Getting traffic to your website is one thing, but making sure your visitors stay is something else. One of the most common problems faced by webmasters today is that they tend to get good traffic, but their bounce rate is high. In other words, people hit the exit button quick.

Now, if your visitors come and leave right away with no intention of visiting again, what’s the use? This way you’ll lose more traffic than you gain, and if it continues like that, your site’s growth will slow down with time.

So how do you really combat this problem?

You do it by creating sticky websites. A sticky site is one that attracts the right kind of visitors and gets them to stick around longer. And this isn’t because the webmaster is using some sneaky tactics, but only because staying and exploring the site is worth it.

Given below are some highly effective techniques to help you make your website more sticky:

1) Turn more visitors into subscribers: When somebody visits your website for the first time, they may not be very clear about your aim or purpose. So it only makes sense to do whatever you can to turn your visitors into subscribers. Try capturing their email address, have them subscribe to your RSS feed, get them to follow you on Twitter, etc. Make sure your call to actions are displayed prominently throughout your site so that new visitors don’t miss on them. Remember, the more subscribers you have, the higher the stick rate of your site.

2) Have a ‘start here’ page: One of the reasons why people tend to leave a website early is because they’re confused. Even if you have good navigation there are times when there’s a need to give a clearer picture. The workaround to this is to have a ‘start here’ page that is dedicated to help new visitors understand what your site is about. This is the page where you link to the most popular sections of your website and give a strong overview.

3) Invest in good, professional design: Yes, it’s a fact that people judge a website’s quality and professionalism based on the design. Getting your first time visitors to hang out on your website for longer time requires you to make a good first impression. If they see that your site is cluttered or looks amateur, you will lose a fair amount of visitors. Having a well designed site makes your content stand out and helps in the navigation.

4) Work on your on site branding: Yes, a brand that is attractive draws people and keeps them coming back for more. Anybody visiting your site for the first time shouldn’t have to do guesswork to understand what it is about. Right from the logo to the tagline to your style of content – all should be in sync to help you create a stronger brand. Besides the obvious, try to differentiate your site’s brand in more than one way.

Do you have any tips to share on making a website sticky? If yes, then please feel free to share them by commenting below.

Written by Mustafa Khundmiri

Mustafa Khundmiri is a staff writer for Performance Marketing Insider. He is also the co-founder of Foundora.com – a knowledge hub for entrepreneurs.

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