You worked hard on creating content and promoting your site simply to get people to read your post but yet they bounce … and quickly! The fact is to have a successful blog your readers need to fall in love with what you offer so that they will return! Of course this won't happen if people who land on your site lose focus and leave before reading a thing! If this is happening to you than fear not since in most cases it is in your power to correct the problem! When your readers leave your platform as quickly as they landed on it this generally indicates a distraction of some sort!
Here are 5 potential 'distractions' you may unwittingly create as a blogger that keep you from developing reader loyalty and thus a successful blog!
Needless Widgets
Wordpress blogs have at their disposal a seemingly endless amount of widgets from which they can use and many bloggers take full advantage! It is important to remember widgets are there to help you more easily build and maintain a successful blog but if you use too many this can be a distraction to your readers! I have yet to see or hear of any visitors that search for and land on blogs just to check out the widgets being used!
Circus Like Graphics
Although your blog is a great way to express yourself and your individualism, it's best to do so through the content you write! The excessive use of graphics may add a visual spark to your site however too many can easily cause visitors to lose focus on the content they came to view thus leaving your site prematurely! Since a loyal readership is needed to have a successful blog it seems using graphics to the extreme may only serve to sabotage your blogging efforts!
Ads
The use of ads should follow the same guidelines as how you place graphics on your platform, with prudence and sparingly! Keep in mind your readers show up to 'read' and not 'buy' so avoid exposing them to too many ads or they will feel used, betrayed and once again will lose focus on why they even landed on your site! When this occurs it is hard to get these people to ever return so tread carefully when placing ads!
Images
Using images can help you break up text and give your readers a place to rest their eyes which is what you want! On the other hand too many images can lead to additional clutter so keeping a 'balance' is the key! You want the images you use in your content to 'compliment' or help convey your intended message but NOT to dominate your text! Once again too many images or even using oversized pictures can cause visitors to lose focus and leave before they read what you wrote!
Font Size
Sorry but size does matter in terms of the font you use! The smaller the font, the more you can fit on a page and therefore the more 'overwhelming' this may be to visitors! Additionally your readers do not need to strain their eyes just to read your content simply because this 'challenge' can and will cause them to leave! Be sure you are using a 'comfortable' font size and consider a size 12 the minimum you should use although 14 is probably better yet!
If you want people to read your post than don't challenge them with too many distractions on your blog since they'll simply lose focus and leave! The point of the above discussion is to be more conscious of what you present to your readers when they land on your site! You want people to read what you wrote but by 'accessorizing' your site with too many graphics, widgets or ads, this may not happen! The takeaway here is that to have a truly successful blog, your readers must first view the content and in doing so, enjoy it as well! When this occurs, they will elect to return and even refer your site to others, but with too many distractions, it doesn't matter how good your content is, people lose focus and simply leave!