Keep Surfers On Your Wave With Videos, Web Presenters, and Simple Design Tricks

Web surfers are called surfers for a good reason — because the vast majority of them basically catch a ‘wave’ of links and move from one to the next, skimming until they find something they like. One of the most dreaded phrases in all of SEO is “bounce rate”, because it’s so commonplace to have a killer website that has great organic SEO and looks like it should convert like wildfire — but surfers just don’t stay on the wave long enough to get caught up in it.

So SEO companies have started to work out an arsenal of ‘conversion aides’ to help keep the bounce rate down and keep web surfers on your crest. On-page videos, web presenters, and a clean design can go a long way toward dropping that bounce rate.

On-page video — particularly the kind that starts automatically without requiring a click — is like catnip to web surfers. It’s easy to click away from a website that’s got a wall of text and maybe a static picture or two. It’s much harder to click away from a website that starts talking to you and showing you interesting pictures relevant to what you surfed there to learn.

Web Presenters are like on-page video on crack. Everyone’s used to video, but what do you do when a little dude pops up on your screen and starts pointing at and interacting with the elements on the website? If you care at all about the subject matter, you’re almost certain to stop and listen as he explains some detail of the material. Web presenters are easy to do wrong — check almost any modern-day porn page to see how — but when done right, they’re a killer conversion tool.

Designing for Stickiness is almost so basic these days that it’s not worth mentioning, but there are a few things that people are doing wrong that deserve a callout. When you do flash banners, make sure they don’t take up more than the top 20% of your screen. When your text starts near or even below the fold, you’re doing it wrong. Banners are great for stickiness, but too many places are overdoing it. Keep things clean and simple and you’ll find your bounce rate drops dramatically and instantly.