed here. Ideally you want an 80 or above. Now a days, our attention spans tend to be shorter. If your blog loads slowly, your audience will probably exit right out.

SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SITE SPEED ARE:

1.  Make sure the platform you are using is high speed! One reason why I love self hosting is because it instantly improved my site speed. I use Siteground and their server speed is phenomenal! You can use my link and get self hosting with siteground for just starting at $3.95 a month. & don’t worry, their live chat will do free site transfers for you! They make it super easy.
2. Install the “WP Smush” photo plugin. (another reason to go self hosted – for PLUG INS) This plug in will fix your image sizes so that your site speed is faster and optimized. It will even do it for you upon upload as well!
3. Figure out if you do have any plug ins that may be causing your site to load slower than usual.

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Related: How to Look Like a Professional Blogger from the Beginning

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5. STORY TELLING

Creating content that is personable and relatable is KEY. I know it sounds like a scary and vulnerable concept BUT I find the more personal I am with my audience, the more they can relate and feel that connection. This builds trust with your audience which in return keeps them coming back to you! Don’t be afraid to TELL YOUR STORY! It can also keep your audience engaged and excited to continue reading more of your content!

6. CREATE CONTENT THAT DELIVERS

It’s no secret that the way to get your audience to keep coming back for more is by creating content that delivers. You need to create content that solves problems, entertains, and/or content that is your best foot forward. Good, high quality content keeps readers coming back for more! PLUS if you have quality content, I can guarantee that your audience will stay on your blog longer because they will WANT to read more of what you have to say!

7. HAVE TITLES THAT CAPTURE ATTENTION

Are you more likely to read a post titled “How to grow your blog traffic” or a post titled “How I grew my blog traffic by 200% in one month!” Making sure your titles are click worthy is KEY.

You also need to keep in mind that you still need to deliver what you say you’re going to deliver! Nothing is more frustrating than click bait, am I right?

8. HAVE A SEARCH BAR

Having a search bar on your site will come in handy when someone comes onto your site and is looking to read about a specific topic. The most important part is to keep it as easy as possible for your audience to navigate through your site. If your audience can find find exactly what it is they are looking for, it will help to keep your audience on your blog longer.

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9. MAKE USE OF AN E-MAIL LIST BUILDER

If you haven’t already, you need to start building an e-mail list. Your subscribers are those who value your content and want to continue hearing from you! One of the best ways to grow your blog traffic is by growing a trusting e-mail list. I use mailerlite as my e-mail list builder and have no complaints! They are so easy to use as well.

SOME TIPS FOR GROWING AN E-MAIL LIST THAT IS FULL OF LOYAL READERS:

1. Offer an opt-in that is 100% related to your niche. Having a freebie that you send to your subscribers to thank them for subscribing helps a ton when growing your e-mail list. But what many fail to do is they fail to create a freebie that is related to what they blog about. If your opt-in isn’t related to your niche, you won’t be targeting your ideal audience. Therefore your e-mail list will not be as loyal.
2. Always send your e-mail list exclusive content and offers. You need to make your e-mail list feel special, valued, and remind them why they are subscribed. Sending content that is exclusive to your list is key! Send them e-mails that include content and freebies that onlyTHEY are receiving because they are part of your exclusive e-mail list.
3. Purge your e-mail list every month. I like to remove those who haven’t opened my past 10-15 e-mails because this means they most likely aren’t active and aren’t interested in my content. It will keep my list filled with only those who are loyal subscribers and it will help improve my click through rates. NOT TO MENTION it will probably save me money.

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Related: What to do Before and After you Publishing a Blog Post

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10. UTILIZE HEADINGS + IMAGES WHEN YOU CAN

Naturally, humans get thrown off by large blocks of text. If you create more organized content that is broken down, chances are, you will keep your audience on your blog longer. Utilize headings to break up your context. I don’t know about you but, before I read an article, I skim through it to see if it strikes my interest. When you use headings it makes it easier to skim through and understand what the article will be offering. It helps to use images too!

11. ORGANIZE YOUR SITE WITH CATEGORIES

I’m someone who will go onto a blog post and if I like it, I will then go to the home page and browse through their categories. Having categories present is really useful!! Especially if you blog about multiple topics, categories are your friend! & like I mentioned earlier, an organized site is important when trying to keep your audience around.

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[click_to_tweet tweet=”How to keep your audience on your blog longer! Lower that bounce rate with these tips! ” quote=”How to keep your audience on your blog longer, with these tips! ” theme=”style3″]

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12. UTILIZE CTA

It’s important to try and engage with your readers. You can do so by using Call – to – Action techniques. After each blog post you can ask your audience a question and ask them to comment below. You can say something like, “Let me know in the comments below what your favorite ___ is!” Or “What are your thoughts on this topic? Let me know in the comments!” 

13. HAVE YOUR OWN DOMAIN

This will definitely help to keep your audience on your blog longer! I know paying for your blog sounds like it could be not worth it, but it really IS worth it! The more professional your blog looks, the more your audience is going to stick around and trust what you have to say. It’s proven that blogs with their own domain get “clicked” and viewed more than blogs that have “yousitename . blogspot . com” – NameCheap is a great and affordable option for getting your own domain name. I also suggest investing in a proper theme as well. some of my favorites can be found on helloyoudesigns + creative market!

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RELATED: BLOG INVESTMENTS WORTH THE HYPE

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14. OPEN LINKS IN NEW TAB

If you have any links throughout your posts, make sure you make it so that they open in a new tab. This will make sure that your audience doesn’t get side tracked to other sites and that they can easily keep their place on your post! It also keeps them on your page longer because their session won’t end until they close out of your site or go to a different website on the same tab.

15. ENGAGE BACK

Always remember to engage back with your audience. This is so important because building personal connections with your audience will make them feel valued and respected, therefore they will continue to keep coming back for more! Always acknowledge your audience.

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Well that includes my list! I hope this helps you to decrease your bounce rate and improve your blog traffic.