Here is a tip for improving the bounce rate on all kind of sites, but I think one that online newspapers can use the most.
If you would like to improve bounce rate, have higher number of page-views, improved visitor engagement and thus increased advertising revenue the single most effective thing you can do is actually very easy to achieve.
Remove advertisements from your home page.
Think about it. Does a visitor coming to your home page want to see ads or what your site has to offer?
For most of the time home page is not a major source of revenue anyway, so why force ads on it? It's the inner pages where visitors land through search engines and referrals that earn most of the money. But if they ever go to your home page you better make it stand out.
This is true especially for online newspaper. If I go to a home page filled with ads (and not to mentioned the worse kind of all - animated ads) I will have trouble reading headlines and probably will not bother.
Ad free homepage will help your site look more professional and engage visitors with a minimal or no loss to revenue.
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6 Comments
I would tend to think about it slightly different. It is not the Home page, but the landing page.
Take the blogs for example – the landing pages are the Posts, Tags, etc - the long tail search pages. The bounce rate on the landing page is huge with lots of advertisements.
The home page is actually quite often – the second page viewed. When you read the first article, you click on ‘Home’ to get the list of what else is there (if you liked the first article you landed on). So if there is nothing for the reader on that Home page... it’s the best way to send him off with a nice advertisement? Doesn’t it actually improve the user experience – since the user found what he was looking for?
That is all the case – if the home page isn’t a important landing page.
I agree with this in general, but you gotta remember some sites get paid per impression. I think most online ads these days are pay per click though and those should definitely go.
I do have to say that if a site's homepage has tons of obnoxious banners and ads I am less likely to visit than if otherwise.
Are you saying that pay per click ads should definitely go and be replaced by pay per impression?
Is there data that you've collected to back up your claim?
No this one is using my common sense, you are free to prove me wrong though ;)
Vlad,
I'd have to agree. I hate sites where your browser is hi-jacked by an ad up front and have to click "skip" just to get through. If I get that, I'm GONE. Pop ups too. I'm OK with an add off to the side column or something though.
Your content should be the main attraction on the front page. That's what gets your customers there and draws them in further. No need to muck it up as soon as your customer walks in the front door.