(The third article in a four-part series)

Okay, so you’ve been successfully found, and your visitors are sticking around long enough to see what you’re all about. It’s too bad that passing the two-second test doesn’t necessarily mean your visitors are sticking around and digging deeper into your content.

A core measure of how engaging your site really is compares two key analytics: your bounce rate and the average time on your site. A bounce is any visitor who comes to your site, spends any length of time on the page, clicks on nothing, and then leaves. The lower your bounce rate, the better. In contrast, the longer your average visitor stays on your website, the better. If the average time on your website is only a few seconds, your visitors aren’t staying long enough to find anything more than contact information. If it’s a few minutes or more, you’re headed in the right direction.

So what helps some websites reduce bounces and retain visitors for longer periods of time? It all comes down to content. If your site is serving up the type of content that visitors are searching for (beyond the standard “our history” and “about us” content), you’ll begin to increase the average length of visits and reduce the likelihood of a bounce.

Types of content that encourage longer visits include anything demonstrating thought leadership, unique points of view, case studies, free downloads, white papers, and meaningful blog posts showing process, best practices, or how-to articles.

Unfortunately, good content alone isn’t enough. Your content has to be easy to find and friendly enough for your visitors to engage with.

How easy is it for your visitors to find your best content?

Stay tuned for Level 4–Keep Them Coming Back…