It’s frustrating to know that your visitors only spend a few seconds on your site when you spend hours of writing a post. Ideally, people should spend hours on your blog before they leave. Of course, it’s not possible.
Instead, you can get people to come back more often and spend minutes, rather than seconds, on your blog every time they visit.
But how? In this post, we’ll show you some psychological hacks to increase the time of your readers spend on-site. From just 30 seconds, they would stay for five minutes (or more).
1. Use The Color Psychology
Color psychology is a branch of behavioral psychology. It deals with human reactions to colors.
In a research, it states that it would take more than a minute for a customer to make an opinion about a product. Then, the color of the product determines 90 percent of the interaction.
To use color psychology to your site’s advantage, you need to think about your brand’s color and overall color scheme of your site. Color increases brand recognition. Some sites managed to increase their CTR by changing the color of their CTA.
Explore the colors that resonate most with your audience. Then, use the information in choosing the scheme that works best for your brand.
2. Take Advantage Of Psychological Triggers
They influence web visitors to take actions. The first trigger is your domain name. That said, you would want it to send a message. Many website owners, these days, are opting for .me, .org, and other special domains.
It’s also vital to use the right emotional triggers to entice visors to choose your service or product. In this way, you can boost your site’s conversion rate. Triggers can be specific fonts, images, and wording. All of them would bolster desired communication and encourage user engagement.
Another trigger to use is scarcity. For example, you may offer your visitors some limited products for a certain period. In an experiment, it showed that most consumers would pay more than half the price of a product if marketed as exclusive editions. The reason for this is that people think of scarcity as higher value. That said, try using “limited time only,” or “last chance” offer. But be sure it’s a genuine offer.
3. Organize Content
People visit a site and stay longer if they feel comfortable. The feeling of “comfort” can be based on familiarity. To any web design, the content organization is a top priority.
Most of the time, less is more. That is, your site should have a great amount of white space to give visitors a resting space.
Keep in mind that a full web page can suffocate your audience, resulting them to leave as soon as possible. Take time to organize your content.
Include as much white space as your site needs. Then, use appropriate color scheme. Doing all of these will provide your audience a pleasant environment that’s inviting. Don’t forget to place your logo at the top left corner. The reason for this is that most people scan the web content using a Z pattern.
4. Engage Readers By Asking Questions And Responding To Comments
Asking questions at the end of a post is a way to engage with users. It also encourages and motivates them to make a comment.
When you visit a site, like Naij, and the author asked you a question, how would you respond? It’s most likely you would react to the post with a comment.
Asking visitors a question encourage them to leave comments allowing them to stay longer on your blog because it takes a few seconds to leave a comment. Furthermore, you get to respond to comments and encourage your readers to come back to read your answer.
Responding to comment on your blog can give you an increase in repeat visitors.
5. Write A Post That Helps Readers
Blogging is one way to communicate with your audience and help them with their issues. They may ask through comments or email. It doesn’t matter how you respond to your reader. It can be giving them a general post or write a customized response to every reader.
But do it because you want to help them and not to make them come back and stay longer on your site.
This approach is a surefire way to build an excellent reputation and a loyal following. Bear in mind that loyal readers keep coming back for more and they stay on your site for the extended period.
6. Show Your Favorite Posts
One of the most CTR areas on any site is within a sidebar. And that’s an area where you place your most favorite posts. You may use a plugin for it. Using one will encourage your visitors to stay longer on your site and read more of your posts.
7. Use Conversational Tone
The writing style of most successful sites utilizes a conversational tone. They are still professional, but they’re not boring as if you’re reading a college essay.
Try to keep your readers engaged by using first person pronouns, so it’ll read like you’re having a conversation with your readers. Reading a post with style like this will make them feel as if they were in the same room as you, the author. It’s like chatting with their friends.
8. Collect eMails
If you visit popular sites, you would realize that all of them collect their visitors’ emails. This strategy may tick off some people. However, emails are a great strategy that allows you to build traffic. On average, those visitors who subscribe to your email list would stay on your blog for three to five minutes. They’re also likely to re-visit your site and stay on for longer.
But collecting their emails can be quite tricky because you need to entice them. To do so, you may offer them an eBook or a free product in exchange for their emails.
Final Thoughts
These tricks alone can help increase the time your readers spend when they visit your site. Instead of just a few seconds, they would stay there for more than two minutes.
Of course, results won’t happen right away. It can take up to six months to see significant results. The reason for this is that it takes time for you to build trust and loyalty.