So why do people really leave your site? What can you do to lower your bounce rate?

The top reason for immediately leaving a site is lack of relevance of a site’s content in the search user’s eyes. This can simply be because the user entered a very vague/generic term and you rank really well for some generic keywords. Or it can be because you knowingly opt to squeeze your way into ranking well for terms that you are not at expert on (Sounds familiar?). This can also mean that your site may have in depth and good content about the search term but instead of landing on the relevant page you redirect them to a single landing “homepage” where, at a glance, people won’t realize that the info they need is just a few clicks away.

If you know why people are leaving your site you will be able to make necessary changes. So remember – make sure users land on pages with content relevant to their query because in the internet where there are millions of choices no one will be giving you a second glance nor a second chance.

First thing to consider is the fonts you use. Make sure the fonts you utilize are simple and can easily be read, not too small and straining to the eyes during prolonged exposure. A font size of 11 or 12 is best. Keep in mind that web users are fast surfers so you would not want them to change to a different web page right away. Fonts that are cool to the eyes and not difficult to read should be used.

For the titles of your websites and web pages, avoid using very colorful fonts. Better use a combination of black or dark grey or any dark due and a brighter color. Neon colors are a no-no. Choose darker or lighter colors if you must.

It’s best also to use just one font type for one whole page and even for the rest of your web pages. Arial and Verdana are highly recommended for fast reading. Readers usually go for the contents of your site but if at first glance they find the page barely readable because of your fonts plus a crowded page set-up, they will, no doubt, leave instantly.

There are a lot of times when it comes to RSS feeds that publishing your partial content instead of the full one makes a lot more sense. For example if you are an online magazine or a news site and have RSS feeds it might be a good idea to simply publish partial content to protect your content from piracy. Or if you are a cooking site or blog and like to publish new recipes. Instead of putting the entire recipe on the feed you can simply put a list of new available recipes and a summary or intro along with it. Subscribers can then decide whether they want to head on to your blog or site to get the whole recipe.

For most blogs though I find that publishing the full content makes much more sense. This is because subscribers are usually in the habit of reading the entire posts from the aggregators themselves. Unless you really have some content you need to protect or your format is such that your subscribers will see the need to actually head on to your blog then a partial content can actually be a turn off with most of your subscribers ending up not bothering to read entire post most of the time.

Posting frequency – this goes for sites with blogs. Consistency does not mean daily posting but at least have something new each month or each week for your readers (and search engine spiders) to read. Remember to use keywords though (consistency again!) because the blog is meant to serve fresh content for spiders to crawl and you want them to be harvesting a good crop of keywords.

Format – this includes everything from your URLs to your page layout. If you have decided on the URL format to use then be consistent in linking/re-directing links to the preferred URL format so you can maximize your link juice. When it comes to page layout find out and stick to what works for you. To know what works for you observe the conversion rates for pages with different formats. Same is true for the use of headers, images, tagging, and everything else.

Effort – SEO is not a one time thing. You need to be consistent in your SEO efforts meaning that you need to keep abreast of the latest SEO techniques. This is very important because search engines constantly tweak their ranking algorithms, which can lead to new very useful methods that you need to employ as well as lend once useful or insignificant factors suddenly harmful. So constantly check the latest SEO news and be consistent in updating your site to accommodate new happenings.

Definitely not.

There are so many aspects to SEO for blogs. Just because you have taken one step does not mean that you do not have to do anything else. The fact is that SEO is a continuous process. You have to check the different aspects and continue to work on them in order to achieve your goal.

One thing that you have to put on the top of your priority list is your blog content. At the very beginning of your endeavors with your blog, you should have made it clear in your mind what you want to write about, what you want to offer your readers. Still, it doesn’t stop there. You have to continue paying attention to the kind of content that you are going to place in your blog.

Think about it. You have the freedom to write practically anything in your blog. But if your aim is to attract readers and to keep them coming back, you have to continue to present new content that would be of interest for them. Otherwise, your best efforts in SEO will not really mean much. Without great content, people might visit your blog once, even twice, but never come back.

