Five Ways to Increase Time Spent on Your Site

Website

Monday, 17 January 2022

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With recent changes to both the Google algorithm and Google's analytics tools, it's clear to see that websites' rankings are not only dependent on relevance and usability, but also the amount of time users spend interacting with your site. In many cases, your website is your "first impression" to clients who might be finding you from the wider web, and keeping your site at the top of those search results is key. That said, here are four ways to increase interactivity on your site and keep people engaged before they make that final conversion to "customer."

Live Chat and Chatbots

In some cases, potential customers have quick questions that they don't deem worthy of a phone call. Other times, they would rather avoid the phone, but do not want to give away personal information like their email address. Regardless of their reasons, a website chat is a great way to engage with customers. Many website chat functions have the ability to connect directly to a desktop chat program, such as Microsoft Teams or Slack, so if one of your team members is answering phones at their desk, they may be able to engage with client chats as well.

For solutions that require less people power, it's also possible to integrate those live chats with chatbots, automated systems that are able to answer some frequently asked questions, or help customers get in contact with the right individual at a later time. From the customer's perspective, they type or click on a question, and get the information they need – or they're directed to a form to request contact. From the company's perspective, the right point of contact receives an email with all the client's pertinent information.

Use a chatbot like me to increase engagement!

Ensure Your Website Is Responsive

Nowadays, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets make up just about half of all web browsing traffic, so it is absolutely essential to ensure your website is attractive and usable on those mobile devices. In fact, mobile usability is now a heavily weighted component of the algorithm Google uses to rank websites, so putting off responsive design may actually hinder your business's visibility on the wider web.

Use Video to Market Your Services

Video isn't just important for a social media strategy nowadays – produced videos are a great way to increase engagement on your website in addition to social media channels. Video can help to increase engaged sessions on your website by helping your site to "show, not tell." Use video to demonstrate your products, to introduce your brand, or to provide helpful how-to videos to your clients. For more information on how video marketing can help your brand, take a look at our page on video marketing.

Explore Video Marketing Options

Improve Internal Links and Calls to Action

One of the most trying things about finding one's way around a website is trying to find pertinent information on sites with many pages. If one of your pages or services isn't getting the attention it should, it may be worth it to spend some time reworking internal links on pages, or even adding new ones. Place links to content in places that will encourage users to click through to other pages, and be sure to optimize calls to action so that once a client has found the information they need, they take that last step to call your company to make a purchase.

Show Off Your Company's Credentials

Did you win a local competition? Do you have a certification that is rare in your field, or are you ranked highly on a customer service ranking aggregator site? Many of these companies have their own online directory that you can use not only to provide a link back to your site, increasing your brand authority, but they also have icons that can be added to your site. Present these credentials in a visible and attractive area of your website to increase your credibility, and further encourage customers to click through to that ever important "call now" button.

About the author

Jennifer

Though in 2010 I started at TRS as an administrative assistant, I was eager to learn more so I earned my certification in Google AdWords and became a data nerd. It’s fascinating to see the cause and effect in the SEO world. There’s organization to it and it’s much like a puzzle that’s always changing.