Your bounce rate is simply the number of people that visit your website and leave without going to any other pages of your site.
Having a high bounce rate is not the best thing to have, and it most likely means your website is not providing the visitor with what they are looking for. It may also mean that your site is not user-friendly.
#1. Check Your Website in Other Browsers
Your website often will look different in other browsers. For example, in Internet Explorer, your website may look one way, but in Mozilla Firefox, your site may look completely different.
Of course, this all depends on how your site is coded. Those who have had a professional website design usually wouldn’t run into this problem.
The best way to check your website on multiple browsers is to use a site called Browser Shots (http://browsershots.org/). The most important browsers to cross-test in are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera.
#2. Decrease Page Load Time
Reducing your page load times will greatly help your bounce rate. Because everyone has a different website, it is hard to tell you how to reduce YOUR page load time, but the most common way is to remove unnecessary images, optimize your images, optimize your CSS, etc.
#3. Improve Website Navigation
Do you have a clear navigation bar? I’ve seen sites before that don’t even have a navigation bar. All the links to the other pages are within their content, so it can be very hard to find something like the Pricing page. Make sure your site is easy to navigate.
If you do not yet have a navigation bar, I would definitely recommend you get one implemented as soon as you can. The easier your site is to navigate, the more people you’ll find that will go into deeper pages of your site.
#4. Relevant Headlines & Content
Try to use catchy headlines and use relevant content. This will surely help you reduce your bounce rate. Be short and to the point. Make sure your page is worth reading and don’t publish content that can be found elsewhere. Try your best to stand out from the competition.
Conclusion
By applying the four tips above, you will be able to reduce your bounce rate and increase conversions from your website. Generally speaking, the lower your bounce rate, the more successful your website will be.