Content is still king
Yeah, this is one of the most used expressions in web development but there is a reason for that. As old and jaded it can be, it still applies. The meat of your web site or blog is the content. No matter which way you look at things, this is true. That is why even before you do all the fancy schmancy SEO stuff, I suggest making sure that you have excellent content to offer. Get that down pat and you will find it easier to “sell” your blog.

As a queen is to a king, linking is to excellent content
Thinking that excellent content is all you need to attract people to your blog may very well be your downfall. You should not fall into this trap. Although content is king, you need to do other things to rev up your SEO efforts. Linking is a good way to get the word out there and to attract more people to your blog. We recently concluded a long series on links – you might want to go back to them.

So you’re still craving for traffic, huh? I don’t blame you – traffic is something us bloggers always seek. Without traffic, our blogs would not really grow all that much, would they? Another way by which we can encourage people to visit our blogs and read our posts is to use lists.

Lists are nothing extraordinary. This term does not have a different meaning from what we all already know – you identify important points and present them in bullets. And why are lists a good way to generate traffic? Here are some of the most important points – in a list form.

1. Lists are easy to scan. It’s not that blog visitors do not like to read. It’s just that they have less time to spend. Lists make it easy to scan a whole post.
2. Lists make posts easy on the eyes. Who wants to read posts that are full of clutter?
3. Lists give a LOT of info in neat little package. If you have a lot of ideas that you want to put in a single post, making a list allows you to pack tons of ideas and still keep space to a minimum.
4. Lists make for easier writing. Because of point number 3, you can see how easier it can be to write posts when making lists. Try it and you will be surprised at how much faster it takes to write lists.

Put all these points together and you will understand why readers would be more inclined to visit your blog if you have lists as posts every now and then.

There are times when plagiarism is more serious in that it copies a rather large portion of your website’s content or the entire website itself. This cases of plagiarism obviously becomes a big problem since it can and will probably affect your ranking. Crawlers tend to not crawl a site which they have determined to be a mirror site of another to avoid duplicate results in their SERPs. If this happens and the crawler mistakes your site for the mirror site then not only will your page rank be affected but you won’t even be listed in the SERP.

In cases like this it is still recommended that you take the diplomatic route first. You can contact the website or blog owner and ask them to remove the offending website or webpages. If they do not comply then you can contact their hosting service and ask them to pressure the owner to remove the offending content. If this does not work then that is the time to turn into a tattle-tale by submitting a complaint to search engines. Search engines such as Google take such things seriously and really do act upon reports of plagiarism.

Photo credit: tnarik

At www.searchengineoptimization.co.uk we know that every site has unique features and individual needs. That is why our campaigns are adjusted to fit the specificities of individual sites.

If a site is a showcase for goods and/or services then it makes sense that it should try to offer excellent value for money. However, taking part in a ‘race to the bottom’ will not be profitable long term. Therefore it makes sense that quality is central to what an online firm delivers, day in, day out. If a site bases its appeal squarely on high quality, it should not be afraid of reviews. If it gets a positive review it may get more traffic from users and it may also benefit from the reference in the competitive struggle for rankings in the search engine results pages. Even a mixed review may be a boon, because users may be interested by the evaluation and will appreciate its likely authenticity. Reviews may also bring links and link acquisition from relevant sites can be very beneficial.

The question, then, is not whether reviews are positive or negative for a site. The question is actually how they can be sought in an ethical fashion. This is something which can be discussed with a specialist search engine optimization firm. Getting a review of your products and services on a relevant review site is not always straightforward, but it can be accomplished. Once one review has been obtained, it is often a bit easier to get another. Blogging and guest blogging can raise your profile. Reviewing other sites in a positive fashion may also be of assistance. One recommended technique is to link with a suitable review site. However, links should be used in accordance with the advice of an experienced expert.

Some firms have received and understood the idea that good reviews are good for their business. However, their enthusiasm has tempted them into faking positive reviews. To avoid users detecting their malpractice, some firms have established review sites to house their own fake reviews. They have then mixed up highly positive reviews with some less impressive ones. Despite their subterfuges, such firms have often been caught out. If their services do not match their reviews, customers are likely to cause problems.

Trying to get your site reviewed is good SEO, but trying too hard or being less than straightforward can be a big mistake.