Learn 5 Tips to Increasing Visitor Engagement

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
Benjamin Franklin

Give People What They Want and Boost Engagement

It is one thing to create content on your website for the purpose of attracting visitors, it is another thing to get people to actually read it.

Recent studies have shown that the average reader stays focused on a page for little more than seven seconds.

If you want to increase the time span for which your readers are engaged in your content, you need to make use of these 5 tips to make your content stand out effectively.

1. Knowing What Your Readers Want

The easiest way to increase the time that your readers spend on your website - genuinely engaged in your content - is simply by delivering the material that they want to read.

If you are not using some sort of analytics system on your website, now is the time. Review your analytics to see which web pages are most popular with your visitors.

Rinse and repeat once you find those pages that have the highest number of views. Add new content and monitor which pages get the best response - then simply tailor your information to meet the interests of your audience.

2. Inform Your Audience How Long the Content is

If you inform the audience up front about the content on the page, they are more likely to read it.

If you can calculate how long the average reader will need to read the piece, tell the audience in the description so they can get a better understanding of how much time needs to be invested to complete the entire article.

Even if the content does not appear to be that compelling, if the reader knows in advance it is only a two minute article, they are more inclined to stay around and finish reading.

3. Make Your Content Shareable

You might be surprised to know that more people are relying heavily on the opinion of others with regards to choosing the content they read.

Social media has really brought this issue to the forefront.

If a person reads an article and feels it has some value, they share it on their social media profiles.

When an article is shared by a friend through social media, it is more likely that others within their social network will also read that article. That inner circle of friends, coworkers, and family members - will see the post and feel compelled to read it as it came highly recommended from someone they trust.

If you do not have social media buttons on your website, now is the time to implement them. These buttons make it simple for anyone to click and share all your content with their online network.

4. Breaking It Up

Use headlines and subheadings throughout your articles. This makes it easier for people to read your content.

If you want to keep your audience engaged on your website - actively reading your content - you have to make it easy for them to be able to read it.

If the article is presented as one giant paragraph - with no page breaks, no titles, and no subheadings - chances are that your visitor will quickly click to another page.

The key here is to break up your article content into smaller paragraphs with headings for each.

This enables your content to be read faster, and is particularly important for those who simply want to scan the article. Try to incorporate some high quality images into the article layout to break it up visually and provide an additional point of interest.

5. Going Mobile

In a study conducted last year, it was shown that over 60% of mobile phone & tablet users are actively engaging in content online.

These users are shopping, reading, browsing, and playing games online via their mobile devices.

With such a large portion of the population using their smartphones and tablets to access content - your website must be optimised for mobile technology or you risk losing readers.

Ensure your content is optimised for reading on all mobile devices.

Implement these simple ways to increase engagement in your content. The end result will be more time spent on your website, and ultimately more clients, leads and sales.

IS YOUR CONTENT ENGAGING YOUR AUDIENCE?

At Roundhouse, we understand how a successful content marketing strategy must be closely aligned with the needs of your audience. Taking the time to carefully customise your content will result in higher levels of engagement and in time, increased sales. If you would like to learn how to integrate content marketing into your outreach campaigns, contact us for an informal chat.

We are here to help.

Get started now. Contact us here.