By SETH SIEGLER
Editor’s note: Seth Siegler is the co-founder of Simplistate, a real estate brokerage; owner and founder of real estate tech company Robot Workshop; and a blogger.
I’m a Google Analytics junkie. I check it several times a day and obsess over the stats on all of my websites. (You should do the same … but maybe not as often as I do.)
One of the main stats I’m always trying to keep favorable is "bounce rate." Google defines "bounce rate" in the Analytics "help" section as "the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page.
Use this metric to measure visit quality — a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren’t relevant to your visitors. The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert."
I’m always tweaking my home page to minimize bounce rate and increase the "time on site" stat. With that comes the ultimate question: "What is causing my bounce rate to be high?" I’ve found a few things that lead to high bounce rates and low times spent on sites.
Let’s take a lighthearted look at my top five potential reasons for high bounce rate:
5. Your color scheme causes retina damage or seizures.
4. Your copy starts out with information about you being a Nigerian banker who wants to mail you a check in exchange for another check.
3. Your site requires a software download to work properly. The file is called Trojan.exe.
2. Upon landing on your home page, a video opens automatically, featuring a loud jazz flute soundtrack. It’s hosted by Mike "The Situation" from MTV’s "Jersey Shore" (reality TV show).
1. Your home page features your last blog post. Its title is: "Welcome to the best sellers’ market in decades."
In all seriousness, studying your site’s analytics is a great way to increase conversions and that’s what it’s all about.
Am I missing anything? What’s on your list?
Seth Siegler is the co-founder of Simplistate, an eco-friendly, virtual real estate brokerage. He is also the owner and founder of Robot Workshop — a real estate technology solutions company specializing in IDX and PPC based lead generation. You can find his real estate industry blog at www.sethsiegler.com. He will be speaking at Real Estate Connect NYC 2011 in January.
Future of Real Estate Marketing is a part of Inman News.