I Bounce You Bounce - the Follow Up
I want to start by thanking all of you who have participated in my last post, sharing your thoughts on Bounce Rates. Your comments and opinions have been very interesting and once again it showed me the value of having some great commentators in blogoshpere.
Like I said before in Check your Stats I am not particularly worried about having a high bounce rate, because I believe I know what forms the biggest reason for it, the use of a particular way of generating traffic.
Before writing the post I had been doing some research, reading different articles but they were all especially focussed on just how bad it is for your site to have a high rate but no article really focussed on any reason why it really doesn’t matter that much.
Angilina’s comment was evidence of it not being that important, sharing that her higher bounce rate site is actually making her more money and Arachne sharing that even though he has a high rate, other stats are showing that more and more people are sticking around to read more posts.
Like Alex pointed out, the bounce rate is only a benchmark to measure what is going on one particular blog, but it doesn’t really have a value when comparing sites just because of it.
And even though I can understand Marcus´ reasoning behind regular visitors not spending time going into the archives (and I partly agree with it), I do believe that regular visitors might go back in time, especially when related posts are offered.
I mean, if somebody becomes a regular visitor of a blog, it is because they like what the author is offering, and thus are more willing to look what they have said in the past. At least that is what I do when I come across a blog I really enjoy reading.
Again it all comes down to offering good content and interesting reads, focussing on that and trying to improve it every time you make a post. Focus on what it is you really want to achieve with running your blog, whether it be directing people to click on your ads in order to generate money, of have them stick around for a longer period of time to build up a firm base of regular visitors.
Keeping the momentum going and making sure the statistics you personally care about are going up, since we all have our personal reasons and goals while blogging.
The bounce rate to me is becoming yet another statistic I am not going to fret about, seeing it is only a very small piece of the pie of tracking the success of one´s own blog. I will check it occasionally but like Stephen said… Screw it!
So thanks again to all of you who have shared their point of view and giving me other things to think about in such an extended way. Your comments are highly appreciated and to me it means a lot to see this type of involvement time and time again!
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My name is Mirjam and I welcome you to my blog about personal growth and the things I think about. I´m on a journey of improving my life and I hope you will drop in often and participate. Thanks for visiting!
Content, content, content. It’s what keeps bringing me back. As I have been wondering through the Blogosphere I find it is the content that makes certain blogs stand out for me. That and finding a style of writing that shows your personality. Every job I ever had came down to beiong able to find ways to let your personality come through. People respond best to people. you can never expect to take the world by storm unless you have the ability to use your personality to your advantage. It’s your uniqueness that keeps people coming back.
Jim - Just a Guy’s last blog post..Why I am “The” Movie Whore
As always Jim, thanks for commenting :*
It is always coming to the same …. content and I believe you are right by mentioning that personality shining through is important, depending on the goals someone has when starting anything
And depending on the personality. Some of have a few and have to choose which one. Then there is always a fight amongst them all to see who gets to come out and play.
Jim - Just a Guy’s last blog post..Strange things are afoot at the Circle K
*grin* you are so bloody right Jim! hahaha
Content indeed,Focus more of the content and the statistic of your bounce rate will just change dramatically in my own point of view. At first i questioned myself if i need to be worried after about my bounce rate it’s 80% then i supposed in my mind that is because i did not give a better reading for my readers, not enough effort of my side supposed. Now, i am working hard, pushing more about my content to get more loyal readers and repeat visitors not just dropping by sort of thing.
Your I bounce, you bounce article is an eye opener for every bloggers to work harder with our article to give it more quality content even though Stephen said screw it! still it’s an identifier and probably a suggestion that we need to push more harder. Yet another inspirational article for me.
iris’s last blog post..Gokusen Ep.4
Hi Iris, thanks for sharing your point of view
I think bounce rate is yet another tool in the box, which you can use to gauge progress, but nothing to fret about when you know why it is high, just something to keep in mind and see whether it improves over time with the improvements one makes 
I don’t even bother checking my stats because I imagine it would freak me out to no end. I made the mistake of once checking my traffic and one day I have over 2000 and the next it was barely 400. I decided then it was best I not know my statistics.
Monique’s last blog post..It’s Not Easy Being Me.
Ouch that sounds familiar to me, I used to check my stats way to much, getting in a worrying frenzy whenever things were going down. Now I just try to check them weekly, but focus more on other more important things, stats will follow accordingly
High bounce rate among entrecard users might also be related to RSS subscribers.
I have special folder in Google Reader for blgos with entrecard widget. Whenever those feeds publish new content, I pay visit to them and drop my card.
In my own website, RSS feed offers smaller version from photographs than what you can see in actual website. If these visitors simply checks how the photograph looks in higher resolution and then close the window, they turn up in bounce category.
Juha Ylitalo’s last blog post..Poon Hill, Nepal (week 12/08)
There are many things that influence bounce rate and not always are they wrong if high, it all depends on what you are trying to achieve and like already mentioned by two commentators, if your goal is to have your visitor leave through an ad, and that is what you are achieving, bounce rate is bound to be high, yet you are getting what you want
Thanks for your comment, Juha