7 Proven Methods To Keep Visitors On Your Blog Longer

The longer you keep a visitor on your blog, the more likely that visitor is to do the following:

1. Become a returning visitor
2. Subscribe to your blog
3. Tell their friends about you
4. Buy one of your products

There are several benefits associated with getting more visitors, but few people know how to keep visitors on their blog for a longer period of time let alone how much time the typical visitor is spending on their blog. As your blog becomes more popular, you will be able to find out how much time your average visitor spends on your blog on Alexa. Whether you know how long your visitors stay on your blog or not, it is very important to make sure your visitors stay on your blog for as long as possible. Here are 7 proven methods to make people stay on your blog for a longer period of time.

1. Make your blog load faster. People will not stick around if it takes too long for your blog to load. People have things to do, places to see, and other blogs to visit. The world moves super fast which means your blog needs to load super fast. People will not wait for a few seconds to go by to access your blog.
2. Include videos in some of your blog posts and on your sidebar. If your visitor watches a 5 minute video on your blog, that means that person was on your blog for an extra 5 minute. Imagine what would happen if half of your blog’s visitors watched a 5 minute video. They would stay on your blog for a very long time.
3. Include links to your older posts. By including links to your older posts, you will reduce your blog’s bounce rate. In addition, linking to your older blog posts provides your visitor with more content. The more links to have to your own blog posts, the lower your bounce rate will be. You should make it a goal to include at least 1 link to another blog post on your blog in all of the blog posts that you write.
4. Have a good theme and background for your blog. Your blog’s design is one of the initial deciding factor of whether people stick around or not. Before visitors read your blog posts, they see the theme and background. If your blog’s theme and background look bland, too complex, or unbearable (this can go from only having a bright yellow color as the background to something that shouldn’t be there), visitors will leave your blog before reading the post.
5. Write longer blog posts. If your visitors have more content to read, then they will stay on your blog longer. It takes longer for someone to read a 1,000 word blog post than it takes for someone to read a 500 word blog post. Writing longer blog posts will also have an impact on your blog’s SEO.
6. Include eye-catching pictures in your blog posts. Pictures make the entire reading process much easier. Instead of just seeing a giant slab of text, show your visitors a picture. This picture can strengthen the idea of what your blog post is about, provide insights, be humorous, or do something else. Ultimately, the picture engages the visitor and keeps that visitor on your blog for a longer period of time.
7. Write valuable content. In order to get your visitors to click on the links to your older blog posts and watch the 5 minute video, the content you provide on your blog needs to be valuable. You can write quality content and not make a single spelling or Grammar error. However, you need to write valuable content that people remember you for. You won’t remember every word in this blog post, and I’m not expecting you to (I don’t remember all of the words to my own blog posts, so it’s okay). The only thing your visitors will remember is the value that your blog post provided.

It is important to write quality content, but it is also important to keep people on your blog for a long period of time. That’s how a visitor gets value from your content and becomes a returning visitor for your blog. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional advice? Please share your thoughts and advice below.