June 25th, 2010 by Susie

One of the first things you will probably discuss when hiring a search engine optimization company is how to increase online traffic to your website. This could be from search engine results pages (SERP’s), other websites or social networking sites. Of course, getting more traffic to your website is crucial and without a doubt one of the most important aims of any search engine optimisation strategy. However, as important as this is, it is only the first stage of website effectiveness.

Keeping people on your website for as long a period as possible is one of the best things you can do. Having said that, it is important they are sticking around for the right reasons. This may seem a silly thing to say, but a user could spend a long time on your site looking for something without finding it. Having users spend a long time on your site because they are lost or struggling is not good. Conversely, having a user spend time within your site because they are finding it useful, informative and interesting is the best thing you can aim to achieve.

Attraction is what entices people and keeps people there. Imagine you are reading a new book; the first paragraph or even sentence should be so attention grabbing it should draw you in and make you want to continue reading the rest of the book. If you apply this tactic to your web pages then you are halfway to getting people to stay on your site.

When devising content for your web pages, always consider what people will want to read. It can be all too easy to get carried away on your expertise and forget who you are aiming your web content for. People get bored easily and do not like reading pages and pages of text, so try to break it up and keep it short, or provide bursts of information. The appearance of your text content is also important, and should stand out and be easy to read. Using contrasting background and font colours is a good way to do this, and avoid hard to read colours that are not easy on the eye.

The size of your text should also be taken into consideration. Keeping it at a standard size twelve font is probably the best way to go. Of course, you cannot control things such as the size of a person’s browser window, so keeping a standard sized font is the best approach. Use basic tools such as bold and italic to highlight any important or useful words or phrases you want the user to identify.

When writing blogs or articles where you perhaps refer to something different, try to include links to other pages within your site. Only do this with information which requires the user to read a new piece of information. Try to avoid hyperlinks for basic articles, and always ensure it is easy for the user to navigate their way back to where they have come from at all times.

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