In digital marketing circles, the terms “engaging”, and “engagement” are thrown around a lot. Website engagement is basically a metric for how long a visitor might spend on your website.
It’s all about first impressions. Typically, within 3-4 seconds, visitors will decide whether to stay or click away from your site, making or breaking a potential client or sale. So, to make a website more engaging, it needs to be attractive, memorable, and interesting enough to spend time on.
#1. Optimize Website Design & Navigation
According to Kissmetrics, 96% of first-time visitors to a website don’t return. What this statistic tells us, in general, is that users may not like the look of a site or not understand how to navigate it.
Keep the design simple, making good use of white space. Use attractive, easy-to-read fonts, and stay on-brand throughout. Simple and clear headings can also help organize your site as well as helping the user navigate to where they need to go.
Bear in mind the user experience (UX) of your site and how a visitor might use it. Implementing a structured customer journey will let your visitors know what step they need to take next. If a user has to spend time searching for a menu option or navigation bar, they’ll get frustrated and leave the site.
A clean, consistent, and user-friendly website will automatically keep your users engaged longer and encourage them to return more.
#2. Use Rich Images & Video Content
A clean, well-organized website is a good start, but to make a website truly engaging, it’s important to utilize video and rich images. A picture is worth 1,000 words, right? So how much is a video worth?
Visual elements keep visitors busy on a website, helping to reduce your bounce rate. Creating your own videos doesn’t have to be an expensive project either. Use stock videos to get a professional look right from the outset.
Incorporating engaging media is a keen balance of information and entertainment. If you give your visitors a bit of both, they’ll stay on your site longer and convert more.
#3. Be Reachable
Communication is key. Potential clients and customers are not going to scroll through sites looking for ways to contact you. It needs to be visible and easily found, or you risk losing the potential client.
This doesn’t mean you need a 24-hour call center, either. AI chatbots are increasingly used for quick customer service. An AI chatbot will walk users through the most common problems or escalate any questions or issues to a human.
One of the biggest pain points for consumers is having their questions and problems solved quickly. In one survey, 82% of consumers said that immediate answers and responses were very important to them when contacting a company. Chatbots can give that immediate resolution without the necessity of customer service representatives.
#4. Make Sure Your Site is Mobile Friendly
Mobile web traffic made up 60% of all internet traffic from 2020. With advancements in technology come new behavioral trends, and it’s vital to optimize your site to target mobile users as well.
Most website builders will have mobile optimization options that allow developers to see how their site will look on mobile and desktop. Web developers and certain hosting sites have tools available to change mobile layouts without altering the main site. This ensures that your site is easily navigable on any device.
#5. Devise Compelling Call to Action
Your website needs to make visitors want to stay on your website. There are billions of other sites out there, screaming for attention, and yours is the one they clicked on. The competition is fierce for views out there, so make sure your site keeps your visitors clicking through.
One of the ways to do this is by engaging with your audience through compelling calls to action. This will keep them on your site longer and hopefully, increase your conversions too.
An eye-catching call to action is a great way to help your users navigate through your site and engage them throughout the customer’s journey. Breaking up the process with individual calls to action at each step of a sales funnel is also a key way of keeping users on your site, creating quality leads, and return customers.
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