Forum

[mark schaaf]

I know it isn't good to have a high bounce rate and have tried many different openings to my home page to keep people on the site but is seems like no matter what i put there many people just leave. I know we are told to write for what you would want to see if you were visiting the site and I did. It seems like many people think if they can't learn everything that is on the site in 30 seconds they leave. They didn't get through high school or college in a week so how do they think they can learn anything from a web site so fast. So I am a little at a loss as how to keep them on the site. It is an information site and you can't learn the information without reading it.. I have been here for a while and use traffic travis 4 and done all my seo ad everything looks good but I guess it doesn't matter. What do you do to keep people around long enough to learn something. My site is my italian travels dot com. Do you see anything wrong. Thanks Mark

 

[esolutions]

Hi,

It also matters what keywords you are targeting. If someone is looking for a certain type of information and don't think that your site is relevant when they arrive, they will leave.

I think you should study the creation of linkbait a bit. Entice users to stick around by giving them an overview of what they can expect when they click this or that button, etc.

You will also find that having some sort of top ten list which requires the user to click in order to view each entry will help if you can grab the visitor's curiosity.

 

[essexboyracer]

Like e-solutions said, it depends on what keywords you are targeting and what keywords people end up using to get to your homepage (or any page for that matter - remember that every page is an opportunity to get ranked on for a specific keyword, and therefore searched on)

I think the design of your homepage needs some modification as it's too textual - people need to scan the fold (the bit seen without scrolling down) and know instantly where to click and this needs to be based on the keywords they used to get to your site.

So if you had a page that people got to be searching on "flights to Italy" you would have a graphic maybe enticing users to click on for flight information to Italy and above the fold, the text may read "Book flights to Italy" with a picture of an aeroplane. I think the site needs more visual impact. Try bullet points to breakdown the information a bit

I think link bait isn't right, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_bait as it refers to something different.

 

[Cecille L]

Your website reads My Italian Travels which leads one to think that this is a blog that talks about everything to do with Italy and what it is like to travel with it. That being said, you might want to make your articles more appealing to readers by making them sound more personal and lively. Breaks between the text and sub-headings will be good.

You might also want to make your site more interesting by changing the layout and making it more artistic. Think about it, you'd be more willing to open a book with colorful/artful design than a plain one. It's the same with websites. You might want to check out this site to see what I mean.

Hope that helps. Have a good day!

 

[mark schaaf]

Thanks for the comments and i kind of know what you are talking about but how do i tell someone how to find a hotel and make it sound personal. I also called it my italian travels because everything else I wanted to call it was taken. As far as keywords my main keywords for the home page are italian travel and italian travel information, and italian travel planning. I think with targeting this keywords I am assuming that the people are looking for travel and travel planning information. With this in mind I wrote everything as far as what I was looking for when I was planning a vacation. Again with this in mind how would anyone know if they would get good information if they left in 20 or 30 seconds. I have a lot of pictures on many pages of my site on the pages that are stories but didn't think that on the flight page I would need a picture of a plane to keep them reading. Thanks for the help I will look into your suggestions. Mark

 

[Cecille L]

Hi Mark,

Making your articles sound personal is definitely a challenge. If talking about hotels, you can present them as if you yourself are making a choice between which hotel is the best. For example:

I think the best hotel to stay in is Italian Hotel because they offer the best rate. It's just that they're out of the way of most tourist spots that will make you think twice.

Here is an alternative way of presenting your site in a more personable way:

My Italian Travels contains everything you need to know about italian travel and vacation planning information. Travelling into different countries and cities is my passion but it certainly is not easy! Career, family and money kinda gets in the way. ;) I've found though that with enough travel information and planning, you can get yourself a real good vacation.

You might also want to consider the layout of the site and make pertinent information visible.

Hope that helps. Have a good day!