Few days ago, I wrote about why using KILLER word in the post title is not always good and what are its disadvantages. But when I sat down to write this very article, I just could not think of any other suitable title as this one idea is really KILLER. If you employ this in your blog, 101% your bounce rate will be reduced to half.
BOUNCE RATE??
I think already has been written in the blogosphere on what is the bounce rate, why it is important and how you can reduce it. Bounce rate is that metric that tells that how many of your visitors did not went beyond the first page they arrived i.e. what percentage of your visitors left after the first page and did not visited any other page in that particular visit. Bounce rate is very important because it tells you the real popularity of your blog. You can read more about it here. I have always considered this metric above everything else.
SO WHAT’S THE IDEA?
Nothing complicated. A complete no brainer. You have to click your mouse few times and if you know basics of WordPress, like downloading and uploading the stuff, you are equipped to do this task.
DRUM ROLL-USE THRILLING WP THEME.
I am using Thrilling WP theme since Jan 2010. Initially, when I noticed the bounce rate of my blog, I did not take it seriously as I was sure that with time, it will increase. But in the first 6 and half months of blogging with this theme, my bounce rate kept hovering around 6-10%. I was truly amazed but never gave the credit to the theme. I thought it was my content. See the screenshot of my account from Jan 2010 to mid July.
Then I shifted to new theme that I won in a contest. Honestly, I was thinking that now that I am using a much better theme, my bounce rate will reduce to lower level. Alas, it never happened. In fact, it kept on increasing and since last one month, it has crept up to 50%. But it never struck to me that this is because of theme. I tried various placing combinations but result was same. The below screenshot will clear the things.
Then a week ago, my friend Puneet Jain of Mobigyaan told me to shift back to the old theme not because of bounce rate but because he said it was too tacky. I did the same and see the result. Below is the screenshot of my Analytics account from 11th Oct, 2010 to 15th Oct, 2010. In just 5 days, my bounce rate has come down to 10%. Amazing na!! Thrilling theme has really done wonders, at least, for my blog and I am enjoying it.
If anybody of you thinks that the default theme is boring, the CSS and PHP freaks can design it to their liking but make sure you do not change the basic framework as it is the base behind this low bounce rate (this is what I believe).
The above observations are based on my personal experiences and as you can see from the screenshots, they are not manipulated. Nor the theme creator has asked me to do so. It is what I have experienced and is true to my belief.
Give this theme a try if you are looking for a new one. It is free and available at Thrilling Heroics. And do share your experiences with this theme, either good or bad.
Article by Anil Agarwal
Anil has written 346 articles .
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BloggersPassion was started on Jan 01, 2010 on the world’s most awesome blogging platform- WordPress. This blog was started to share blogging tips and for helping you become a successful full time blogger. Blogging is an art and the more you do it, the more you perfect you become.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Quite interesting, though i know designs do affect a site bounce rate but that was a great difference! i will down load the theme and try it, between you should allow external link to open in another window.
yes you should try this theme…it will certainly help you
Yet another proof that web design influences end user engagement.
. Then again it might just be a case of your regular readers being used to a particular layout.
Hi Tushar Agarwal,
This is my first visit to your blog and you are doing awesome job here dude. Excellent tricks to reduce bounce rate. Looking forward more good blogs from you and my wishes for your blogging.
good day.
Hi Tushar,
Thank you for sharing your experience about your blog’s Bounce Rate! I definitely agree that this post really earns its “KILLER” word in the title. I didn’t understand how bounce rate really works, but in this case of yours, I can clearly see that it seems the theme you’ve won in a contest and used for a month really got you a huge amount of unwanted bounce rate.
I’m not sure how you can say your one experience can guarantee this. Maybe your new theme was especially bad?
it might be but i am saying that this particulars theme is too good….no comments about the previous one
I just migrated from blogger to wordpress… After reading this post I am willing to change my blog theme to thrilling theme because my blog’s bounce rate is very high and I have been experimenting for the last few months to make it low…
Thanks for sharing your experience….
and do share what you have experienced with this theme
Somehow I find it a strange feeling to use a theme so many people out there are using, especially in the same niche. Maybe I should just give it a go, or tweak my own theme for now.
How easy can TT be worked with? (As in, editing the CSS and PHP files) Doable or very complex?
Have a look at my current blogtheme and please do let me know where I could improve
Thanks! Christiaan
Thanks for sharing your insight, it was interesting to read that a simple thing like changing your theme fluctuated your bounce rate.
Thanks for the heads up on “thrilling theme”, it does look pretty good.
Definitely Thrilling theme is a Premium WordPress theme and when I came to know that it is free then it was stunning for me.
Thanks for sharing your views
Hey, just to let you know, it is not because of the Theme, I checked your source code, and you have analytics inserted twice, I had this problem on a blog of my own, and when I changed themes my bounce rate when up. But it was because I had analytics in the header, as well as using analytics in a wordpress plugin….see here http://wordpress.org/support/topic/bounce-rate-went-up-20-x-since-new-theme
do a ctrl+u look at your source and search “UA-”
var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”);
document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));
try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-10947164-2″);
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-10947164-2']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true;
ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
I just Wanted to let you know that, as your metrics are off because of this!
I just crosschecked my source code, but I did not see any instance of availability of GA code on two places. In my code, UA-10947164-2 is used only once. And in case I’m missing something, please correct me on this again
But this theme looks not good. and what do u think i checked live demo and unable to find anything different.